Bench Repurposed into a Planter
Hello friends! Today I have a cool repurposed project to share with you, plus if I am thinking spring projects then Spring will come quicker right?!
Seriously crossing my fingers! Anyway check out my Bench Repurposed into a Planter!
Planters are such a fun and easy way to brighten up your home and yard, and chances are you might have an old bench that could us a new life…so lets get started with the tutorial on how I made mine!
This project was first shared at My Repurposed Life last spring where I am a contributor for the amazing Gail!
I got this little cutie almost 6 years ago when we first moved to Colorado. It was only $10 on Craig’s list and we have gotten some serious use out of it! Eventually it ended up on my back porch since we didn’t need it anymore, sad and alone.
I eventually decided I had to get rid of it or fix it up. I knew that with some tightening of some screws it would work great again, but I also had another idea…
With a little bit of work I thought it would be perfect for an outdoor planter. It came inside with me and I removed the seat by flipping it over and taking out the screws. Then I removed the seat support the same way.
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I still had some old deck wood from my fathers-in-law and used it to make a box for the dirt and plants to go into. I used the seat support as a size reference in building the box by setting it on my deck wood to get the correct length. Then I placed my square on the wood and removed the seat top so I could mark where to cut. Then I measured and cut the other side board.
To get my short ends I set the sides on the seat support and measured where to cut the ends.
Here I am doing a dry fit, and the boards fit perfectly! I then cut slats for the bottom of the planter making sure I would have gaps for drainage.
I grabbed my handy dandy Kreg Jig
for drilling my pocket holes. I drilled them into the sides of the end pieces and along the bottom of all the boards for attaching it to the seat support.
Time to build! I put on some gorilla wood glue and used my Kreg Right Angle Clamp
to hold my boards while I adding my screws. It is important to make sure all the pocket holes for attaching the box to the seat are on the same side. 🙂
I again used my right angle clamp to add the long pieces. And my box was done! I love using pocket holes for building they make a strong joint and are quick and easy and hidden. If you don’t have a pocket hole jig you can pre drill and attach the boards together with screws through the side.
Now all I had to do was attach my box to my seat support. I used glue and my pocket hole screws to quickly put them together. I was lucky to have a lip on the inside of the seat support (since the wood was a little thicker). It gave me the perfect “shelf” to set my planks on, love it when that happens!
I set the box onto the bench back and measured to make sure it was even on both sides.
Then I simply screwed it to the back of the bench.
For the rest of the box I pre-drilled holes through the legs. Because the legs were thicker I used a large drill bit, bigger than the head of my screw, and drilled halfway through the legs. Then used a small drill bit, just smaller than the screw shaft, to drill the rest of the way.
That way more of my screw was going into the box for greater stability. I added two screws on each leg and it is nice and sturdy!
Last up was adding my slats with my Ryobi air strike nailer
, I shot the nails in at a slight angle to attach them to the sides of the seat support.
, I shot the nails in at a slight angle to attach them to the sides of the seat support. 
If you remember my Old Chairs into New Bench, then you will recognize the color I choose to paint the new bench planter. I am a lover of blues, I ended up finishing up a can of spray paint and bought one more to cover the planter.
I filled the bench with soil and added some plants! I love the look!
I am not much of gardener but do love pretty things that grow!
Now to tell the sad part of this story, since I built this last spring I was so excited to see the pretty ground cover plants hanging over the edge come fall…well it was not meant to be. My teenage dog decided that she liked the plants too…and would dig them up EVERY TIME SHE WENT OUTSIDE. UGH!
I finally gave up and transplanted my ground cover into the front of my house entryway, and tried saving the rest of the plants by picking them up off the ground and re-planting them…daily.
In the end only a few survived to the fall. So here’s to hoping my dog will not be interested in them when I replant in a few weeks (still waiting for the snow storms to end, we got 21” last week) I love how it looks so bright and pretty in my yard! Wish me luck!
Have you repurposed anything into a planter? Or do you have any tips for keeping dogs out of your plants?!!
Check out more great planter projects:
Hugs!
Mindi
I will be linking to these parties and Savvy Southern Style
nice design
I love this project. Thanks for sharing.
What a beautiful planter your old bench makes. Very creative.
Have a great week.
What a clever idea and a beautiful planter! Thanks so much for sharing!
Katie
What a clever idea! And the color is fabulous! Thanks so much for linking to Friday's Furniture Fix. We love having you share with us.
The planter came out great! What a creative idea, and I love the color! I would love for you to share this on my link party:)
http://www.twentysomethinginthe2010s.com/peace-love-link-up-001/
I love it Mindi! Tali
Featured. Pinned. LOVE it. Now I have to look around for a bench. 🙂 Best wishes, Linda @Crafts a la mode
Giving your planting bench new new life doesn't need to be a puzzle. By picking the right plants, you will have the capacity to select a bench new that is worked to last.
aww, those old drawers are lovely!
Nice post
Good job. This is one of the most beautiful DIY projects that I have come across..
Wow. This looks so stunning and creative.. this post deserves more share for sure But looks like I could able to find share buttons to share it.
wow,this look beautiful and eye catching.thanks for share this
This is such a great idea, love the color too!
Nice post
I am so much pleased to read your article. Hope all information seems to be very resourceful and knowledgeable for everyone.
What an amazing creativity, I really like it.