Flowers will make anything look prettier. Its colors brighten up every backyard, its scents can make you feel calmer, and the area with flowers or (and) any kind of greenery is way more beautiful than some “dry land” or concrete jungle. Flowers in your home will make you happier, relaxed, less anxious, and way more empathetic towards others.
Ok, so flowers are good for you and you need them in your backyard, but the one thing that can make a flower even better is a good, pretty vase. We are not talking about Chinese ceramics here, and you don’t need to spend £2 million for a vase ( Just over a year ago a couple of ancient Chinese vases were sold for that much). There are hundreds of different ways for you to make a nice, beautiful vase from the materials you already have in your home ready for or already in a garbage bag.
Big companies are always searching for new ways to make profit. I mean, who doesn’t? That is why they are all buying the same (or similar) vases in bulks and those are ugly and dull. Touchpad on this laptop has better design than most of those vases. Same design, same cheap plastic, and maybe different color variations. Only two or three flower delivery services offer some better quality vases, and one of them is Handyflowers where we found a nice transparent flower vase we modified in the end. We needed some color.
Luckily, you can make your flower vase without spending a dime.
Just try not to throw away things like milk jugs, jars, old disco balls, or even pineapples! Those things can make great flower vases.
1. The Birch Wood Vase
It looks like flowers grow directly from a piece of wood, but that is just a mirage. To make this, you need tin cans, birch bark, twine, glue gun and some sticks.
Wrap a birch strip around a tin can and glue it at the beginning and end. That twine is just there to add to that “oldie” look.
2. Pencil Flower Vase
Even if this one looks like it is difficult to make, you only need an empty large 15oz tin can, 10 colored pencils, hot glue (and hot glue gun), a ribbon, paper, markers, and some fresh flowers.
Just glue those pencils onto an already washed and dried tin can, and use the ribbon and a piece of paper to make it look like a gift (if you need that).
**You can use party straws instead of pencils.
3. Perfume Bottle Vase
You don’t have to throw away your perfume bottles. Just repurpose them. Those bottles are already made in perfect, elegant shape. Some of them are even colored to look good on a shelf. Use that and make a beautiful addition to the relaxing look of your flowers.
4. Colored Milk Bottles
Empty milk bottles or empty glass bottles of any kind can make good vases. You can find them in lots of shapes, but you don’t want them to look so simple. Anyone can just take a bottle and use it as a vase, but you can use your creativity to make a unique design.
You need:
- empty glass bottles;
- spray paint (or plural);
- scissors;
- painters tape;
- plastic bags (because there are parts on those bottles that you can’t secure with the tape);
- You may need an empty cardboard box.
Apply the painters’ tape all over the areas that you don’t want to paint. Secure the interior of the bottle with some old newspapers so no paint gets into the bottle. Use a plastic bag to secure the areas like the top of the bottle.
Place a bottle in the middle of the box so you don’t spray over any surrounding area.
5. DIY Marble Vase
Marble vases are not that expensive but they have always looked extravagant. You can find vintage marble vases for $20 on eBay but sometimes you don’t need your vases to be that big. You need small cylindrical vases, and plastic cups are a perfect solution. But plastic cups are ugly… You can fix that kind of ugly with a cheap contact paper.
Just peel off the back of the paper and stick it to the packaging. That is it. Just be careful not to leave any air bubbles as you go.
6. Simple Teacup Idea
I stumbled upon this idea a while ago. The minimalistic nature of this idea is the one that pulled me in. It will look beautiful wherever you decide to put this kind of arrangement. You only need a couple of old-fashioned teacups, chicken wire, some good will, and roses… you can use whichever flower you want,
**ProTip a florist won’t tell you – When (or if) you decide to pick up your roses in person, you want to gently squeeze the part of the rose where petals meet the top of the stem. If it is soft, leave it be – it’s too old.
Cut those flowers to a size that can fit into the teacup you chose, and place the chicken wire to hold the flowers in place. If there is some empty space, you can fill it up with some moss. After that you only need to arrange the teacups as you want.
7. Hanging Baskets Vases
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and I used to take a stroll through the nearby forest. I ended up passing next to some beautiful, old houses with amazing front yards. My own backyard is in the process of redecoration and I am thinking about using some of the ideas that I saw there. One of those ideas are hanging baskets used as vases. I had a couple of such baskets and the idiot in me decided to throw them away… unfortunately.
You can use these kinds of baskets to hang them on your porch, front door, or really anywhere in your front yard or backyard.
8. An Old Watering Can
This is so simple that even a kid can make it. All you need are:
- a watering can (it doesn’t matter if it has some leaks);
- wet floral foam;
- flowers;
- scissors;
- water.
The wet floral foam will hold enough water to keep the flowers fresh for a couple of days. All you need to do is to trim each of the flower stems to make it uptake enough water. You also need to strip the lower leaves from every stem too.
**ProTip a florist won’t tell you – You should know that floral foam is a very light and fragile material. You should be careful not to crush those small cells. The other thing you should know is that there shouldn’t be any trapped air inside the foam. This is why you need to let the block do what comes naturally. Just let it putt in the water by itself. In other words, set the dry foam block on the surface of a basin of water that is at least as deep as the block is thick.
9. Colander Plant Pot
Just use these some old colanders you don’t need any more as a beautiful hanging flower vase. Wrap one colander handle with a half-yard of twine, but make sure you don’t make leave and gaps. Once you cover the entire handle, tie it off and add a dab of glue to make it secure. Repeat the entire process with the other handle.
Line the colander with a sheet moss and fill it with potting soil and desired plants. Now you only need to hand it.
**ProTip a florist won’t tell you – Have you noticed how flower shop clerks sometimes lightly spray their bouquets? Well they do this because the stems aren’t the only place where flowers draw the water. This is why you also need to do that throughout the day with your flowers.
And believe it or not, hairsprays are also good for your flowers. They will stop them from fading too soon.
10 Colored Water for a Rainbow Centerpiece
Sometimes, you don’t need to change anything with your vases. You can change the color of water with the gel. It is extremely easy to control and to blend. You can make those beautiful colors by adding a few drops of the gel into the water in each vase.
Bonus Ideas
You can use old boots, wooden crates, old lamps, paper bags, etc. as vases or you could modify the existing old vase by adding some colored paper, paint, tape, old socks (or sweaters) and much much more.
