apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

tires.. no.

Nothing says "Trailer Park" quite like automobile parts and plumbing fixtures turned into planters.

That tire could be sent to a recycler for recapping as a spare or shredding and reuse as playground mulch, rubber play mats, etc...
...and the engine block could be melted down and reused for new parts.

Are you serious? This has been done for decades in places very far removed from San Francisco, both geographically and culturally.

Anyone who's lived in outer suburbia or in small towns has seen tires and auto parts as flower pots/beds for years. It's funny to see what is newly "hip" in urban areas.

Are you trying to out-Austin Austin?

I saw someone use a child's bed for a garden edger and it looked like a grave. I'm not a fan of leaving one's bathroom out on the lawn as a decorative planter either. I guess I am fuddy-duddy! I think a container shouldn't look like you are letting your heavy trash pile up in the yard until plants take it over.

Love the engine block, but the tire just makes me cringe...

If I had not been to Flora Grubb Gardens I would most likely be saying the same things about that tire.

If you are in the Bay Area go its such a cool space and the tire planter in only one of the few funky planters they actually have a entire old beater car that has been turned into a planter, so the tire works in that space. The gardens are beautiful so many great plants and displays. I love the home decor gift store lots of treasures and things you don't see everywhere else. They have a good coffee bar too. Its a fun place to grab a cup of coffee and browse for an hour. I bought a bunch of really beautiful succulents and pretty piece of pottery.

At least paint the tires white, which is usually done when making a raised bed out of one.

LoriSF - A funky theme garden center is not the same thing as suggesting people put this idea to use at home. I'm glad it's a nice place for you to buy plants that you can recommend it. I still think it doesn't look nice or "funky."

"A funky theme garden center is not the same thing as suggesting people put this idea to use at home."

Agreed - kinda like the posts we've seen here about wooden blocks displayed as "books", tree stump risers on dining tables and stacked and bound cardboard "end tables" in certain retail displays...

KTC I don't understand your comment. I am commenting that tire works at Flora Grubb and letting Bay Area people know it is a fun place to visit

I don't want a tire planter in my yard anymore than you would and maybe some do or it might work if they have a warehouse space or want a funky garden in any event any likes of dislike are allow to be posted.

I think its cute. I want to see more ideas like this. Its imaginative and fun. I love when people have the guts to do unusual things.

not so hot and the tire is downright ugly, let some else use the tire instead in a car.

I like the engine block but not the tire. Out here in the sticks you see this stuff all the time.
We do have someone here though that turned an entire vw beetle convertible into a planter. It's blue.

LoriSF - I guess it sounded like you thought the way it looked was fun enough to carry over to your home... which is your choice (I suppose). It sounds like a nice garden center on your recommendation also. I would carry bepsf's examples of such decor as "TGIFriday's" when people hang things like license plates on the wall (which idea I think is lifted from old diners and restaurants along the highways before the Interstate system was developed). It gives the restaurant or other business a gimmick which just doesn't translate well in the home, while setting it apart from other businesses in the same category.

Yes, the neighbors will be thrilled to see how hip you are when you plant up your designer tire! Please, no.

The engine block, on the other hand, has an interesting, sculptural quality.

Lorijo, that VW sounds sort of sweet.

Trailer park!

I like the engine block. It's kind of steampunk-y