I am so excited to share today’s two minute home decor project with you: a gorgeous, modern, DIY plant dolly.
Before I show you how I made it, please feel free to congratulate me on keeping this massive jade plant alive for the past year and a half. It’s a little dusty, but growing! Hello little leaves.
Why I Needed a Plant Dolly:
Everyone says jade plants are easy to maintain, but I’ve killed one before (after many good years together), so every day that this guy looks green and happy is a victory for me. He seems to be enjoying his spot in the lakehouse, although he and Szuka do fight for window space. Whenever I move him to wash the floors, she immediately settles into his spot, staking her claim on the whole wall of windows. I don’t move him often, though, because he weighs a TON. His relatively stationary life has made him grow a little kitty womper, because I don’t rotate him enough.
Looking for an easy way to move this massive plant, I started looking into plant dollies but I couldn’t find a cute one to buy, so I abandoned the search. While shopping online for supplies for a different project, I stumbled across nice low profile castors and decided that a DIY walnut plant dolly might just be the easiest thing to make!
Supplies for a Round, Walnut Wood DIY Plant Dolly:
- Round Wood Cutting Board (I bought this exact one)
- Castors with Plate (these are the exact ones I bought – I bought a pack of 10, needed 4)
- 3/4″ Screws
Some Notes on The Supplies:
To make life easier (we loathe cutting circles), I bought a solid walnut wood cutting board. I ordered mine online and it was kind of expensive, but I always see inexpensive ones at places like Home Goods and HomeSense. A less expensive wood, like bamboo, will only cost around $10 and acacia is in the middle (around $30). I just love me some walnut.
For size, I recommend choosing a cutting board that has a diameter 2 to 4 inches larger than the base of your flower pot. For thickness, I went with 3/4″ and for strength I don’t recommend any thinner, but thicker would work too. I also chose one with a juice drip groove just in case but I doubt I’ll ever need it because I’ve never over-watered the plant before.
How to Make a DIY Plant Dolly:
- Place the castors equally spaced out, about an 1/8″ from the edge of the cutting board (the wider the castors are placed, the more stable the dolly will be, so I inset them just enough so they can’t be seen from the top).
- Mark where the screw holes are once the castors are positioned.
- Remove the castors and pre-drill the holes.
- Put the castors back in place and screw them in (just make sure you don’t screw to the other side – you can use a piece of tape on your drill as a poor man’s depth guide, that’s what I do).
That’s IT! That’s how easy it is to make this DIY plant dolly!
I am obsessed with how cute this DIY plant dolly looks! The walnut really blends in nicely with our floors and these castors glide so smoothly. Because the jade plant is so heavy, it’s still really stable, so it’s not like a little nudge sends it scooting across the room. We need to purposefully move it, which is good. A lighter plant might go skittering across the floor when brushed against, with such smooth castors. No problems with Szuka knocking it over because she realized one Day One that the jade plant now moves, so she’s been really gentle around it (it’s kind of adorable.) If you have some overzealous pups or kitties, castors that lock (like these cuties) might be a good investment.
If you make your own DIY plant dolly, I’d love to see!
Don’t Forget to Pin for Later:
P.S. That white planter was a DIY project too – and it’s holding up perfectly.
GENIUS!!! I'm stealing this idea – thanks Tanya 🙂
So happy this idea is useful!!
That's brilliant! I have a huge ficus tree that needs this, thank you Tanya!
Oooo jealous of your ficus! Happy to help 🙂
When we lived in California I always has a Jade plant. My Mother-in-law called it a money plant, as long as you had one growing you'd have money. I've killed 2 since we've lived here in Georgia, not sure what I do to them. Love the plant stand.
Although I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one who struggles with them, I'm sad to hear yours died! I think I overwatered mine in the past. Now I'm really focused, if my finances depend on its survival 🙂
A cutting board – nice find! I have struggled with Jade plants in the past, but I've got one going strong for 2 years now. I think the key is to sort of just ignore it.
I have think you're right! In the past I overwatered it but I have this feeling it would rather be underwatered and left alone. Have you ever pruned yours? Mine needs it because a branch is at risk of breaking it's so heavy but I'm so nervous about doing that…
Great job with the happy plant, happy dog and happy floors 🙂
Haha, everybody is happy! The perfect DIY. My back is happy too – this jade is heavy!!
Beautiful! Love this. Those casters will likely be useful for another project (although, a 10-pk. That's a strange number given its purpose). I love casters and add them to different things- my family thinks I'm nuts (perhaps). I was looking for some like those when I converting some dresser drawers into underbed storage. However, it's temporary so I didn't splurge on caster since I'd need 16 of them.Could have used this dolly when I had my lime tree- I used to move it to the deck for the summer. It's really lovely
10 was odd but I needed eight ultimately and figured two spare was good because things are made so cheaply these days. Love the idea of underbed storage – that's clever!
Easy indeed! I'm doing this for two plants I have here, thanks for sharing the idea!
I'm so happy people have found this idea helpful!