Shabby-chic planting steps made from old fruit crate
Do you have limited space on your balcony or patio, but want all your plants to be shown off? Do you also have an empty fruit crate left over that you don't know what to do with? With little effort, you can create a truly attractive planting staircase that will showcase your potted plants to their full potential.
This is what you need
Tools:
- Jigsaw with metal saw blade
- Tongs
- angle measure
- Hammer (optional)
Material:
- A fruit box with 3 wooden slats height
- wood glue
- Nails (optional)
And off we go
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Sawing it to pieces : Use the jigsaw to remove the three boards on one of the long sides of the wooden box, as well as the bottom plank on the opposite long side. You'll also need the two middle bottom boards, so saw them out as well. It's best to use pliers to pull the sawn-through staples and nails out of the boards to prevent injury. They're usually quite rusty, so it's best to use new nails for your project.
First, you need to saw some slats out of the fruit crate.
"If you don't have a jigsaw handy, you can also remove the boards with a hammer and wedge or pliers. But especially with older boxes, the nails and staples are very difficult to remove, so be careful, otherwise the boards will break."
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Saw to size : Three of the six removed slats will remain unchanged, so you can set them aside. Bevel the corners of one of the slats so that it fits between the corner posts on the back of your box and rests on the back and side walls. Next, measure the internal distance between the two side walls of your box and cut two boards to the appropriate length.
Now it is important to cut the sawn-out slats correctly
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Staircase construction : Now it's time to build the stairs, working from the back/top to the front/bottom. First, use the beveled board, which you glue into the back of the box. Before that, glue one of the unaltered boards to the side walls. Where this board ends, glue one of the shortened boards between the side walls. The first step is finished. One level down, glue the remaining two unaltered boards to the side walls. Before that, another board goes between the side walls to form the back of the step.
The last step is to puzzle the slats together so that a staircase is actually created
"To prevent the slats from slipping, you can also carefully nail them together, but be careful that the wood doesn't start to splinter. Generally, the glue will hold firmly enough."
