Our favorite projects are the ones that improve our home. We’ve spent tons of time on the inside and still have tons more to do, but I love the idea of outside projects too.
Of course, those are typically reserved for when it’s not the middle of summer in Phoenix and your skin is melting off at temps upwards of 115. For whatever reason, we decided to break that rule and went for it. Of course, our son wanted to help.
The address numbers on our house were a little less than desirable. While they did their functional job, they weren’t anything special to look at and I really love things that serve both purposes. Who doesn’t? So, we opted for a planter box with some new numbers that better suited our style.
This project is pretty easy, but does require some power tools and a pallet scavenger hunt.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- An old pallet
- Wood stain
- Address numbers of your choice
- 2 long brackets
- 4 small “L” brackets
- Small screws and drill bits
- A power drill
- Saw of some kind
- Plants of your choice
- Soil
Directions:
Step 1
To start out, you’ll need to decide how big you’d like your planter to be. We made ours 12 x 20 inches but you can adjust based on what kind of space that you have available on your house. You can also make yours wider instead of longer if that works better for you.
Once you have your measurements, you’ll need to pull apart the long pallet pieces and cut them down to your desired width. We needed 9 pieces cut to 12 inches wide in order to create the size and shape we wanted. We used 6 of them for the back, 2 for the front and 1 for the bottom. You’ll also need to cut the side pieces. The size of these pieces will depend on how deep you’d like your planter to be. We cut ours at 6 inches.
Step 2
Arrange the back pieces in a row and attach the two long brackets. You’ll have to use a small drill bit to pre-drill the holes and then attach the brackets with small screws.
Step 3
Use the small “L” brackets to create the planter box and then use small screws to attach the front pieces.
Step 4
Stain the box. This part was painful for me as wood stain requires such a long dry time. Don’t rush it. We chose a darker stain than I originally envisioned, but in the end, I love how it turned out.
Step 5
Once the box is dry, you can attach the numbers. The ones we bought came with handy papers so we knew where to pre-drill our holes to attach them.
Step 6
Next you can hang up on the outside of your house and fill with soil and the plants of your choice. Naturally I chose succulents and cacti, but it could look really beautiful with flowers or a hanging vine too.
I love how this looks on the front of our house. It gives it some extra personality and much needed color. I also can’t get over the numbers. For a font nerd like me, it was important that those were perfect. I hope you share pictures of yours if you make one.
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