• 0 items$0.00
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Hands Occupied

Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

  • BLOG
    • Knitting
    • Crochet
    • Latch Hook
    • Macramé
    • Punch Needle
  • ABOUT
  • Shop
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • YouTube

How-to: Make a Faux Copper Gutter Garden

February 29, 2012 4 Comments

I’ve been looking forward to sharing this project with you guys ever since I bought the supplies for it. Using sections of aluminium gutters is the coolest idea idea for a garden ever. It’s such a convenient setup because there’s no need for tons of pots or ledges to set planters on. One caveat – these don’t have built-in drainage, so you’ve got to be careful not to overwater. So far, I’m having good luck with them as indoor planters.


Supplies

1 long aluminium gutter piece

a pair of heavy duty tin snips

one left and one right endcap per gutter piece

2-3 mounting clips per gutter for attaching the gutter to the wall

(if desired) paint & painting supplies

pebbles

potting soil

your choice of seeds & plants

Directions

Visit your hardware store’s gutter section. Most big box home improvement stores have a section of the store dedicated to gutter parts and accessories. I bought one 10 ft. long gutter and asked a sales associate how to cut it into smaller pieces. The really kind man introduced me to heavy duty tin snips, used to cut gutters. Since I was buying a single gutter piece, he cut it into one 4 ft. & two 3 ft. pieces for me. (Thanks, Home Depot guy!)

With three total gutter sections, I needed to buy three left-side endcaps, three right-side endcaps, and nine mounting clips for mounting my gardens and containing their soil.

When I got home, I painted all of my endcaps and gutter pieces gold to add some color to my bathroom, where I decided to mount them. Plus, I’d originally wanted to use copper gutters for this project, but holy crap! Copper gutters are way more expensive than a can of paint. Note: if you plan to grow edible plants in your gutter gardens, don’t get paint on the inside or mounting clips. Paint is toxic.

Once my couple layers of paint dried, my husband mounted them for me into the studs of my bathroom wall. He made sure to use the studs because soil and plants can be heavy.

He didn’t actually enjoy mounting these at all. ;)

The rest of this project is just using the gutters as planters. I put a thin layer of pea rock along the bottom of the gutters to start. Follow that with your desired soil, plants, and/or seeds. Check out my finished garden today!

When I was buying plants for my gutter gardens, I also picked up this cute (and supposedly lucky) money tree. Check it out!


DIY Club

Filed Under: Home Decor, How-to Tagged With: diy, garden, gutter, indoor, planters

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

Previous Post: « How-to: Test Tube Garden
Next Post: My Family’s Crafts: Crazy Cousin It Dolls »

Reader Interactions

DID YOU LIKE THIS POST?
Visit similar articles...

  • Inspiration ThursdayInspiration Thursday
  • How-to: Cinder Block PlantersHow-to: Cinder Block Planters
  • Attempting a Giant Pom Pom CostumeAttempting a Giant Pom Pom Costume
  • Picks of the WeekPicks of the Week

DON’T MISS ANOTHER UPDATE

Comments

  1. Patricia in Denver

    June 11, 2013 at 3:48 pm

    What I did for my gutter planters was trace the end of the gutter on a piece of wood and cut it out with a jug saw. Then I placed the wood just inside the edge of the gutter and used several small screws to hold it in place. Works fine, used scrap wood, and it was free.

    Reply
  2. Lillianna Murphy

    March 27, 2014 at 1:01 pm

    Wow! I love this! That breeze you feel is me running to the hardware store to buy some gutters!

    Thanks!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. How-to Maintan an Indoor Gutter Garden – Hands Occupied says:
    June 4, 2013 at 12:00 am

    […] How-to: Faux Copper Gutter Garden for instructions on making your own indoor gutter gardens […]

    Reply
  2. Indoor Gardening: Bringing The Gutters Indoors - The Urban Gardening Digest says:
    June 9, 2013 at 11:39 am

    […] here to read the full project article and grab a list of items needed for this […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

UPDATES BY EMAIL

Monthly highlights sent to your inbox.

Find Me Elsewhere, If You’re There

  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
Latch Hook by Heidi GustadDiscover Unique Items

Footer

INSTAGRAM

handsoccupied

Yarn craft designer & author. Into intarsia knits, latch hook, color & vintage-modern style.
❤️ Email for pattern support
👇🏻 Book, Patterns, Tutorials

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
If you look closely, you’ll see I’m casually k If you look closely, you’ll see I’m casually knitting from one sweater into another here, no big deal. (What can I say, I lost a game of yarn chicken. 😂) I almost didn’t post this because I was worried someone might have some nonsense to say about my ability to knit. Then I remembered I can’t care about that. Silly me, I almost forgot myself! 
.
Speaking of which, dang it’s good to have my mental health back consistently after the past couple of years. The anxious parts of my personality are just chilling, rather than constantly screaming that my work isn’t good enough to share. The confident parts of me that matter have me creating (and starting to share my creations & process with strangers and friends) again! 
.
Anybody else feel like they are beginning to return to themselves, so to speak, this spring?
I’m feeling better, & all my [big, bad bug] proj I’m feeling better, & all my [big, bad bug] project needs is a couple of short sleeves! I’ll be finishing this sweater *just* before it gets too warm to wear, but isn’t that always how it goes? 🫠🧶 
.
#knittersofinstagram #soldotnacrop #handsoccupied #knitincolor #springknitting
Just divided the sleeves on this quick sweater, wh Just divided the sleeves on this quick sweater, which has unsurprisingly turned into a love letter to primary colors. ❤️💛💙 The heart stripe is a wee tweak I incorporated, and I don’t regret it! 
.
 #handsoccupied #soldotnacrop #strandedcolorwork #knitting #yokesweater
I am unfortunately home bound for the near future I am unfortunately home bound for the near future thanks to the big, bad bug. So far I’ve knit half a sweater, consumed about a gallon of ginger tea, & plowed through 3 seasons of Pit Bulls and Parolees. 
.
June doesn’t understand why I’m suddenly so boring, but she seems to like watching animal planet. 🤷🏼‍♀️
A bit of Saturday swatching. 🧶 I am working in A bit of Saturday swatching. 🧶 I am working in greyscale today to practice designing “without color”. Kinda cool, kinda weird. We’ll see if it yields anything interesting! 😆
.
#intarsia #intarsiaknitting #stopswatchandblockit #handsoccupied #knittersofinstagram
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 / Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework / Branding by Ink + Mortar
All Site & Shop Policies / Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy