Potting Table Transformation

How to create a functional and pretty place to pot your plants

Just in time for late spring and early summer: an ode to the functional and fabulous potting table! But first off, a confession. This is not a potting table per se.

One of the pieces I inherited from our former business She Shed Living, this baker’s rack transitions easily into a backyard potting table. The best $50 ever spent.

You’re right. It’s a baker’s rack. But since I had need of a potting table and had no need for a baker’s rack, well, I took matters into my own hands.

After neglecting the back yard for a few months, I went back to it recently to water and take a good look around. The baker’s rack/potting table I brought home after She Shed Living closed rested forlornly against a garage wall. It is very visible from the guest room’s sliding doors but even with this nice piece, the area was not looking well cared for. A potting table with no potting activity is a sad, sad thing.

Dusty and placed like an afterthought, our baker’s rack-turned-potting table was just waiting for some attention.

Bring Out the Gardener Inside You

An old oil pan from Vintdustrial makes a handy plant tray. Below, plastic bags of potting soil and fertilizer are housed in cute burlap sacks. The tool holder is an Indian water bucket I found at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

Although I like to think of myself as a consummate gardener, I am not. But I do have pretty good luck with potted plants. My yard is filled with colorful geraniums, fuschia and a couple of Boston ferns. All I needed was a better way to manage my tasks and not end up looking for my trowel in three different places in the garage.

When building and designing sheds for women, one of the most popular elements we noticed was having a space for gardening tasks. It doesn’t matter if you are a skilled gardener or not; in fact, having a potting table makes you a better one.

Try to arrange your furnishings and accessories so that they evoke a small “open” room. A chair like this one or a small table should be placed away from the wall and at a 45- or 90-degree angle.

When you have a great place to work, your work often improves. All your stuff is right there—pots, soil, tools, watering can. It makes a huge difference in your gardening and plant-potting motivation to have a dedicated and functional space for it. I decided to create a focal point that was pretty to look at while still offering work space and storage.

Potting Table Elements of Style

I started by examining the potting table’s placement. The brown walls surrounding it needed a bit of ornamentation. The day I went plant shopping I stopped by a local garage sale advertising plants. And while I didn’t like the plants they had left, I did spot these two iron wall candelabra.

Score!

Next, I checked out Vintdustrial in Huntington Beach to look for a few gardeny items that weren’t made of plastic. One of my favorite discoveries was a darling ceramic elephant plant holder. This little guy elevated my sweet potato plant and helped add visual interest to the brown wall.

My sweet potato vine really appreciated the lift it got from this blue-and-white elephant plant holder

Another great discovery was a garden mirror. What’s that, you may ask? And that’s exactly what I asked Vintdustrial owner Victoria Apodaca, who filled me in. Garden mirrors are simply decorative mirrors, framed or unframed, set up to reflect light or highlight another pretty part of the garden in an otherwise flat space.

A distressed frameless mirror rests easily on the rungs of my potting table. I didn’t realize how much light a mirror brings to an outdoor space.

I highly recommend hunting for old decorative mirrors, to reflect light and give unexpected dimension to bland corners in your back yard.

With most of the utilitarian stuff stashed below, your shelves can afford giving a little space to decorative objects. Pretty pots, small statuary, baskets, a candle or two … just leave your primary table space somewhat open for the joyous act of potting.

Another great way to define a zone in your back yard is with an outdoor rug. This 5 x 7 rug of dusty blue with a strawberry border was a lucky find at Home Goods. It makes a huge difference in my potting area.

With many thanks to Victoria Apodaca of Vintdustrial and Sarah Austin of ELT Home. Don’t miss their live shopping experiences—follow E.L.T_Home on Instagram.