Repurposed Planter: A New Home For our Habaneros

Last weekend we made a pretty cool little plant display that's holding this year's habanero peppers. It was a really quick little project that used up some of the things we've had lying around in storage — which is always a good feeling when you finally put something to use you've been meaning to get to.

Here's the story. Mary's mom had salvaged and brought us this antique wash stand from our cousin who lives down on the river near her.

 It would have had a basin in the center, cup holder underneath, and the extending bar would have held a towel, similar to something like this:

French metal wash stand, via Oh So Vintage

You can see ours is on its last leg and was otherwise headed for the junk yard unless we wanted it. Rusty pieces of history like this are right up our alley, so we gladly held onto it while thinking of ways to repurpose it for future use.

She'd also brought us this little habanero starter plant (knowing I love everything spicy) at another point back in the season — and as you can see, it was getting to the point where it needed transplanting into a larger container:

So you can probably see where this is going, yes? We decided to make turn the old wash stand into a plant stand that would hold our peppers on display!

The stand needed a little attitude adjustment to make sure it could even stand up properly and while we love the look of the rust, we gave it a good scrubbing to rub off all the rough parts:

And the habanero plant was a perfect fit for a larger plastic container with drainage holes stacked inside one of the more rustic looking planters we'd scored at a neighborhood sale last fall.

Did you catch that warning written across the container of this plant? These are dangerously hot.

We transplanted the pepper by loosening the root ball and massaging the roots out of their conformed shape to help encourage growth in the new, bigger pot:

Then just gently stacked the planter inside the wash bin:

We love the new look and hope the plant is feeling a little roomier in its new digs too. We ended up moving it out front and after a few healthy waterings, things are looking much better:

Now these peppers can continue to get hotter and hotter while looking stylish at the same time.

While I wait for them to get more orange and ready to pick, I've been thinking of the kinds of sauces and seasonings that might be fun to try making. Here's how they're looking almost a full week after the transplant:

Nice and happy, right? One thing's for sure — we won't be eating these guys straight from the plant. If you have a use for habaneros be sure to drop me a line!

What are you excited about in your garden this year? Repurposed anything laying around into a planter or other creative new use?