25 Amazing DIY Green House Ideas that are Easy to Create

Depending on the climate where you live, it may be difficult to grow certain plants. This can make you less self-reliant because your fruits and vegetables can suffer when the weather it too hot or too cold. A green house can help you maintain a warm temperature all year so that your plants can thrive, even when there is frost on the ground.

25 Cute DIY Green House Ideas to Add Warmth to Your Garden

I recently looked into a number of DIY green house ideas to create a place for my plants to keep them safe from the frost. This year was so cold outside that I was afraid to plant my garden out in the open in case there was frost at night. The DIY green house ideas that I came up with were amazing for my garden, so I decided to share some of the best ones that I found.

In this guide, you will see 25 different DIY garden ideas that are very easy to make and useful to have for your garden. You will see a number of large green houses as well as small dome, window, and other ideas that you can use when you only have a few plants.

1. A Rectangular Garden With a Pop-Top Design

Reminiscent of pioneer days, this canvas-covered greenhouse keeps all of your plants warm and cozy but is still super accessible for maintenance and watering. The sturdy canvas top makes this a great choice for nearly any home, and the simple 2×4 frame can be crafted by even the most novice DIYer.

2. A Garden Space with a Windowed Top

This sturdy gardening space can be perfectly nestled against any exterior wall. Your plants will thank you for the safe, solid walls and the durable, warm glass. Just make sure to situate your garden on the side of your home or garage that gets the best sunlight.

3. A Dome-Shaped Green House with Small Plots

This simple and cute garden project is great for any home gardener, no matter how big or limited your space. This domed plotted garden can be made quickly, cheaply, and simply – all of the DIYers favorite adverbs. Grow your peas in peace with this small but sturdy greenhouse.

4. An Igloo-Inspired Walk-in Garden Green House

A geodome is a dream for any gardener who is forced to deal with sub-optimal gardening conditions. Being elevated off the ground, this igloo-esque space keeps your crops safe from frost and allows them space and warmth necessary to flourish. Apart from being super functional, this greenhouse also has an attractive look.

5. Large Shed-Shaped DIY Green House Ideas

A larger greenhouse, even one you make yourself, is still going to be an investment of both time and money. However, with an end result as large and functional as this, all that hard work will be well worth it. This beautiful greenhouse will certainly keep your plants safe and requires little upkeep once it has been completed.

6. Small Green House Designed Using an Umbrella

This adorable umbrella-style pop-up greenhouse not only protects your small plotted plants but adds personality to your garden. Looking as though they are about to head on a stroll in the rain, these umbrella covers are durable, inexpensive, and – best of all – easy to use. Consider buying multiples to cover all your plants, and you’ll have a garden ready for April showers.

7. Small A-Frame Garden With an Easy-Access Roof

The best DIY projects are ones that take discarded things that are lying around the home and transform them into something awesome. This little greenhouse is made entirely of CD cases. A petite greenhouse like this can be made to fit into gardens with even the most limited space. Just gather some old cases from the bygone days of discs and you’re set.

8. A Trellis Designed to Maintain the Heat

Sometimes it seems impossible to keep plants safe while they bloom. That is why this plastic wrap plant cage is a great at-home method to keep your favorite veggies growing strong, safe from the reach of deer, pets, and children. For this project, you only need a plastic wrap and a tomato cage.

9. Full-Sized Windows Doors for Easy Sunlight Access

A shabby chic lean-to greenhouse will fit snuggly against any garage or garden shed and, with a little imagination, can be crafted from a few used doors, some old windows, and mismatched pieces of lumber. Add your own personality by choosing fun hinges and door handles or by splashing on a coat of your favorite paint.

10. A Rectangular Garden with a Slanted Roof

If you don’t have room to keep your favorite plants inside but are on a budget, then this $75 greenhouse is perfect for you. Made with easy-to-find hardware store supplies, you can put this together on your own in just an hour or two. Follow the plans outlined or make simple modifications to adjust the size.

11. A Glass Box for Your Gardening Needs

This glass box is perfect for displaying your plants and trinkets while keeping them safe and warm. Storm windows are a popular and trustworthy way to add glass to your garden and can usually be found second hand, and sometimes even for free. Insert a few hooks on the inside and you can hang some garden-style odds and ends to add personality.

12. A DIY Greenhouse that’s easy to Create

For as elaborate as this greenhouse appears, it can be accomplished by any ambitious DIYer. The best part of this design is that it is made entirely from used windows. With this in mind, be sure to make modifications to the project as necessary to fit your windows and capture as much sunlight as possible.

14. Large Green House Idea; Perfect for a Garden

When planning to build a greenhouse, be sure to consider what sort of lifespan you are anticipating. If you would like to create a piece that is meant to last year in and year out, then take the extra time to create this traditional and well-structured design. Creating raised beds is a pro-tip that will help expand the life of your plants.

15. A Small, Framed Green House Terrarium

If you are trying to create something that matches your farmhouse décor while keeping your houseplants safe from that curious kitty, then find some old frames and create your own sweet and simple masterpiece. Add your own trinkets or accents to make this tiny indoor greenhouse feel right at home.

16. White Framed Green House with Many Stories

Mixing and matching have never looked so good or been so functional. If you are hoping to keep your greenhouse low cost, then keep your eyes peeled for any old windows, then get creative fitting them together in sometimes surprising ways. For continuity, paint them all your favorite garden color and add vintage hinges to match.

17. Easy to Create DIY Green House Ideas

These DIY plans will help you craft a lean-to greenhouse that can function just as well on the farm or in the suburbs. With many helpful tips and tricks, these plans will guide you through every step in the greenhouse building process, from materials and dimensions to finishing touches. Follow these steps and your plans will soon be blooming in all seasons.

18. Gardening Warmth in the Hay Bales

Hay works well to keep in warmth and provides a natural and safe environment for your plants. Also, this particular hay greenhouse requires no tools besides your own two hands. In fact, the only materials are exactly what you see – hay bales and windows. Greenhouses don’t get simpler or more down-home than this.

20. A Single- Sized Rustic Green House For Plants

In this adorable addition to the garden, greenhouse design meets the tiny home movement. Its large height and A-frame roof make it an eye-catching piece without taking up the space of a full-sized greenhouse. Choose your favorite potted plant to be the lucky resident, or, if your plants are more the social type, embrace the fairy tale feel and add a special gnome.

21. A Garden Space with a Fold-Away Top

You don’t have to reimagine your entire backyard space to create an effective greenhouse. With these ingeniously simple DIY plans, you can take advantage of any flat wall – whether your house, the garage, or the garden shed – as the structural support for this fold-down, fold-up greenhouse. It rests inconspicuously against the wall when not in use, and provides the perfect balmy environment when drawn down.

22. Step-By–Step Plans for a DIY Green House

If you’ve done your fair share of DIY research, you know that not all DIY instructions are made equal. How frustrating it can be to find an inspiring photo online but only minimal guidance about to make it yourself. With these no-nonsense, start-to-finish instructions, you will have both the written instructions and the visual aids necessary to build your own 8’x8’ greenhouse.

23. An Indoor Garden With Exterior Gardening Space

This is a DIY greenhouse project for the ages. With long planting rows, a chicken wire wall for climbing plants, a door large enough to fit a wheelbarrow, and plenty of walking space inside, this greenhouse is the perfect way to upgrade your garden. What’s more, the instructions page also includes images and plans for outdoor raised garden beds.

24. A Coldframe Green House with Easy Access

Got an extra window pane or two laying around? Then this project is perfect for you. While a cold frame is not technically the same thing as a greenhouse (click on the DIY instructions to learn the difference), this design is a simple way to give your plant’s more hospitable conditions for more months out of the year.

25. A Gardening Cart with Hanging Space

Do you ever worry about taking on a big DIY project and then, right when you’ve finished, realizing that you no longer like the location? This greenhouse on wheels – yup, you read that right – will relieve your commitment anxiety by allowing you to easily move the greenhouse around your yard. Plus, crystal clear photos and step-by-step instructions make the building process a breeze.

47 Houses with a Green Exterior (Photos)

Great collection of green houses (exteriors). Get loads of ideas for your green paint job. All shades of green from dark to bright to pastel to light to mint green. Ultimate green house exterior gallery.

I had no idea a green exterior color for a home was as popular as it is. I had to weed out loads and settled on this collection. I chose the examples in this article so that it would be a diverse set of house styles as well as all shades of green (dark to bright to light to mint etc.).

while I prefer blue, yellow, white and red exteriors, green works. I totally get it if it’s your color; I don’t think you can go wrong unless it’s too bright. While I like blue and yellow, it needs to be subdued.

Effective Green Exteriors

• Vertical green siding
• Combining green exterior with light grey stone
• Soft greens with white trim
• Earthy greens with natural wood trim

Poorly conceived green exteriors

• Greenwood shingle exteriors
• All green – lacks one other material to offset the green prominence
• Green with red brick

Scroll down below to get all kinds of ideas for this fairly popular house exterior color.

Photos

A gorgeous-looking house with a green exterior and warm tiles flooring. See this entire home here.

White Replacement Windows and House Colors to Avoid

Do you have white replacement windows? An old house that has replacement windows is considered a damaged house to those of us in the historic preservation field.

Maybe the evil previous homeowner committed this crime and you are left to deal with it. Don’t worry though, there are options to save the curb appeal of your house at least a little.

Replacement windows are bad for many reasons. The sales people are super trained and have all the stats to show that their windows are what you need and it is virtually impossible to say no – trust me.

Replacement windows are bad for the environment and a foolish investment. Their design is very bad -they look cheap, especially when they are white. Go here for more information on wood windows versus replacement windows .

The good news is that these replacement windows will only last 20 years! You can replace them with a wood window that can be painted to coordinate with your house colors.

A typical cheap looking white replacement window with matching white trim and tan body color.

Using White Paint on Your House

Be careful when using white on your house! An all white house is good or a house that is half white (for instance white trim and a colored body) is also good. White paint is fine when you have a balance of white to another color. If your house is painted green and your trim is painted white, that’s a good balance because they are the most dominant colors on the house.

If your house is one color and the trim is another color, having white just on the window sash in such a small dose will stand out like a sore thumb and look out of place on the house. The small amount of white paint will attract your attention first and prevent you from experiencing how the other colors work together.

So if you want an all white house – that works. If you want a colored body and white trim, that works too, although other trim colors will look better. Avoid small doses of white on your windows or gutters at all costs!

Window Sash Colors

If you have a Victorian house, you should never have a white window sash. Your window sash should be a dark color such as black, dark green, dark red, or brown. The windows are the eyes of the house. When this most important feature is painted a dark color, it helps them recede and harmonize with the rest of the house. It’s like putting eyeliner on eyes. The window sash can make or break your house. See some before and after photos of how the window sashes can improve curb appeal .

Painting the window sash a dark color is not only historically correct but makes the windows pop and enhance the other colors.

The image above is a painted replacement window. The window sash for a replacement window also contains an extra trim making the replacement unit wider. When painted, the window appears bigger and heavier. Painting the sash only appears too thin. Just another problem all replacement windows have that you will need to accept. Read more information about how to paint a window sash on a wood and replacement window . Lots of people get this wrong.

If you have a Colonial Revival house or a newer 20 th century house, your house should have a light window sash that matches the trim.

Trim matches window sash. This is good for Colonial Revivals and most 20th century homes.

I rarely recommend white windows or white trim for a house unless it is all white or the body is a very pale color. White trim on a colored body looks like a vinyl-sided split-level home. White trim is what you see on just about every house and it looks cheap these days since it is associated with vinyl sided homes.

This looks like every other house – white trim again – how interesting. The body color looks too dark against the harsh white which looks like plastic. Color placement is correct however. If your window sash cannot be painted then the trim must match the window. Not the best solution but this is how it must be.

If Your House Has White Replacement Windows

If your house has white replacement windows vinyl or aluminum clad, they should be able to be painted. Any paint will void the manufacturers warranty. However, even if you do nothing you will find there will be some excuse to void the manufacturer’s warranty. A gutter company will also tell you not to paint your gutters (gutter color MUST match the trim color). How in the world can painting gutters void the warranty and what warranty would you need for aluminum gutters except for leaking? It seems that soon washing your underwear will void the warranty.

If you are painting your vinyl replacement window a dark color, you must use a paint designed for vinyl. A white replacement window is not designed for the heat absorbed as a black replacement window is therefore it is prone to warping. There is a special paint available through Sherwin Williams and has reflective properties in it to prevent warping. Here is a listing of paint colors made for vinyl . The colors are still not as dark as they should be. If you are painting your white replacement window a light color like tan, you can use regular house paint. Just make sure the LVR (Light Reflectance Value) is higher than 55.

It seems that paint manufacturers are now less likely to endorse the painting of both Vinyl and Aluminum Clad windows for they are afraid of getting sued. This is because anything you do to any product – not only windows, will void the warranty. Based on reader comments, it seems that even looking at the product the wrong way will void the warranty. The warranty is a key selling feature although it almost always turns out to be useless if something goes wrong. See comments from readers on my blogs about Anderson, Marvin, Pella etc. (window manufacturers – scroll to bottom of page )

So what to do? A dark window sash is important for the best appearance if your house is from about 1860-1920 (except Colonial Revivals). You can ignore the possibly useless warranty and paint the windows anyway or the best option is to replace your windows. If you paint your vinyl or clad windows and they have a relatively new surface I recommend using steel wool to buff down the surface first before painting.

Understand that I advise on design and do not know anything about the composition of the material or the coating on the vinyl or clad aluminum used by each manufacturer. I just know what worked for me and what would normally work in an “old school” sort of way. You can contact the paint manufacturer but it seems that what was advised in 2019 and earlier is now different and more cautious.

This is an extremely important judgement call for you. Depending on your house having a dark window sash can almost be a requirement. Speaking to the paint manufacturer technicians and hearing their warnings can be frightening. Is this just a scare tactic to avoid a law suite? Their story used to be different. Either way there is a sacrifice or risk. Do you protect your replacement windows or have a good looking house?

If your replacement window has those tacky fake grills that are supposed to fool the simple minded into thinking the grills are muntins , and they are installed in between the glass, there is nothing you can do. You are stuck with these ugly white replacement windows until it’s time to replace them in about 15 years. Don’t even think of painting the window and leaving the grill white.

Since you are now stuck with a white window sash, the color of the trim on your house must be white to match. The trim on a house is everything that is not siding. The trim is the window casing/frame, the soffit, the porch railing, etc. This all must be white otherwise the white replacement window will jump out and just shout “cheap plastic”.

As I said before, I try to discourage the use of white trim and white windows on a historic house. White windows and trim may be my last choice but it works and will look good. Just not as good as it should look. Substituting a white trim for a cream colored trim with a white replacement window will NOT look any better than a darker trim. It will still look very bad. You will still see the unfortunate difference as in the example below.

DO NOT DO THIS. If the window sash is the only element that is white your house will look tacky. The trim must match the white replacement window.

So if you have white replacement windows that you cannot paint you must paint all your trim white to match for the best appearance. Do not do what you see in the above photo.