How To Make A Wood Planter Box

Mr. DIY made me some wood planter boxes this weekend.

They are so pretty even in their unfinished state. 

You know I saw something similar on Pinterest 

and Mr. DIY loves to make things, 

sooooo

this weekend he got out a few of his saws. 

lucky for me because wood planter boxes are pretty expensive when you buy them pre-made. 

As with all building projects...START WITH A PLAN.
It's best to draw out your building project to scale.

The planter boxes are made with t-111  plywood siding, which has an 8" groove pattern in it. (it also comes in a 4" groove pattern) 
The first cut was 15" high and he used his circular saw with a metal guide clamped to the wood to make cutting a straight line easier. 

For each box he cut a piece 15" high x 18 5/8" wide. He centered the groves when he cut the pieces. He nailed the sides together with a finishing nailer.

He was able to make 3 boxes with one 4 x 8 sheet of t-111.

For the frames on the sides and tops he used 1 x 3's .

He used his Kreg Jig to put together the corners of the frames. This is a super, handy tool to have and Mr. F uses it when he's building something out of wood that he doesn't want nails or screws to show.  
Here's a little tip: he cut off 3/4" off one of the 1 x 3's (lengthwise) so that when they were put together, each side would be 2 1/2". If he hadn't done this, one side would be 2 1/2" and the other would be 3 1/4".

The corners were then attached to the box from the inside. 

Here you can see the corners attached. After the four corners were screwed on to the boxes, the top and bottom side frames were cut and screwed on. 

Finally,  he mitered the top frame and then cut a piece of plywood for the bottom. 

The finished bottom of the boxes are: 15" high x 20 3/4 wide

The finished top is: 22 3/8" x 22 3/8"

See the wheels underneath? It's on a dolly.

Mr. F made the planter boxes  large enough to fit over and conceal most of the dolly. (the bottom piece of plywood is attached about 2" up from the sides)

I am married to one smart cookie. (insert hearts here)

Here's how the cost breaks down:

$31.26 for 1 sheet: t-111 plywood

$33 for 11- 1 x 3 x 96 choice lumber pine

       $0- 3 pieces plywood for bottoms (used scrap pieces from another project)

$0- finishing nails and  1" screws and 1 1/4" Kreg jig screws (we had in our stock)
$0- we had the wheels already

Total:

$67.26 or $21.42 a piece.

not bad

You can see the finished planter boxes HERE

Pam

Disclaimer: The above post is how we made our planters. I don't take any responsibility for any errors or results obtained from using this information. Using power tools can result in injury. When using power tools, use safety equipment.

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More Flowers For The Deck

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

 We were able to get a much needed project finished, which I will tell you about another time. Sunday, was much different as we spent the afternoon taking a very long nap after church and lunch.

Mr. Fanatic definitely needed it after all his hard work.

Hopefully good weather has arrived at your home...we are back to cooler weather and rain, but we definitely needed it. But, last week I was able to freshen up another planter on our deck.

The planter looked pretty tired and needed sprucing up.

I went out and found a new coco liner, which had to be cut down.

After cutting the liner to fit, it was filled with new potting soil.

The container was filled with geraniums, creeping Jenny and ivy.

So much better.

I added two plants with silvery foliage to fill in the sides.

Seems this year I am really loving geraniums.

If you would like to see my other Spring flowers for our deck, you can see them HERE,

and my front porch flowers are HERE.  

I've also planted veggies in several raised bed containers and you can find them HERE. 

What plants and flowers are you growing this year???

Pam

Joining:
Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

Spring Flowers

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend! We had beautiful Spring weather here in the Carolinas! It was gorgeous. A few things on our Honey-Do list were checked off and of course, some time was spent out in the garden.  

Thought I'd show you where my potted geraniums will spend the rest of the Spring and Summer. Last time I posted, I showed you how beautiful they looked when I brought them inside because there was going to be a frost.  They looked so pretty in our Breakfast Room window, but that window only gets a few hours of morning sun which isn't enough for these beauties.

Of course, last weekend I had to spruce up the pots before planting the geraniums in them...

Here's how the pots and the iron planter holder looked before I got a hold of a few cans of Valspar's New Avocado  spray paint:

The iron planter was painted black and the pots were painted green...seems to be a trend at my house this Spring....

 I put coffee filters in the bottom with rocks on top so that the dirt wouldn't drain out the bottoms. The coffee filter wasn't my brilliant idea... I saw it on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a whirl.

 Here's how the geraniums in their newly painted pots and planter look now:

 

Here's the before and after side by side:

The little duck/goose, whatever he is, got a fresh coat of paint, as well. Will have to show you that another time! 

Went to Lowe's today and picked up some saucers for underneath my pots and am thinking of painting those to match. Guess there's no time like the present...

tbc...

Pam

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