DIY Upcycled Pulley Planter

This DIY upcycled planter post contains affiliate links.

Years and years ago, I bought an old, somewhat rusty, pulley and it’s been sitting in my stash waiting for just the right project. I wanted to use it for either a pendant light or a repurposed planter idea and I ended up making the latter. This DIY upcycled planter took no time at all to hang and I can’t believe I took so long to get it done!

Supplies for an Upcycled Pulley Planter

Old pulleys are usually pretty easy to find at junk sales or salvage stores and they come in a variety of sizes. The one I bought wasn’t overly large {just a few inches in length} but just right for what I had in mind.

To make a planter, you’ll also need some type of container and rope {if the container doesn’t come with material for hanging}.

I looked at a lot of different containers for this project, including pails and mason jars, but ended up using really neat terrariums that I found at Oriental Trading. They included rope which also made them super convenient.

How to Make a DIY Upcycled Pulley Planter

To make this pulley planter, I first had to accommodate for the moving wheel. Because it sticks up above the flat part of the pulley and would be placed up against a flat ceiling, I cut two small pieces of wood for either side, then stained them to blend in a bit better with the pulley. {Stain wipes are a really great way to handle a small staining job.}

I fed the rope through the pulley but actually did it upside down and even pulled the rope over the pulley on either side. Because of the width of the terrariums I used, they didn’t hang properly if I threaded the rope the right way.

And isn’t that the thing we all love about creating our own projects? You can do anything you want to {wink}!

If you’re using one strand of rope, you can skip this next step. Since I had two pieces, I joined them together with glue then wrapped the joint with tape to prevent fraying. If you use a nylon type rope, I would suggest melting the ends together.

How to Hang an Upcycled Pulley Planter

To hang the planter, I used a stud finder to find the studs in the ceiling over my kitchen window seat then drilled pilot holes through the small wood pieces and into the ceiling.

Once the pilot holes were drilled, I attached the pulley into the ceiling with regular wood screws.