If you drool over the beautiful garden benches found in garden- and farm - supply catalogue , but ca n’t deal to fork over the cash a top - dollar study post , you ’re in fortune . gird with do - it - yourself accomplishment and a few putz , you’re able to make a potting judiciary all your own out of salve materials .
The foundation of the project below is an honest-to-goodness dresser , which you might have around your theatre or can readily find at a local thrift shop . The absolute majority of the other cloth , with the possible exception of the drawer slides , can also be found around your home or at a used store .
Before you start build up your potting terrace , browse your favorite garden catalogs to find the features you most want to comprise . Our task include :
Think through your own needs before starting your project , and adjust your stuff consequently .
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Find a dresser with good construction . Pressboard from flimsily made article of furniture will not hold up to the wear and rent — not to mention the weather — your potting bench will stomach . We get our chest at a flea market . You might expect for yours at a used store or yard sale , on Craigslist or Freecycle , or in your own basement . Our dresser is 42 inch tall , 30 inches cryptic and 36 inches farsighted with four drawers .
Step 2 : Deconstruct your dresser . Pull all of the drawers out of the bureau , and ready them apart . Keep the bottom two drawers intact for hive away garden supplies . The top two drawer spaces will become a ledge : one-half will be stationary , and one-half will take out out to hold a potting - land container . Using a fretsaw , cut out the skeleton between the top twodrawers . You ’re left with an open infinite roughly 20 column inch tall .
If your dresser has side - draftsman slides , remove these from the now - open space . take the bottom piece from one of the extra drawers . you’re able to use the saber saw to cut it off , if needed ; however , you’re able to plausibly work it aside using a hammer and flat - head screwdriver .
take away the drawer slides , and veer the wood piece in half width - wise . You ’ll use one of these while for the pull - out shelf and the other to reward the stationary shelf . If your drawer bottom is thin , expend 1/4 - column inch plywood instead . This shelf will hold your potting premix , so it needs to have some heft . Remove the drawer displume from the two pants you ’re keeping as well as the deconstructed drawer .
Step 3 : Size your dresser . If the dresser you ’re working with is a niggling marvellous than necessary , use a jigsaw to cut off the legs affluent with the bottom of the vanity .
total a base for stability : Secure one 2×4 , extensive - side down , along each side of the dresser base . Insert our screw along each plank ( one in each end and two in the heart ) . Pay attention to the chest ’s construction . The very bottom of the dresser might be too thin to hold the screws . In this case , screw the al-Qaida to the outdoor edge of the dresser .
Step 4 : Paint your pieces . Dressers are constructed for indoor use , so you ’ll want to repaint yours to hold up to outdoor conditions . This is crucial even if you plan to keep your potting bench in a garden shed or barn , out of lineal link with hastiness ; fluctuating temperature and humidity will still take their toll on Sir Henry Wood like this .
undress the finish from the wood and maculate it , or give it a good sanding and paint over the existing ending with out-of-door paint . Give your potting bench personality . If you have a classic , rustic style , go with an passe - looking colouring or give it a distressed treatment . If you ’re more bluff and carefree , consider using a lustrous , lustrous paint .
pay for kids to join in on this part of the project , as well , if they ’ll be participating in gardening activities . Paint the toilet table , the pull - out shelf , the stationary shelf and the two bottom drawers , inside and out . Your hooks , draftsman pulls and gutter - newspaper publisher dispenser also become new again with a coat of key that complements your potting - workbench colour .
Continue the project when the paint has dried per manufacturing business ’s instructions .
stair 5 : Attach rend - out shelf slide . If your dresser has undermount drawer slides , you could use these for your pull - out shelf slides ; otherwise , leverage undermount slide at a salvage shop or computer hardware store . If you purchase raw swoop , these will likely come with installing instructions — stick with the manufacturer ’s instructions , if available .
Mount internal slide bars along the edge of the bottom of the pull - out shelf . amount to space them evenly . Precision is crucial — if these are not parallel to each other , the shelf will not slide right .
slither the mounted bars into the fundament slides and set the shelf , coast - side down , on the left side of the dresser shelf pedestal . Mark the groundwork slides ’ positions on the dresser shelf . Remove the sliding shelf and place by , disengaging the bar from the base slides . Attach the bottom skid to the dresser shelf base as marked . Reassemble the sloping trough , try out your pull - out shelf , and align theme sloping trough placement as necessitate .
Step 8 : Create more memory board blank . The side of this potting terrace are as utilitarian as the interior . On the odd side , secure the stay on two drawer pulls . Keep your gardening gloves and anything with a hooking or grommet here . Also attach a can - paper dispenser to keep your trellis twine .
On the right side , batten a series of hooks or the head of an old metallic element blood to advert your horticulture hat and manus tools with hang grommet . ( If the loops have broken off of your tools , now ’s the time to put back them with trellising twine . )
Step 9 : Organize your work bench . No one can state you how to organise your potting bench — you have to do what makes sentiency to you . For our potting bench , we used items we found at the flea market to bring home the bacon a plaza for everything . In the top drawer of our potting terrace , silverware - draftsman arranger do wonders for maintain garden markers organized and ready to hand . A raincoat , pliant photograph corner has a 2d life as a semen - packet organizer . Our garden journal , a box seat of colored pencils and pens , a favorite garden - quotation Holy Writ , and a three - ring binder with garden articles kept in plastic sleeves for reference point have a plate here , too . If your potting bench has the potential to get rained on , keep your printed materials in a waterproof , pliant container .
The bottom draftsman holds bags of land amendment , less - often - used cock , and a dust pan and hand Scots heather to keep the terrace tidy .
On our potting work bench ’s clout - out shelf , we keep a plastic tub for potting admixture , and extra potsand spray bottleful sit down on the stationary shelf . An organized potting judiciary gives you a central spot to use as a garden workbench , making your garden job that much more gratifying .
