A few yr in the past, I noticed a planter desk at HomeGoods that caught my eye. However our deck was underneath development and it wasn’t 100% my model, so I snapped a pic to avoid wasting for future reference. Quick ahead to this yr and we have now a ravishing new again deck and I lastly had the right spot for it, so we received to constructing my good DIY Rustic Two Tier Herb Planter!
Right here is the inspiration piece from HomeGoods. It is tremendous cute! I simply wished mine to have a bit extra character. Prefer it had been sitting exterior for years and had the right weathered end on it. Tremendous straightforward, proper? Learn on to search out out :-p
I’ll preface this by saying there are in all probability a lot of methods you can construct this desk however this was our course of – it did not go 100% easily however the imperfections add much more character 🙂
HOW TO BUILD A TWO TIER HERB PLANTER
SUPPLIES
- 6 1x6x6 pre-treated boards
- 4 2x4s
- steel braces
- off white creamy paint
- gel stain
Step 1
Reduce your boards to size. We made ours 5′ lengthy. And wished to run them by the planer however our planer solely matches a 12″ large board. So he glued two boards collectively, clamped them and allow them to dry. As soon as dry he ran them by the planer after which glued the third board on, clamped and let dry.
Step 2
Now that you’ve your 3 boards glued collectively, you need to draw out the holes to your pots. I used pots from Petitis Backyard Middle which is an area nursery. You should use any pot you need – simply ensure you get the suitable diameter from beneath the rim.
To attract your circles, measure out your spacing and discover the middle of your first pot. Nail a nail into that spot. Use a pencil to make a mark on all 4 sides on the size of the diameter. Then tie a bit of string across the nail and your pencil and transfer your pencil across the nail ensuring it hits all 4 of your marks. This could provide you with a reasonably exact circle!
Repeat for all 8 pots.
Step 3
Safe the boards. Connect the steel braces beneath to offer your boards extra stability and energy. Be sure you place them in between the circles!
Step 4
Reduce out the holes utilizing a jigsaw. You should use a big drill bit to drill a gap anyplace contained in the circle to offer you a spot to start out with the noticed.
Step 5
Constructing the legs is the place issues received a bit tough for us. I wasn’t fairly positive how I wished the legs to connect to the desk, however Dan got here up with an concept that I actually favored. He advised notching out small sections of the 2x4s to permit for the opposite boards to take a seat proper in them. I am a brilliant visible individual so till he really made one, I wasn’t fairly positive what it was going to seem like, however I trusted him!
For the tops of the legs, that is what you need:
To create these cuts you possibly can both use a router or the desk noticed. If utilizing the desk noticed, you’ll set your blade to the correct top so it does not lower all through the wooden. You then merely maintain shifting the information over by about 1/4″ increments to slowly chip away at it.
The underside notches brought about a bit extra bother as a result of he could not use the desk noticed. So he used a mix of the router and the trusty whizzbanger.
The cuts aren’t good, however like I mentioned, I wished this to be rustic and weathered so I did not see them as errors, however simply added character
Step 6
Assemble your desk! The boards ought to match good and comfortable in your notches after which we used some screws for added assist as properly.
Now that the desk is constructed, it was my flip to step in and end it up. From the beginning I had the imaginative and prescient of staining it darkish in my favourite gel stain. However since we had been utilizing wooden that is not precisely furnishings grade, the stain did not take properly and it simply did not look good.
So I did some brainstorming and remembered a way I had seen not too long ago the place you paint the furnishings with a lightweight coloured paint, after which apply a darkish wax over it and it provides the looks of fake oak wooden.
I attempted a small take a look at spot first and wasn’t bought. So as an alternative of utilizing the darkish wax, I used my gel stain on prime of the paint. I nonetheless was factor however I used to be operating out of different concepts so I made a decision to only go for it.
Step 8
It is not essential to stain your desk first for this methodology. I simply did as a result of that was my unique plan! You can begin by simply portray your wooden a lightweight beige/mushroom coloration. After I received samples of island paint colours for our kitchen, there was one jar they did not put a label on and naturally that is the jar I used. So I don’t know what coloration it’s!
Step 9
After the paint dries take an previous rag and dip it in your gel stain. I used my trustworthy Varathane Darkish Walnut Gel Stain. Dab off the surplus onto a paper towel or scrap piece of wooden and begin wiping it in your desk within the route of the grain. Do not freak out if it appears to be like actually darkish and ugly. As a result of it’s going to at first ha. Simply maintain wiping and wiping. You need it to be a really skinny layer.
I repeated this twice to get the specified coloration I wished. You can do much less or extra relying on what you want! The hot button is simply to ensure you apply forwards and backwards with the grain as a result of the traces created with the gel stain are going to be the brand new fake grain.
Step 10
Seal it up! I used Varathane’s Spar Urethane for exterior.
Step 11
Plant all of your herbs! Since these pots are sitting above the bottom and might’t have a drain plate beneath them, I did a bit trick I discovered. Place just a few espresso filters within the backside of every pot earlier than including soil. It permits the crops to nonetheless drain, but it surely helps maintain the moisture in and helps maintain all of the soiled soil water from operating throughout your deck. To date it appears to be working properly!
I received basil, thyme, oregano, dill, curry, lettuce, child tomatoes, rosemary and sage.
Step 12
Water and luxuriate in! The underside row will get about 5 hours of solar a day which must be adequate, however I can all the time rotate among the pots if I have to!
I LOVE how this turned out. It appears to be like so stunning on our deck and virtually matches our decking, which was by no means my intent. I assumed for positive this is able to be a darkish stained piece, however what began as a staining catastrophe, become one thing extra stunning than I ever imagined!
We did additionally find yourself attaching extra 2x4s underneath the center part on the back and front for added assist. As soon as the pots had been in, the center was sinking a bit so this helped maintain it straight!
And now I can not wait to make all of the scrumptious summer time recipes utilizing my contemporary herbs! What do you suppose? Would you construct this DIY Two Tier Herb Planter?