How to Make an Umbrella Stand: Cheap and Crafty Solutions
Whether you’re looking for a pretty addition to add personality to your doorstep or a convenient storage solution for your umbrellas, an umbrella stand should be a serious contender. Although there are hundreds of them that you can buy in the stores, you can actually build one.
If you make your own umbrella stand, you can customize it to your own personal needs and preferences. Now, there are many ways that you can do this, and these are what we are going to explore in this article.
How to Make an Umbrella Stand
You don’t need to spend a huge amount of money in order to have the umbrella stand of your choice. What you can do is give new life to unused or broken stuff in your house and turn them into a functional and stylish umbrella stand.
Here are three different ways you can do that:
Using Old Buckets
You can also transform a bucket into a fully-functional umbrella stand. For this project, here are the materials that you’ll need:
- Galvanized or flower bucket
- Glossy enamel paint
- Painter’s tape
Once you have all the materials, here’s what you need to do:
1. When using an old flower bucket or galvanized bucket, make sure that you completely remove the dirt or rust that stick on its sides. You can also buy a new one for convenience and for a more presentable umbrella stand.
2. Paint the bottom of the flower bucket with an oil-based, glossy enamel paint for a stylish look. In this way, you can mask any rust that can build up caused by the dripping water from the umbrellas.
3. Create a marking on the bottom third of the bucket using the painter’s tape. Apply a primer, then paint it all the way down to the bottom of the bucket.
4. Wait for up to 24 hours to dry the paint before removing the tape. Now, you have a pretty umbrella stand on your doorway.
Using a Stove Pipe
This is an easy do-it-yourself project that anyone can do. By simply following the steps below, you can turn your non-functional stove pipe into a beautiful, useful umbrella stand for your home’s entryway.
For this project, here are the materials that you’ll need:
- One piece of stove pipe (can be either 18 inches or 24 inches in length)
- One cover for the bottom
- Wallpaper
- Ribbon
- Measuring tape
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Glue
- Brush
You can choose the ribbon and wallpaper of your choice depending on how you would like the umbrella stand to look like. After gathering all the required materials, here are the easy-to-follow steps to create your own umbrella stand:
1. With the help of the measuring tape, take the circumference of the stove pipe. Take the same measurement on the wallpaper with about ¼-inch intersection. Then, cut the wallpaper according to your desired length using the ruler as your guide.
2. Cut two pieces of ribbon to the same length as the wallpaper.
3. Spread glue all over the body of the stove pipe with the use of a brush. Apply the glue on the wallpaper too.
4. While the glue is still wet, stick the wallpaper onto the stove pipe base. Smooth out any air bubbles while you stick each section around the base.
5. Apply some glue on the rear side of the ribbons. Stick each ribbon on the bottom and top of the wallpaper ends for a completed, neat look and to secure the edges.
And, there you go! You just turned an old stove pipe into a new umbrella stand. With the stove pipe as the base, this creation is definitely heavy enough to support several umbrellas.
Using a Watering Can
Another garden item that you can transform into a fully functional umbrella stand is a watering can.
For this project, you will need the following materials:
- Watering can
- Newspaper
- Brush
- Varnish glue
- Wallpaper of choice
Once you have all the materials, you can start the project. Before doing so, make sure that you put a protective covering on the table to keep safe from the glue.
1. To start, the first thing that you have to do is to cut the newspaper into two or three inch strips.
2. Next, apply varnishing glue on the sides of the watering can using a brush. Lay the newspaper strip on the wet glue. Then, apply another thin layer of glue on the stuck newspaper strip.
3. Cover the entire sides of the watering can with the newspaper strips. Repeat the process until you achieve an even surface. You can cut the newspaper into various sizes.
4. After that, wait for the newspaper to dry. You will notice that the strips mix up once the varnish glue dries.
5. As it dries, cut out fun designs or various shapes from the wallpaper, and stick them on to the watering can. You can create figures or shapes that you want.
Your watering can umbrella stand is now finished! As you may have noticed, this project really doesn’t cost much, and it is very easy to do. You can even do it with your kids as a fun, after-school project!
If the above three ideas are not to your liking, you may still choose to buy an umbrella stand online. We have some tips that you can take advantage of.
Choosing an Umbrella Stand
With the wide variety of umbrella stands available determining which one is the best can take a little time. We look at the most important factors below.
Obviously, the umbrella stand must be able to support a good number and several types of umbrellas. Ideally, you should be able to store both long umbrellas and folding umbrellas. Most umbrella stands are long enough, but not all have the hooks where you can hang folding umbrellas.
A removable drip tray is also a great idea. It is situated at the bottom of the umbrella stand where water from the wet umbrellas drips to. This feature prevents leakage, which can wet the floor and cause stains.
An umbrella stand can also add aesthetics to the home. While it could be a good idea to choose a stylish stand, it would be better that it’s also functional and convenient. Hollowed out patterns can also maintain good ventilation to the umbrellas inside, allowing them to dry quickly.
Do take a look at our umbrella stands article that gives more information on choosing a high quality umbrella stand. It includes some Top Picks (below also) to make choosing really easy.
Conclusion
Umbrellas can get in the way when improperly stored. It doesn’t take a lot of effort or expensive materials to learn how to make an umbrella stand and we hope we’ve give you some inspiration here to get creative. Recycling old or broken materials is such a worthwhile activity and if you have a little time to devote to it, you can create a masterpiece to be proud of!