DIY Coffee Table (Using An Old Bath & Plants!)
I’m excited to share with you another project I created for Ben‘s new restaurant in Hong Kong, The Winery. If you hate plants, now would be a good time to click off (haha, how are we even friends?), but if you love them as much as I do, read on!
With a focus at his new restaurant on greenery and bringing the outdoors inside, when Ben and I found this vintage bath in an antique store I was pretty excited to use it somehow, but to be honest I had no idea what to do with it. A bucket for beers? A cactus garden? However, once we got it into the space I realised it would absolutely need to be used as a table, with the addition of a whole bunch of plants and a table top. Full disclosure – it’s a very easy project so long as you can get your hands on a bath of some sort and it would be such a lovely project in a garden if you’re lucky enough to have one of those. Enjoy!
This tin bath so reminds me of the beautiful old antiques on my family farm in Mullimbimby in Australia, like time stopped in the 50’s!
You need
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You need two pieces of plywood for this project – one that fits halfway down into the base of the bath, and another that sits on the top and covers about 2/3 of the size of the top of the bath. This will be your table top so think about that when you choose the side – if you just plan for it to be a spot to have tea and it doesn’t need to be that large, you can make the table top shorter and have more plants. Remember it does need to reach to the edges of the bath though so it doesn’t fall in.
You're going to need at least 6 big plants for this project. I went with hanging plants as they seemed to have bigger and bushier leaves. You also want to make sure the plants you choose aren't toxic, so ask your garden centre before purchasing.
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We sourced this vintage tin bath from an antiques store in Australia, and I would have taken if it home it would fit!
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First, I placed the smaller piece of plywood inside the bath so that the plants had an easy base to sit on so they weren't too far down. If you are planning on putting this outside you could choose to plant the plants in some soil inside the bath, but for cleanliness and drainage I went with leaving them in their pots and creating this false base to lift them up.
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Next, I started placing plants around the edges. I used three big bushy plants on each end but as always, more is more! Make sure you put pot plant bases underneath so you can water them without too much mess or mildew.
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Finally, I placed the piece of plywood cut to size in the middle on the top edge of the bath.
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This would also be so amazing with a marble table top, but plywood was a easy alternative. Naturally I used the project as a really great excuse to drop in and sample all the breakfast dishes…… Don’t mind if I do!
Definitely drop into The Winery and pull up a chair.. or a bath! If you love plant projects, check out this DIY Plant Wall and A Guide to Caring For Your Plants.
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