How to Build an Upcycled Planter Box

I am so absolutely thrilled with how this DIY planter box turned out. I finally used all the fence posts that I scavenged from my neighbor’s trash a couple of year’s ago….sniff. I love the mix of old weathered wood with fresh rich stained tones. This planter is huge coming in at 7-1/2 feet long. It makes a huge impact as you walk up to my door and I love seeing some color on my porch area.

I pretty much used the same process as I used to make my square planter box. Here is the sad state before the planter box was made. Now this area was fine, since it was simple and just had rocks in it. It was obviously zero upkeep and at least looked clean for the time being. But I wanted more and was ready to take the plunge to add to that area.

Supplies:

5 – 8 foot 1” x 4”

6 foot 2” x 2”

3 – 8 foot 1” x 2” furring strips

fence pickets or cedar pickets purchased from Lowes

Kreg Jig with 1 1/4” screws

Cordless drill

Rust-Oleum’s Spar Varathane or any outdoor wood sealant

paint brush

Minwax English Chestnut

Pre-Wood conditioner

Air stapler

Air nail gun (I used 1” and 1 3/16”)

Chop saw

tape measure

pencil

1/4” spacers

landscape cloth

scrap lumber for cleats

scrap lumber for the bottom or a bunkie board cut to size

1. I cut four 1” x 4” pieces to 7 1/2’ for the length of the sides. Then I cut four to 15” for the other two sides. I used a pre-wood conditioner and Minwax’s English Chestnut on the new wood. Let dry.

2. Then I cut about 54 fence pickets down to 12”.

3. Using 1/4” scrap wood as spacers I used my air nailer with 1” brad nails and nailed the fence pickets to the top and bottom boards lining up the top and bottom. I ended up using my jigsaw to cut a little off the length at the end since it is hard to know exactly how long to cut the pieces since the fence pickets varied a little bit in size.

4. I also found a wider picket for the sides. I used one wider picket and two smaller ones. If I used three regular sized pickets it was too small and four was too wide for the area so the wider one I had laying around was perfect.

5. Next, I used my Kreg Jig on all four sides and attached it to 2” x 2” cut to 12”.

6. Then I cut some 1×2 furring strips for the top. I stained those and let them dry.

7. Since I wanted to save money on dirt and certainly didn’t need 12” of it, I used a bunch of scraps I had laying around to make a cleat around the box and then added boards to the top of that. That way I had about 6” of dirt to fill.

8. I air stapled black landscaping cloth on the inside.

9. Then I air nailed the furring strips in place.

10. Lastly, I gave the entire piece 3 coats of Spar Varathane to protect it from the elements and help the fence pickets no longer weather.

11. I added dirt mixed with some Osmocote.

I know I have said it before but I just love weathered wood and stained wood together. The combination is so pretty.

So I guess I need to restock my weathered fence pickets. Who is tearing down a fence I can have? I am starting to get the shakes knowing I am all out of weathered wood for projects.