A friend wanted me to make her a planter that looked like a mini-greenhouse. After seeing some great picture frame lanterns and lamps here on Hometalk, I knew just what to use for glass.
Micro-mini Greenhouse Planter
5 Materials
$24
2 Hours
Easy
A micro-greenhouse I made for a gardening buddy out of picture frames and a craft box
shopping at Walmart for materials
I removed the glass and backing from the picture frames
align the hinges against the frame
I drilled the edge of the picture frames with a 5/64" bit and installed two hinges along an edge. Note that I only used the outside screws, as not to interfere with the glass.
Hinges make a great adjustable bracket in a lot of situations, even if the finished product doesn't have to move.
I then installed two more hinges on the other side of each picture frame. These will attach to the craft box
To prevent any damage to the glass, I went ahead and marked and drilled the holes in the craft box for the bottom hinges before the glass was installed/painted
I then re-installed the glass in the frames and taped off the "Muntins" (or Mullions if you prefer) with masking tape. BTW the blue masking tape doesn't stick to glass very well, I would recommend trying the old school yellow stuff.
Brush the spaces between the tape, and the frames themselves. I used white acrylic chalk paint. Cover the hinges too. Don't worry about getting outside the tape, it cleans up easy with a razor knife/scraper
Remove the tape, and attach the frames back to the craft box using the previously-drilled holes. Now you can touch up any part of your window. I added some chalk paint to the craft box so it would look a bit more uniform to the window using a dry brush technique.
As hard as it was to mask the glass, I think painting the whole pane and scraping off the 'windows' might have been faster and easier. As far as the costs go, I already had the paint and tape.
I'm really happy with how this came out
Don't be surprised to see a cart near my front lawn with some re-purposed house windows attached in the same manner some time in the near future.
Looks right at home!
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2 of 34 comments
Mcgypsy9on Aug 3, 2018Oh I just love these things and never thought about painting the frames on the glass. Love this!
Pamela S Ramoson Sep 22, 2018I love this idea
Have a question about this project?
I thought sunshine through the glass would burn the plants?
The plants appear to be doing well just a few weeks later
What type of plants would be best.
I can't help you there, I'm fairly new to gardening. Wherever you put it (full shade, moderate, etc) match your plants to the location
Did you line the box with anything to keep it from rotting? It’s very pretty I love it I made one out of picture frames too not to long ago have it sitting on my kitchen table in a tray I found at a thrift store don’t have anything in it right now
Looks great Sheri! We didn't line it, we figured the weather would take it's toll as much as the topsoil. My next one will be a metal 'little red wagon'