In the early years of our marriage, Edward and I would have spats over the amount of “stuff” he’d keep. Most especially after a big home improvement or DIY project. Our garage and shed would be full of spare wood, trim, screws and other leftover supplies. I would be so irritated. A lot of times I would win the argument and he would empty out corners and shelves to free up room for other junk we most likely didn’t need either.

Then I began crafting. My crafting turned to painting, my painting to experimenting with leathers and woods, and I eventually learned my way around our power tools and saws. And you know what? He was right. Those extra supplies are 100% worth saving. What once seemed a nuisance turned to a convenience. What once seemed so pointless now seems to make total sense. Why get rid of good wood? You never know what you might need it for and when you figure it out, you’ll have it right there handy and you won’t have to spend money on something you already had.

And I really do love coming up with an idea, scouring our garage, shed and workshop for pieces and parts and then creating something from a whole big pile of nothing. For example, my Little Black Greenhouse from last summer.

This Veggie Stand project is no exception. Keep in mind, this was built from irregular, old and sometimes bent wood. So, it’s not perfect. I don’t claim to be a master woodworker nor a professional carpenter. But, I make crap from trash and save a ton of junk from entering the landfills. And I happen to have a talent for making said trash crap cute. So, there’s that too.

Now back to the DIY: My idea was to have something small but sturdy to hold my little one’s veggie plants this summer. Once the idea was “planted” so-to-speak, off to the shed I went!

Here’s what I found…

After figuring out which pieces would best suit my project, I started cutting.

List of the wood sizes I used for the Veggie Stand:

• 2 – 2×4’s 36″ long
• 2 – 2×4’s 23.5″ long
• 2 – 4×4 post pieces – 12″ long
• 2 – 1×5’s – 12″ long
• 1 – 36″ dowel rod
• 2 – 1.5×1.5 – 10″ long
• 2 – 2×4’s – 21″ long
  

Now, please keep in mind a few things while reading these instructions. #1 – it was about to rain at any minute, so I was a bit rushed. #2 – I began the project in a rocky area of our backyard until I realized it was affecting the levelness of the stand (duh!!!) #3 – I absolutely, positively did as little measuring as possible. Why? I don’t know. I guess I didn’t really want to? So, I “eyeballed” every pre-dilled hole. #4 – these are scrap wood pieces left over from other home projects. They may have been previously cut width wise. The measurements I listed above might be a little strange and you may even find that you need to adjust the measurements to fit what you have or what you can find in the store. This instructional is really just to give you a rough guideline of how I built the stand.

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At this point, I could have been done. The stand could have been painted and ready to go. But, I decided to add a bit more detail to the piece. Because, why the heck not? Go big or go home!

I added a top piece and decided to add a few planks on the bottom to serve as a base as well as additional plant storage. I also reinforced the 36″ 2×4’s to the bottom post pieces with heavy duty L-Brackets. The base planks helped to cover the L-Brackets.

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I hand painted it with a jar of Home Depot’s outdoor “oops” paint ($3!) for a good seal, followed by 2 coats of spray paint (I didn’t have enough spray paint in the color I liked and already had to do the entire project from start to finish. But, with a good coat of that “oops” paint in a similar shade, I needed way less spray paint. I actually still have some left in the can!)

Once again, technically, she was finished. She was ready to go. But, BUUUUT, I decided to fancy her up a bit more.

I found a little wood trim piece and an extra strip of scalloped vinyl trim from our front porch. I cut the vinyl to size with box cutters and stained the wood trim the same color I stained the dowel rod. Using these D-Rings from Tractor Supply, I ran the rod through.

Now this girl was ready for her debut!

I have to admit, I feel a great sense of pride when I see my girls and boys get so excited over something Mommy made “all by herself”! Oh, and PS, don’t tell Edward I said he was right….

I used empty milk jugs for our planters. After simply cutting an opening (and making sure NOT to cut the handle), adding some drainage holes in the bottom and filling with potting soil, we had our own (FREE) hanging pots!