Simply Beautiful By Angela

creating simple beauty on a budget

DIY Budget Flower Boxes

 
Hello and happy Friday everyone!  On Tuesday I shared the progress that we’ve made on our backyard since buying our home 3 years ago.  In case you missed it you can catch that post here.  I am soooo pumped about how far it has come!
 
That section in the back originally had some broken flower boxes that were super overgrown with weeds.
 
 
Yikes!!
 
I tore them out along with all of the weeds.  It actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.  It just required a shovel,  a few trash bags and A LOT of muscle power!  
 
Once they were out I used a metal rake to level the dirt out and covered it with landscaping fabric and mulch.
 
I popped a couple of plastic planters on some pavers but never got around to planting anything in them.  So it sat like this all last summer because for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do there. 
Then one day last week if finally hit me–why don’t I just build some new flower boxes
 

Supplies Used: (Affiliate links may be provided for convenience.  For more info, see my full disclosure here.) 

Step 1.
 
I used one 2×6 to build each box. I cut each one into two 36″ pieces and two 12″ pieces.
 
(try to ignore the abandoned french fry hanging out on the ground!)
 

Step 2.

The hubby used his drill and some wood screws to attach the four sides together.  One day I pinky promise that I am going to learn how to use the drill myself.  It’s the one tool that scares the crap out of me and that’s just plain silly since I can use the miter saw all day long!

(Sorry for the blurry pic–this man works fast!!)
 
 
Step 3.
 
The good thing about this wood is that it’s super cheap.  The bad thing is–it’s super cheap haha.  I used my orbital sander to smooth out the edges and to get rid of the splintering on the edges.

Step 4.

I used a rag to stain each one with my favorite wood stain Provincial.

Step 5.

Once they were dry I went over each one with a coat of urethane.  This stuff is pricey (it almost cost as much as all of my lumber!)  but it’s totally worth it if you want these guys to hold up against the weather for awhile.

Once they were ready to go I set them where I wanted, removed the mulch from inside and used a box cutter to cut the landscaping fabric out. 

I had to use a shovel to level some spots out a little bit. I pushed mulch up around the outside edges and then poured my soil inside each one.

I planted a couple of perennials but I’m usually absolutely terrible at keeping anything other than my kids alive so we shall see if they can survive this summer!

After staring at a blank space for a whole year it still surprises me when I walk outside and actually see something up there!

 

It still looks a little lonely on the sides so I was thinking about planting something on the sides.  Maybe some rose bushes to bring in some more color? 

Have a great weekend my friends!  I am going to take a vacation from the blog next week while I
enjoy some much needed summer fun with the boys!

 
Linking up to these awesome parties.

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