Creative Ways To Reuse Broken Dishes In Your Home Or Garden

One minute you're admiring the china dishes lining your entryway wall or neatly stacked in your kitchen cabinet, the next you're looking for a broom to clean up the broken pieces before someone gets hurt. While the regular course of action is to wrap up the pieces in a bag (or a few layers of newspaper) before discarding, it's not the best since crockery is seldom recyclable. So, instead of relegating your broken dishes to overflowing landfills, upcycle them in your home and garden. 

For instance, you can create a memorable backsplash with a custom mosaic design, convert them into art pieces, or use them in your garden to feed and water birds. The possibilities are endless. Just be careful while handling them or you could accidentally cut yourself. Unsure of how to get started? Here are 11 creative ways to reuse broken dishes in your home and garden. Remember to keep a hammer and old towel handy to break down the bigger pieces into manageable bits.

If you're hoping to turn common household items into beautiful planters, look no further than a broken or chipped plate. You'll also need an old glass vase (or purchase one for $1.25 from Dollar Tree), some clay, and a rolling pin. Once you have the supplies, wrap the rolled clay around the vase and take a hammer to the dishes to break them down till you're only left with small pieces. Use multi-hued or textured plates to DIY a unique planter or stick with one design for a uniform look.

Want to upgrade your yard on a budget? Craft colorful stepping stones to boost its aesthetic appeal. You'll just need some concrete mix, a trowel, your preferred mold, and a few broken plates (or other dishes, like bowls). In case you want the stepping stones to be affixed to your yard, dig a hole about an inch deep and fill it with concrete before adding the broken pieces on top. Get creative with the shapes and the broken pieces to further beautify your yard. However, avoid stepping on the stones without footwear on, or you risk cutting yourself on the jagged edges of the crockery.

Wondering about the art of Kintsugi and how you can use it in your kitchen? You can use the Japanese gold joinery technique to repair your broken crockery. Simply get some golden powder and combine it with a strong, clear glue to form a paste. Apply it to the broken parts to glue them together and make them look pretty. However, the plates, mixing bowls, and other dishes you fix through modern Kintsugi aren't food-safe due to the presence of adhesives (while the traditional method uses plant-based urushi lacquer) and should only be used for decorative purposes.

For broken dishes that can't be put together with glue, you can transform them into decor pieces with paint — preferably acrylic or ceramic. Hide the previous design using Mod Podge or paint right over it — your choice. Don't forget to clean and dry the plates and bowls first to help the paint adhere to the surface. Moreover, if you aren't confident in your abilities to directly paint the broken pieces, draw your intended design using a Sharpie first. Once the paint is dry, display the pieces around your house, but ensure they're out of reach of your kids and pets.

Tired of looking at your old outdoor tables? Upgrade their look with some grout and broken dishes. But first lay down a thin layer of a crack isolation membrane to let the wooden surface contract and expand based on weather conditions and minimize direct contact between the table and the grout. Apply a uniform layer of grout and lay down the broken pieces (multi-hued and textured crockery look best) in your preferred design. Once this is cured, apply a little grout on top of your mosaic table to smoothen the jagged surface and fill the cracks.

Looking for a gorgeous art piece to decorate your bare walls without spending much money? Grab a spare piece of cardboard and stick your broken dishes on top to add visual interest. This is a smart way to repurpose cardboard boxes after a move and keep your chipped plates and bowls out of the trash can. However, ensure the cardboard is strong and thick enough to support the weight of the mosaic. Also, it's best to stick the fragmented pieces with cyanoacrylate adhesive, aka super glue, so your mosaic doesn't disintegrate once hung.

Want to attract more birds to your yard? Add a bird bath to offer avian visitors a spot to quench their thirst and preen their feathers. However, if you'd rather not spend money on this outdoor feature, grab a terracotta saucer and stick your fragmented dishes on top to make a charming DIY bird bath. While a simple DIY, you might want to seal the terracotta first since it's porous. Apply one to two coats of 1 part Weldbond wash (available on Amazon for $9.99) mixed with 1 part water. This will act as a primer and help your DIY birdbath resist water. Once the wash is cured, use silicone adhesive to glue the broken dishes as a mosaic, being careful not to leave any exposed sharp edges.

Are you hoarding a collection of broken or chipped plates, bowls, and cups, and can't bring yourself to discard them? Use the pieces to create a stunning backsplash for your home. All you have to do is grab the pieces and stick them to the wall with a bit of mortar. You can either use the broken pieces as-is or use a set of tile nippers (available for $15.99 on Amazon) to clip and proudly display only your favorite designs. That being said, the project is time-consuming and effort-intensive, so undertake it accordingly.

Don't throw away your chipped plates and bowls. Instead, use them to feed the birds outside. The plan is pretty simple. You grab the chipped dish prior and put in some seeds, grains, nuts, worms, and berries to create a veritable buffet for the birds flying over your garden. Although simple, the dish's placement will mean the difference between birds eating your laid-out offering or giving it a wide berth. So, choose a spot after careful consideration. Plus, ensure the dishes aren't too cracked or feature jagged edges, or the feasting birds might get hurt.

A savvy way to incorporate art in your yard is to grout together your broken plates, cups, and other dishes. Use colorful crockery with varied textures and designs to make your backyard art stand out. Better yet, turn it into a selfie wall or the perfect background for your Zoom meetings and DIY TikTok videos. Since you'll need a considerable amount of dishes to completely cover a portion of the wall, ask your friends and family (neighbors, too) for their defective sets. Then, lay them down in a fun pattern or be random.

Digging a moat is a great garden edging idea and makes for the perfect landscaping. But how do you make it stand out? By prettifying the border with chipped plates. You just need to dig a hole large enough to embed half the plates in the ground, so they remain upstanding. Play around with different plate sizes and their placement to make your border look attractive. However, the plates might get uprooted and break when subjected to inclement weather conditions. You'll also need to be careful around your garden border to avoid injuries.