I love repurposing things from around my home instead of throwing them out when they’ve reached the end of their life. One of the most common ways I repurpose things is by turning them into planters for my large (and growing!) plant collection. Certain plants can thrive in almost any kind of planter, including a repurposed items like an old glass candle holder! If you’d like to learn how I turned an old glass candle holder into a little painted planter, read on.

Supplies:

Old glass candle holderPot, stove, water, pot holdersAluminum foil and napkinsDish soap and spongePainter’s tapeMetallic gold spray paintSmall rocks, soil, and plant

Instructions:

1. Put a few inches of water into your pot and turn your burner on medium heat. Then set the old glass candle holder into the pan. As the water heats up, the remnants of the candle wax will liquefy.

2. Grab a piece of foil and turn the edges up to make a bowl-like shape. Once the wax is completely liquified, put on your pot holders, pick up the candle holder, and dump the liquid wax into the foil bowl. Be careful, it’s HOT! Your candle wick and other nasties will be dumped out with the wax.

3. Wipe the inside of the candle holder out with a napkin and peel off any labels on the exterior. Even though you’ve melted out the wax, the candle holder won’t be sparkling yet. Grab a sponge and scrub the inside and outside of the candle holder using warm water and dish soap. This will remove the rest of the leftover wax streaks.

4. Once your candle holder is dry, tape a design onto it using painter’s tape. Make sure to firmly tape over all areas you do not want painted.

5. Grab some spray paint–I used a metallic gold–and paint the candle holder. Let it dry for a few minutes and give it a second coat if necessary. Then gently peel off the painter’s tape to reveal your design.

6. You can stop here and use your recycled candle holder for anything, really. I have one that I use as a pencil holder! But I wanted to make this one a planter. I put a few inches of rocksin the bottom of the candle holder for drainage first, then I put a small piece of coffee filter on to to prevent the soil from wall down into the rocks. Then I added soil, and planted a cute little plant.

And that’s it! This is a great way to repurpose an old glass candle holder to give it another life, and it’s such an easy project to customize. Good luck!