We have been doing so much work on our yard lately (
which if you've been reading my blog or following me on Instagram, you well know) and it is looking SO good.
Like, so much improved that I have lost count of how many neighbors have walked up and complemented us on everything we've done.
Which, as Mike said, "really makes you realize how bad it was before."
Um, yeah honey, but I already knew that. You seemed to be the only on in denial.
With all the improvements, it's just pushing us to do even more; I've been wanting to plant some pretty blooms something fierce and our front porch was looking sadly bare, so I thought to myself, "self, surely you could easily cobble something together with some scrap wood and not spend any money!
We had an old cedar section of fencing that had been leaning against the side of the house since we took it down last year. I knew that cedar would be the perfect material to use for an outdoor project, plus, I wouldn't need to cut them to size because the planks were already the perfect length! This project really couldn't have come together more smoothly.
I did opt to use some thicker plywood for the side sections so that I would have something sturdy I could secure the old fence boards to, but trimming those to the proper size was really the only prep work I had to do.
I picked the two nicest looking pieces for my flower box front, and turned them upside down so I could staple them together. This was not structural, merely to help hold them together while I attached the plywood pieces to the side.
You can see int his picture how the fence boards kind of fir together, which was perfect for this project. I used wood screws to attach the front boards to the plywood on each side, then attached the bottom, then lastly the back boards.
Remember that when working with wood in general, but especially older, more brittle wood, pre-drilling holes will help endure that your wood doesn't crack as your drilling into it.
Once the box was assembled, I drilled 5 holes in the bottom to help with drainage using a 1/2" drill bit. Since this was a free project I was just kind of throwing together, I didn't bother lining the flower box with any type of plastic or anything. Plus, since the main pieces are cedar, that should help it hold up also. I did opt to stain the outside of the plywood so it would match the weathered boards a bit more.
Here it is all ready to fill with dirt and flowers! Not gonna lie, I was pretty pleased with myself. :) I loved the look of the weathered wood, so I didn't even bother to stain down that uneven coloring.
After consulting with my husband, we opted to just drill the box directly into our deck railing. And honestly, I had him do that part. Love that guy. We're planning to replace both decks in a year or two anyway, so we weren't worried about ruining the railing.
Scratch that, the railing is pretty much ruined, I don't think we could do anything to make it worse at this point.
Labels: flowers, gardening, reuse, wood, yard
