Our DIY Tile Planter Box Makes a Unique & Useful Teacher Gift!
This simple homemade DIY planter box or pencil holder is surprisingly easy to make!
Have some extra tiles from a project you want to re-purpose?
I’m sharing how to turn a few ceramic tiles into a stylish planter or pencil holder. What a thoughtful gift idea for a teacher to display on their desk or for a friend to jazz up their office space. Of course, you’ll want to make one for yourself, too! 🤗
Don’t worry – this project is simple to make!
We’re gluing sides of the tile together to form a cube and then gluing a wooden base on the bottom. You can then place a small faux or real potted plant inside, or use it to keep pencils and pens together.
Where can I find some tiles?
This project works for either 4-inch or 6-inch square tiles. I love this trendy Spanish tile look, so I chose them for my project, but you can use any color or style as long as they’re square.
While this is the perfect project for using up those leftover tiles, if you’re interested in my 6-inch black and white tiles, I found those at Lowe’s. The 4-inch blue and white tiles came from my local tile store. Both types of tile were around $1 each! I’d encourage you to check your local tile store for clearance tiles.
Hip tips for making this DIY tile planter or pencil holder:
- Grab a strong construction adhesive such as Liquid Nails. This will ensure that your tiles do stick, and be sure to also allow time for them to dry overnight.
- Support the tiles while they dry. I used heavy objects on each side so they wouldn’t fall over when drying.
- Use a piece of wood as a base for your cube. For an evenly constructed cube, I cut pieces of scrap wood we already had in the garage that fit the bottom area. You can check out craft stores for square wooden plaques if you don’t have wood on hand to use. I stained the wood pieces with some leftover stain, but that’s optional.
- Consider placing adhesive cork bumpers under the tile planter to prevent scratching your furniture. You can also make trivets and/or coasters with the leftover tiles using the bumpers, too!
DIY Tile Cube Planter/Pencil Holder
PrintSupplies Needed
- 4 pieces of square tiles (either 6-inch or 4-inch)
- construction adhesive (such as Liquid Nails)
- scrap piece of wood for base
- wood stain (if using)
- sandpaper (to sand excess glue if needed)
- small potted plant or pencils
Directions
1
Place a generous amount of glue along the edge of one piece of tile, and glue it to the edge of another piece. Make sure the design is facing outward. Hold the pieces together for a minute or two until the glue has a chance to initially set.
2
Continue with that process on all four pieces to make a cube shape.
3
Use a power or hand saw to cut a piece of wood the same size as the bottom of cube to make a base. Alternatively, you can purchase a square piece of wood from a craft store. Stain wood and let dry if desired. Glue base to the bottom of cube. Let dry overnight.
4
Sand any excess glue on the tile, and wipe the tile clean. Place a small potted plant or pencils inside your tile cube to gift as desired.
I LOVE how simple this project was!
The onlinebination of tile and wood is so pretty. Now I’ll be on the lookout for any and all pretty tiles! What a fun craft and gift idea. I think I need one for my desk too. How about you?!
Check out a larger-scale DIY planter box I also made from tiles!
