10 Creative Ways to Transform Old Buckets into Useful Things for Your Home and Garden

Flower pots

Large ornamental plants look great in the entrance area of a private home or cottage, near recreation areas and in landscape groups, but require appropriate containers. An old bucket can easily accommodate a spreading flower, a small bush or even a low tree, and the unsightly appearance of an improvised flowerpot will serve as a highlight, especially if the estate is designed in a rustic style: rustic, country, Provence.

Floor, wall and hanging outdoor flowerpots are made from buckets, and if the surface is refined – covered with mosaics, painted or pasted over, wrapped in burlap, tied with branches, wrapped in a mat or rope – it will not be a shame to use them in the interior.

Country washstand

In a couple of hours, you can make a device for washing and rinsing your hands in the garden from an unused bucket. A large (from 10 l) plastic or stainless steel container with a lid is preferable.

You will need a drill, a screwdriver, a tap or a pin for draining water, as well as a stand or a wooden wall to which you will fix the homemade washstand by the top with screws. The tap is mounted in the front as low as possible, and the pin is inserted into a hole drilled in the bottom. The simplest push pin can be constructed from a piston from a disposable medical syringe for 5-10 cc and a lid from a 5-liter plastic bottle.

A galvanized bucket or tub will become a picturesque alternative to the bowl of an outdoor washstand, and it will be pleasant to use homemade plumbing.

Plant Shelter

It’s easy to remove the leaky bottom of tin and aluminum buckets and use them as a “house” for cold-sensitive crops before the upcoming night frosts. If the bush is large, be careful – do not bury the shelter too deep, so as not to damage the root system.

Plants are in dire need of sunlight for successful vegetation and fruiting, so it is better to put a piece of glass in place of the removed bottom. This way you will protect the planting from the icy wind, but will not deprive it of ultraviolet light.

Protection from weeds

An old metal bucket without a bottom can save a valuable seedling not only from freezing, but also from weed encroachment. Dig the container so that the sides rise above the bed level by 20-30 cm, and plant the seedlings in the resulting circle. Weeds will not crawl over such a barrier with shoots or break through it with roots.

If you are going to use plastic containers as insurance, make sure that they are food-grade and will not release harmful substances into the soil. For small seedlings, cut PET bottles with a capacity of 3-6 liters are suitable – they are safe and almost free.

Basket for the harvest

When picking garden and wild berries, it is difficult to protect them from being crushed under their own weight, running off and souring. A “bottomless” bucket, divided into horizontal sectors by grids of different diameters, will come to the rescue. It is better to cover the grids with paper in several layers before putting the catch.

A bucket with a net instead of a bottom will serve as a convenient container for collecting and temporarily storing root crops: potatoes, beets, carrots, radishes. The dried soil will fall out through the mesh, and the vegetables will be able to ventilate well.

Garden furniture

Which gardener has not at least once placed an inverted bucket on the ground and sat down on it to rest in exhaustion? Advanced workers attach a small plastic bucket to their “fifth point” with rubber bands to sit comfortably near the beds while working. It is logical to go further and use unnecessary containers as the basis for a country furniture set.

A sturdy whole bucket can serve as the base of a stool, ottoman or coffee table, and cut in half – an original back of a garden chair.

Lampshades

Lampshades look good in simple country interiors chandeliers, floor lamps and sconces made with your own hands from metal buckets. You can use containers of different sizes, cut them into washers, drill holes so that the light falls through them in a whimsical way – the field for creativity is wide.

These lamps look especially great on the veranda, terrace or backyard, hanging over a picnic table or a bar counter in the barbecue area.

Beach umbrella stand

Speaking of outdoor recreation – if you have a huge umbrella, you do not necessarily have to dig it in permanently. A mobile structure is much more practical, with which you can easily create the desired shade anywhere at the right time.

Procedure:

1. Take a large bucket and a polypropylene sewer pipe with a diameter slightly larger than the umbrella leg.
2. Install a section of pipe in the middle of the container and fill it with cement to ¾ of the height, wait for the mixture to harden.
3. Pour in drainage, add fertile soil, plant flowers or ornamental plants that you like.
4. Decorate the tub to your taste – a portable flower bed with shelter from the scorching sun is ready!

Hose holder and organizer

The garden hose always tends to get tangled, and also gets covered with lumps of wet earth, which needs to be allowed to dry out and fall off. A bucket “reel” is ideal for this, as it is convenient to put garden tools inside: gloves, pruning shears, a shovel, a hoe.

With the help of several buckets, screwed with their bottoms to the wall, it is easy to build a whole organizer for storing work tools and household items.

Poultry feeder

At the end, we will voice a useful tip for owners of chickens, geese, ducks and other voracious feathered creatures. In order not to constantly replenish the bird’s food supplies, you can construct a feeder from a plastic bucket, making holes in the walls in a circle closer to the bottom. The food will gradually pour out from there into the cells or simply onto the ground.

First of all, a bucket is a universal container that can be decorated and used as a storage or interior decoration. Therefore, do not rush to say goodbye to dilapidated, rusty and leaky helpers – they can be useful and give comfort.