These planters were so much fun to make and the build only took a couple of hours per planter. It's a great weekend project, and a very inexpensive way to style your front porch. I used scrap Cedar fence posts I already had lying around, but they were a little too soft for the pocket holes and screws. Wood glue to the rescue! I made it work, but I would suggest using 1X3's instead.
What You'll Need:
(4) 8ft. Pressure treated or Cedar 1X3 boards
(2) 8ft. 2X2s
Wood glue
Large Clamps (15" or more)
Miter Saw
Kreg Jig for pocket holes
Kreg 1-1/4" screws (blue screws = outdoor/indoor)
Sander
Paint or stain, if you want to go that route
Poly or Spar Urethane to protect
Instructions:
Step 1. Cut the 2x2s into (8) pieces at 22" each
Step 2. Measure your pot to determine how long to cut the 1x3 boards. Mine was 11" in diameter and 12" tall for reference.
Step 3. Cut the 1x3s the width of your pot, and cut as many as you will need to cover the height of your pot. The combined measurement of my (5) fence posts lying next to each other equaled 13", so I cut (40) 1x3s at 11" long for both planters. 40 = (5 boards X 4 sides) X 2 planters
**Basically, each of the four sides of the two planters will look like this:
Step 4: Assuming that you also have 40 boards, add pocket holes to (24) of the boards like this:
WE WILL CALL THIS BOARD "A"
Step 5: Add pocket holes to (12) of the boards like this
WE WILL CALL THIS BOARD "B"
Step 6: Add pocket holes to (4) of the boards like this:
WE WILL CALL THIS BOARD "C"
Step 7: Build your main panels for both planters. Start by laying your 2x2s parallel to each other on your workbench. Lay some scrap boards on the inside of the 2x2s as a base for the boards with pocket holes, so you can easily screw your boards into the MIDDLE of the 2x2s. Clamp one of the "A" boards between the 2x2s completely flush with the top of them. Screw in that board and add the next three down with board "A". Make sure to press the boards down onto the scrap wood when you screw them in, so every board will be perfectly aligned in the center of the 2x2s. I did not leave spaces between each board. That is a style choice. The fifth board will be a "C" board. You want the pocket holes facing the bottom, because this is how you are going to attach the bottom boards or the base of your planter. It should look like this:
Step 8: Repeat step 7 three more times.
Step 9: Connect two of the panels with (5) more boards. Basically, we do the same thing we did when we made the panels, but we will use different boards this time. Start by standing two of the panels on their sides, parallel to each other. Lay the scrap boards on the insides like before, and clamp the first board (board "A") flush with the top of the panels. Screw that board in. Lay the next three boards (board "B") in place, with the pocket holes facing the top board. Place the bottom board (board "A") in place, and clamp that one to the panels. Screw that one in. Pick up the middle boards, add wood glue to the sides of them, and put them back in place. Screw the second board into the top board, the third board into the second board and the fourth board into the third.
** I figured out a better way to do it after I made this, but it will basically look like this picture, minus the side holes on the middle boards.
Step 10: Flip over the planter and repeat step 9.
Step 11: Measure the width of the planter box and cut 3 boards to width. Mine was 12.5". Clamp the boards under the bottom of the box in line with the pocket holes and flush with both sides of the box. Screw them in. Do the same thing on the other side.
Step 12: Flip over the box and reinforce the boards by screwing them straight into the bottom of the planter.
Step 13: Make the second planter by repeating steps 7-12.
YAY!!! Don't you love them?
Step 14: Sand them down.
**At this point, you can either stain them, paint them or leave them as is. You do need to apply Poly Urethane if you are using them indoors or Spar Urethane if you are using them outdoors to protect them. Here are a couple of "after" pics of mine before I put plants in them.
I hope you enjoyed this quick little project! Please don't hesitate to send questions if you have them, and post pictures of the planters that you build. I would love to see them!
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