Planter Boxes: How to build them

We love to build planter boxes. We love how versatile they are and how you can use the same basic idea and make it bigger, smaller, shorter, taller…whatever you need to fit your space.

We built planter boxes like this one for our Save My Bakery renovations on Food Network. We used Western Red Cedar because it is has all kinds of awesome in it—sweet look, loves to be outside, easy to work with.

Our secret to DIY-ing the perfect planter box—big or small—starts with making the corner boards first. It’s an easy way to join boards and create a clean finish in one step. Another trick: We only buy one size lumber for our planters and make the smaller pieces from it. Here we used 1×12 which we got from a lumber yard. But you can use 1×4 or 1×6 which is also available in the big box stores.

Use the corner boards to make panels. Then connect the panels. That’s the basic box. We add a shelf inside tall planter boxes using a cleat (a strip of wood fastened to the inside of the planter on each side) and some cut-offs for the ‘shelf.’

We used nails and staples to connect the pieces, but screws work well too.

And for the top, a few pieces of trim—adding a nice edge with a router works here but it isn’t necessary—to finish off the look.

The video below shows how we made the planter box.

For more fun outdoor projects, click here.