I absolutely love repurposing things, and repurposing things into little planters is a fun way to give them a completely new life. I made my first teacup planter with a teacup from a set I inherited from my late uncle; it’s the girliest tea set you’ve ever seen, just covered in pink florals, which is so not me!

So I decided to take two of the teacups, paint them, and repurpose them into planters so that I could better incorporate them into my home (don’t worry, there are still six unpainted teacups if I decide one day that I want to have a tea party!).

I was recently at a local thrift store and passed by a few .50 cent tea cups (half of a U.S. dollar for you non-Americans reading this!). I just had to bring one home to share how easy it is to make a planter! Here’s what my .50 cent teacup looked like when I brought it home:

Cute, but totally not my style! But spray paint can fix most things, right? I loved the idea of a black teacup since teacups are supposed to be so dainty, and black, well, isn’t dainty at all! And this is a very easy project, too. Here’s what you’ll need.

Supplies you’ll need to make a tea cup planter:

Old teacupMatte black spray paintSmall cactusCactus soil

Instructions to paint the tea cup planter:

Step 1: The cleaning and painting process

Thoroughly clean your teacup. You don’t know how long it’s been sitting on a shelf in that thrift store! Then grab your matte black spray paint and give it a generous spray on the inside and outside. Two light coats did the trick for me.

Step 2: Planting

When the teacup has dried completed, it’s time to plant! For this planter, you want to use a small, hardy plant, so a cactus is the perfect fit. I’d suggest a small succulent, but they do best in a planter that has great drainage. There is no hole in the bottom of this teacup, nor is there much room to build drainage in to the bottom with a layer of gravel. I’ve found that cactuses work very well in planters like this because they are just such forgiving plants! Just give them a lot of light and a bit of water, and they’ll stay alive.

And don’t they just look so cool planted in a teacup? What do you think?