This Adorable Place Mat Hack Will Hide A Not-So-Adorable Plant Pot

When you think about indoor plant babies, you're likely more focused on the species and how they will look/thrive in your home. The last factor people take into consideration usually is the pot where your plants will reside, especially since many flora or fauna will outgrow their original dwellings over time, and you'll have to upgrade or change them out. However, these can also be expensive, especially when finding decorative options that are aesthetically pleasing and functional. If you want to update your average or boring plant pot, all you need to do is create a place mat sleeve to cover up the ordinary and make it more extraordinary. Plus, this hack only takes a few minutes and won't cost you a fortune to try.

Blogger Lily Ardor found a fun way to disguise what she dubs 'unflattering' pots with nothing more than some place mats. The great part of this DIY project is you can use any mats you want, giving you a wide variety of options to play with that will match your interiors. From there, you only need a few basic materials and less than half an hour to create a plant pot cover that will look like you grabbed it off Etsy or out of a high-end store. Here's how to transform your container into a kitschy holder worthy of your coveted plant children.

Gathering your materials is the first step to creating these easy sleeves. Lily Ardor recommends buying plant wire to tie multiple place mats together, which you'll need if you have a larger pot. The clear wire will allow you to build a longer covering without looking obvious or messy, and it doesn't require sewing. If you own a hot glue gun, this can help with the ends and allows you to attach velcro, which will be what connects your place mats once they've been wrapped around the pot. You can buy the place mats from online shops like Amazon or head to your favorite brick and mortar. Measure the pots you plan to cover; that way, you'll know how many you need to purchase.

In her blog, Lily Ardor uses grass place mats with tassels on each end, which she cut off some sides and left only one end with the adornments. If you choose to use a mat with embellishments, you can do the same or leave everything on. She then used the floral wire to connect the sides that won't have velcro so that the cover can wrap around the pot. Lastly, she glued the velcro to the open ends so they could clasp shut around the vessel. 

The flower wire will work best with wicker and materials that have spaces between where it can go through. For fabrics that aren't as easily punctured, you can sew ends together or glue them with a hot glue gun, just make sure they will stay in place once it dries. For other materials, you can weave the wire between spaces on each side, connecting them that way. Tie off the wire at the bottom and trim loose ends for a clean, finished side.

Smaller pots might not be as easily covered with just one mat, but two could overlap. In this case, you can either trim one place mat down or attach the velcro on one end and glue it to whatever spot the wrap finishes. Purchasing two mats minimum is probably the best idea, so you have extra should you need it. It's best to consider where your plants sit before buying the place mats, as some materials are more prone to sun damage. Colored fabrics, grass materials, and even certain linens can fade with direct sunlight, so save these for your leaf babies that don't require such intense heat. You can also experiment with other mediums like crochet covers or even a bamboo rolling mat.