Make your own custom rain barrel to provide fresh water for your garden or potted plants.

Rain water provides much needed nutrients for not only your garden, but also for potted plants. Have you ever noticed how vibrant your plants are after a recent rain? Something you can not achieve using tap water. This post will give you step by step instructions on how to DIY a rain barrel.

Here is a look at our vegetable garden. My husband and I love to collect rain water to provide to the plants. This helps them to thrive and flourish when rain is not available for an extended period of time. We notice a huge difference when using rain water verses tap water.

Rain barrels can be extremely expensive, especially if you need more than one. We currently have three to make sure we keep enough rain water on hand in between showers.

My husband was gifted several of these barrels. We knew they would be perfect for rain collection. You can find barrels like this for sale on Facebook, Craigslist, and even online at Container Exchanger, see below.

The Container Exchanger has a variety of different sizes, shapes, and prices. Wherever you purchase yours from, make sure that it was previously FOOD SAFE. This is important! You don’t want to use a barrel that previously held chemicals that could be toxic.

Let’s Transform This Basic Barrel Into A Custom Rain Barrel

Always make sure to thoroughly clean the entire barrel, inside and out. I used Dawn Power Wash and a scrub brush.

Rinse thoroughly and allow it to air dry.

Although this blue is a beautiful color, I wanted a color that coordinated better with my house and yard. I chose a Matte Vintage Gray.

Spray a light even coat, allow to dry, then apply a second coat.

Only spray the outside of the barrel. Let the final coat dry for several days.

I wasn’t sure of the type of metal the ring was made of, but I wanted to make sure to add a layer of protection to prevent any rust. Using a clear spray, I applied two thin coats to the ring.

Several Days Later…Time to Install the Spigot

To extract the rain water, you will need a rain spigot. We found this one on Amazon. You will also need a drill bit the size of the spigot.

Measure from the bottom of your barrel. Take into consideration a few things. Will you be attaching a hose or using a watering can? If using a watering can, you will need to sit your barrel onto something to give you enough height to sit your watering can under the spigot.

Once you have drilled the proper size hole, you can install the spigot. It comes with a rubber washer and nut that will be placed on the inside of the barrel.

It will take two people to tighten the spigot. One holding the spigot on the outside and the other tightening the nut on the inside.

To give a custom look, I created a decal using my Cricut Machine and applied to the outside of the barrel.

We wanted to use this barrel under one of our gutters. Using a hole saw slightly larger than our gutter, I determined where to drill the hole in the lid. This will allow the rain water from our gutter to flow freely into the barrel.

Clamp your lid down to a piece of wood to prevent it from moving while you drill the hole.

After drilling the hole, I used a metal file to smooth the area out.

Final Result

We now have a custom DIY rain barrel. Since we decided to use watering cans for this barrel, we dry stacked blocks to give the barrel some height. My husband cut the gutter so it would fit inside the hole on the lid. And this is how it turned out.

I made another custom rain barrel using a stencil and hand painted it to look like brick.

Since we will be using a garden hose with this one, I installed a screen to keep leaves and debris from falling into the barrel. If you would like to see how I made this, check out my YouTube video below.

If you enjoyed this post about these DIY outdoor projects, I think you will enjoy this post as well.