Now that we have a terrace with a fatso view, we’ve been looking at minimalist planter options and found this image of a cool one at Houzz: a four cabinet file cabinet with drawers removed, turned on its back. It is one of a series of file cabinet planters made by Minimis and has a pricetag of nearly $800. Yikes! So we poked around for other options and found several people had the same idea. Check out this d-i-y before-and-after we found at Pretty Shiny Things:
The boxes are lined with plywood…
Faye at You Are the River took a slightly different approach; she discovered that “all you really need to make a file cabinet into a planter is a piece of wood cut to fit the open bottom. I also drilled holes in what will be the new bottom so water can properly drain”
…and gives some interesting trial-and-error-won info about painting them (white didn’t work)…(Click here for how-to spray paint a file cabinet – basically sand, prime, spray paint with the toughtest paint you can find). We like her idea of elevating one or two on concrete block…
They looks as good as high end ones!
Related posts: colorful d-i-y shipping pallet planters (w safe paints info)
portable milk crate farm (d-i-y), for roof, terrace, lot
lesson from venice: hang up your terrace cushions
stealth improv: philip besonen’s backyard retreat
Very cool. LOVE the file cabinet idea! I just made a pallet garden “DIY” planter … and this may be on the list for my next project.
We as a society generate an awful lot of junk, stuff that ends up in landful. Anything that can make our world a little more beautiful by transforming trash into living color is a real contribution to balance.