Those Cans

Remember these ginormous cans which I brought home from the recycling area at work? Well I want more!



Three holes tapped with a hammer and and a fat old screwdriver (use a big nail or an awl if you only have good screwdrives so you don't ruin them) and some coats of spray paint later and I'm a happy camper.


I ended up not painting the silver and gold ones because I ran our of paint but in retrospect I'd have preferred at least the gold one to be white.


So what's in them? After putting some pottery chards at the bottom for drainage I added soil and planted two with basil and two with mint.


And as I said, now we want more! On my to-do list for when I go back to work on the 19th is to see if there are more of the largest cans to be had. Hopefully the restaurant in the building has been using a lot of pickled cucumbers during summer...

Comments

[Anna]

Love this idea. And I just happen to have a can of white spray paint in my garage and a shortage of nice plant pots..........my kids will be fed up tinned beans this week as I collect some tins!

[Anna Maria]

Wow these are great! :) fabulous idea!

[Leena]

Oh! How nice they look! Need to check the nearest restaurant... I want cans too.
Which mint is that? It has so small leaves.

[Leena]

Oh and if you don't have anything to hit the holes to the bottom, you can also use a drill. It's a slower way, but does the job too.

[Petra from NL]

Perfect for herbs! How big is big? I might want to try this with smaller ones...

I also once saw something similar; interesting cans with very nice wrapping still on, used to hold wooden spoons etc. on the kitchen counter.

[Tine]

Love the look of the cans! I just wonder if they rust quickly. Did you do anything to prevent this?

[Carlos]

The mint with smaller leaves is the one you use for mojitos apparently. I don't know the name of it though, I tossed the label...

[Alicia]

I have always love cans to grow plants, beautiful way to recycle! And they look great in white! I whish I had a little garden...

[Carlos]

The biggest one is 22 cm / 8 3/4 inches in diameter and 25 cm / 10 inches tall.

[Carlos]

I didn't. I figured that since they contain liquids they shouldn't rust, but we'll soon find out I guess...

[Jo]

Oh I love these! I just wonder whether anywhere near me would have some? But I'm going to have to try this idea for our patio too.

[aqeela]

Hi Benita,
Thanks to replying to me about buying classic clothes in bulk, i may start doing that too actually, it makes sence doesnt it?
This is another really useful project that we could all do, infact, about 4 weeks ago i did exactly the same thing with an empty tin that had a plastic lid. I spray painted the tin cream, the plastic lid was already a lovely shade of green so i left that, and now it holds peanuts for the birds!
Oh, and if you manage to do anymore, another good idea for drainage (and recycling) is to put a few old bottle tops in the base, or chop up some of your plastic food cartons into small bits and they work just as well. (But you probably already knew that!
Aqeela xx

[Jane @ Map Shower Curtain]

What a lovely idea! And what a great way to recycle and reuse. I'm definately going to do this, but I think I want to paint designs on the cans, and I can get my daughter involved. It will be a great summer art project.

[Down comforter]

I have always loved cans used as pots. This will be my project for the weekend!

[cynthia]

cool idea! i'm curious though ... i have tin cans that had cookies in them and now i use them as storage but of course, there's the logo on the outside, could i just spray paint them too??

[Carlos]

Sure, I don't see why not! I've sprayed all sorts of tin boxes, lids etc so that should work. You might want to key the surface first if it's very glossy. Just rub a sanspaper over it and wipe of the dust before spraying.

[Erin T.]

How funny! I did this not a week ago for a bridal shower I threw. I used seven cans in various sizes, painted them a light blue (the bride's wedding color is a deep blue, so this was a nice accent), and put fresh blue hydrangeas in them. The cans were free, the paint was $1 satin latex at a yard sale, and the hydrangeas were from a friend's garden. It was a beautiful (and very cheap) place setting.

[Erin T.]

You could fight the rust on the bottom of the can by using this trick from Real Simple: paint clear nail polish on the bottom ring. http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/new-uses-for-old-things/28-uses-for-every-day-items-00000000007991/page7.html.

[Stephanie]

Your plants look great in them with all the different heights!

It's funny, I did this exact project during the long holiday weekend. Although I didn't paint because I like the raw metal look. I planted cute little succulents in mine. I really want to make more, perhaps with paint this time.

Here's my post if you're curious: http://stephanieisgettingmarried.blogspot.com/2010/07/outdoor-lounge-space-revisted.html

[Natalie]

They look great! I'd love to do something similar, but we live in an apartment and the drips from the pots would leak onto our downstairs neighbors' deck! Any suggestions on how to remedy this?

[Carlos]

How about groupng some cans on large trays?

[Carlos]

I love your patio and your mix of furniture and pots!

Ps.I wanted to comment in your post but wasn't able too

[Diana Strinati Baur]

These are great!! I love this idea, so practical, pretty and resourceful!

[Jennifer]

What are the big cans from ? I am so trying this out ! Great idea

[Carlos]

You can see onne of the biggest cans in the top photo, it's from pickles. I get them from the recycle area at work. There's a restaurant in the same building that leaves them there :).