DIY – Planter Boxes March 16, 2020
Before we just had this empty space on our front porch and I just knew we needed something to dress it up. It looked boring and just empty. I love flowers and planters but just could not find anything at any big retail box center that would cut it. Also, they are so expensive! For a somewhat nice container, you can easily spend $50 or more. I wanted something with more personality and that would look good and also be multifunctional for the different seasons. I wanted planters but also a way to turn them into holders for seasonal decore when needed without having to empty out the potting soil. We have several stacks of pallet wood that I love, so I made my request and a little bit of vision to Brian and he took that idea and made it perfect. He built them and designed them, I gave some input and some elbow grease and wa-la two beautiful planters.
So I thought we needed to share how easy and versatile they are for those who want a good weekend DIY project and some pretty wooden planter boxes. I hope you find this how-to helpful, easy and fun! Brian built them so he has helped blog this how to up below. I have included some up-close pictures also for some of the details. There is a Pictures at the end of the post that shows it with the multi-function option.
Below are the list of items used to help make this project.
- Pallet wood or you can use some 1″x4″ lumber for the horizontal, vertical and railing pieces
- 2″x2″ for the legs and 18″ height for our project
- Scrap pressed board
- Kreg jig if you have one for mounting the legs and horizontal pieces
- Plastic liner for soil
- Staple gun
- Miter saw
- Wood Glue
- Finish nailer
- Sandpaper
- Stain
- Rubber gloves
- Pencil
- Tape measurer
- Stain (I used Varathane from HomeDepot and the color is Golden Pecan)
- First, you start by measuring how wide and tall you want your boxes.
- To make it easy, lay out the 1″x4″ next to each other until it’s close to your desire width. It’s alright if you are a little over or under to prevent from having to trim down the wood. Lay a level or another straight 1×4 across it and mark it with a pencil. This is where you will cut.
- Cut the vertical pieces to the desired height. If you want a 1″-2″ for clearance from the bottom then be sure to subtract that from your overall height when cutting. Our legs were 18″ but our vertical pieces were cut at 16″ for 2″ of ground clearance.
- Measure and cut your 1″x4″ horizontal pieces to the desired width. Make two for each side, so 8 total for each box.
- Mount your horizontal pieces to the 2″x2″ legs and come up off the ground an 1″-2″ for clearance.
- Repeat step 4 until you have all sides completed.
- Now, you can glue and nail your vertical pieces to the backside of the horizontal pieces.
- Repeat step 7 until all sides are completed.
- Measure and cut small trim pieces that you can put inside the box at the bottom and about 5″ from the top. Put one at the top and bottom on all sides.
- Cut the pressboard to the inside dimension so it can rest on your ledges.
- For the bottom, I just ran a few slates across the bottom for support. I glued and nailed these in.
- To put a trim piece on the top side, just measure the length and cut a 45 degrees miter. You will do this for all sides.
- Now just glue and nail the top side to the box
- Take some 220 sandpaper and sand all the wood.
- Wipe down with a tack cloth or a rag with some water on it to get all the dust off.
- After it dries you can stain it by using a rag or stain sponge. I would also wear some rubber gloves.
- Place the plastic inside the box to line them and staple it to the inner top shelf ledge and be sure to push out the plastic all around the bottom to ensure there is plenty of give to fill the corners of the box. I used this type of material so I would be able to water the plants without the muddy water coming out onto your concreate. The key though with using this also is not to overwater since there are no holes for drainage
We wanted these planters to be multipurpose and functional for planting plants/flowers when we could and to use them to hold our Christmas trees, fall decorations, and other seasonal items. With the top piece in place, it allows for about 5″ of height to put decorations on top of them. When the top piece is removed you then have access to the dirt and are able to plant seasonal flowers inside them.
*One tip you can use to help fill any planter when you don’t have a lot of potting soil and you have a large space or deep space to fill is to use empty water bottles or scrap wooden blocks. This fills space up in the container and the use of less potting mix. Of course, rocks work also and they can help with drainage. Over time the wooden blocks decay and add back to the soil also.
Below you can see what the planters look like with the top shelf board in place so you can place lanterns, Christmas trees or other decor on them.
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