Planter Boxes and Linking Benches –a picture essay with LOTS of photos

[Frank Pellow]

(post 1 of 6)

Last May I replaced the deck and fence at my daughter Kathleen’s house. See the thread: http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=37676

Towards the end of that project, I started to build some planter boxes and benches to place around part of the perimeter of that deck. Well, since May, I have spent very little time in Toronto, so work on the boxes and benches has been sporadic. This week, I finished the project –producing four boxes and three interconnecting benches.

I designed these from the following picture:

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which I found on the Lee Valley web site. The boxes in the picture were built using a plan from U-Built, but I neither used nor looked at that plan. The picture provided sufficient information for me to “rip off” their design.

The remainder of this thread contains a “picture essay” of my (much interrupted) project.

01) The top of each box is made of 18 mm Baltic Birch plywood. A round hole will be cut into the plywood so that a flower pot can be inserted. Here the location of that hole has just been marked:

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02) And here it is being cut:

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I used a plastic “foot” in front of the blade on my jigsaw in order to eliminate tear-out.

03) A rim of 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch pressure treated wood (cut from scrap, of course) is nailed to both the top and bottom box pieces:

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04) Here a top pieced is being stained:

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[Frank Pellow]

(post 2 of 6)

05) And here all the tops and bottoms are drying outside after having been stained.

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06) The sides of the box are being made of cedar. The cedar I started with was very rough 1x8 which was first cut into 40 centimetre (about 16 inch) lengths, then planed down to remove most of the roughness on one side of the board.

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07) Then, 45 degree bevels were at each of the front edges.

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08) The sides of one of the boxes were screwed to their top and bottom frames:

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09) And here is an almost completed box:

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[Frank Pellow]

(post 3 of 6)

10) I planed and cut these pieces of cedar trim from some of the old cedar that was saved from Kathleen’s old deck:

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11) Screwing trim pieces to the top:

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12) Screwing feet (made from trim scrap) to the bottom

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13) A completed (except for a coat of preservative) box:

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By the way, those are small holes for drainage in the corners of both the top and bottom pieces of plywood.

[Frank Pellow]

(post 4 of 6)

14) Stepping back a bit, I should state that the dimensions of the boxes are not exact (because the wood is somewhat rough), so I did not precut the trim pieces. Rather, the pieces are all cut to fit. For each piece, I cut it slightly longer than needed, put it in its eventual place, then trim it to required size before screwing it home. This can be seen in the following series of three photos.
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Next, I took two boxes down to Kathleen’s in order to try various positions on the deck. We decided upon only four boxes, rather than the five that I had planned, after trying them in various positions on the deck. Now that the positions had been determined, it was time to build the connecting benches. There are going to be three benches, on 27 inches and two 67 inches in length. Each bench is made from 6 pieces that were created by ripping a 2x6 cedar board down the middle resulting in 2x3s (actually 1.5” by 2.5”). Groves are cut at the end of each bench so that they can fit over the sides of the boxes.

15) Routing groves on underside of bench seat inside piece:

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[Frank Pellow]

(post 5 of 6)

16) The grooves on the bench side pieces is deeper (1.5 inches), so I decided to experiment with creating then another way. First I used my bandsaw to cut the sides of the groves.

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17) I tried two different ways to cut the bottom of the grooves. For the shorter bench (about 27 inches), it was easy to cut the bottom with my scroll saw.

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But, when I tried this with a piece from a longer bench (about 67 inches), the wood was harder for me to manage and I broke two scroll saw blades. So, I resorted to cut the bottoms with a jig saw.

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18) Each bench consists of two outside 2x3s on end, four interior 2x3s on their side and some backing 1.25” by 6” (real dimensions) boards made from scrap cedar. A 2.5” screw is driven through each backing board into each interior 2x3s and a 3” screw is driven through each of the exterior 2x3s into eack backing board.

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19) Here is a top view of a shorter bench being assembled. It utilizes only two backing boards.

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[Frank Pellow]

(post 6 of 6)

20) here is a bench supported by two planters:

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Once I take the planters and benches to Kathleen's place, I will post another photo or two of them all in position.

[Bob Childress]

Nice pictorial, Frank. Thanks for sharing. The benches and planters look great. :)

[Robert Mickley]

Nice Frank.

I can se I'll have to keep the wife out of here!!

[Julio Navarro]

Very interesting design, very versital. the desing can change as needed.

[Frank Pellow]

(post 6 of 6)

...

Once I take the planters and benches to Kathleen's place, I will post another photo or two of them all in position.
I did that today. Here are two photos:

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[Jerry Olexa]

Nice work, Frank..Looks good!

[Corey Hallagan]

Nice work Frank. That really adds a classy look to your deck!

corey

[Jim Dunn]

Frank real nice addition to your deck and house. It's a little late in the year to plant in your part of the country isn't it?? Course I guess peas grow in cold climates.

[Lori Kleinberg]

Very nice work. Your daughter should be very proud.
Thanks for the quick tutorial.