Stenciled Cinder Block Planter Tutorial | Reality Day Dream (2024)

April 28, 2016 by Bethany Sy

We’re honored to collaborate with EcoScraps on this post, and were compensated for our time. All opinions and project ideas belong to us!

I love the idea of using Cinder Blocks as planters, and have seen some really cute ones out there. As you know I’ve been making an effort to ‘freshen up’ our front porch (that we never use, but is very visible from the road), so I thought it would be fun to add a cinder block corner planter to balance the cuteness from the Hanging Gutter Planter on the opposite side of the porch!

Of course it would be out of character for meto not add my personal touch to these otherwise boring chunks of cement, so I decided to use a handful of stencils from my extensive stencil stash to add some pattern and a punch of color… very similar to the Patchwork Accent Wall I did in the twins’ room!

This was a quick and easy process! But if you’re doing this outside, make sure it’s on a day when there’s absolutely no wind.

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Patchwork Cinder Block Corner Planter Supply List:

• Cinder Blocks
• Variety of stencils
• Variety of spray paint colors

I used 4 different shades of aqua / turquoise and the following stencils: Small Spanish Lace, Small Margarita Lace, Chez Ali Moroccan and Step Up Triangles. I just randomly painted each cinder block with a different stencil color combo until they were all painted. Such a fun project with instant gratification!

We have the profound honor to be working with a company called EcoScraps, and love that they recycle food scraps into organic soil and plant food. Truthfully this comes at a great time with my new resolution to ‘have a greener thumb’ and our efforts to up our curb appeal with pretties this spring. And it fits seamlessly with this DIY Cinder Block Planter project!

Isn’t that a hilarious video? Doesn’t it make you inexplicably want to be a better person in all areas of your life? What could be a better business model that reusing waste to keep it out of landfills in an effort to make sustainability more mainstream?!

We snagged ourselves a bag from Lowes, and got our hands dirty planting Azaleas and Pansies in our Cinder Block Planter! For the taller stacked areas of cinder block, we filled them in with bark mulch up to the top cinder block with a layer of landscaping fabric on top, and then added the last 6 inches of soil and a sprinkle of EcoScraps ACR mix (which is specifically for flowers).

Would you look at those Rhododendron buds (pictured above)? Cannot wait for those suckers to bloom! We’ll eventually plant her on the SW corner of our house. But for now, she’s looking all pretty in a pot. Even in just the few days since taking these pictures, the grass has greened up, and the trees are filled with leaves. I should have waited to take my pictures of my new Cinder Block Planter!

I made myself another half-circle wooden doormat and will be re-writing a tutorial for it soon! I made some changes to make it more durable, and took better photos this time. You can look forward to that!

Now that I know how inexpensive cinder blocks are, my head is swimming with different ways to use them. Like have you seen these benches made only with cinder clocks and 4×4’s? So innovative!

Have you been out and about playing in the dirt yet? Are you like me and trying to up your landscaping efforts this year? I’d love to hear about what you’re planting! And of course please let me know if you make one of these cinder block planters!

~Bethany

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Huge thanks to EcoScraps for collaborating with us on this project. We were compensated for our time, but all opinions and project ideas are 100% ours! We’re honored to partner with a company that is taking strides to make our world a better place. Just knowing that 40% of food is wasted makes me sick… that’s enough to fill the Rose Bowl EVERY DAY. Why not recycle it to make our plants happy?!