I had tons of help from this website and from the employees at Lowe's in deciding what to purchase and what steps to take. I ended up spending around $130 on all the items needed - but if I ever need to make more it will be just the cost of the lumber!
I am the poster girl for making mistakes while learning, no joke. Generally, I make the uh-oh on a step that I’ve done a zillion times, because I am so busy making sure that the parts that are brand new to me go well. Years ago I was trying to impress a roommate and I worked super hard on a lemon spaghetti dish. I learned to zest and juice a lemon but completely forgot about draining my noodles. Hello disgusting! Putting together my Ana-White project was no different. I gently sanded the wood with my sanding sponge and wiped them off with a rag. I then placed two of the 1x4’s together and made sure that they were even. I discovered that it would be next to impossible to have perfect shelves, so I was going to let it go and just have fun. I pre-drilled a hole, then used a countersink bit to match the head of my wood screw, and held the boards together with all my might while I drilled in the first screw. Of course, since that worked out so well… I decided to try something different! Cap had told me that these particular screws practically countersunk themselves. Sweet! Therefore, on the second screw I predrilled and then tried to see what would happen if I skipped the countersink bit step and just put the screw in. Fail! The wood made this groan sound and the screw didn’t go into a nice neat hole, but instead just kind of escaped in like a finger in pudding. No good! I realized that I had forgotten to use wood glue, so I took both screws back out, put the wood glue in, and back in the screws. I returned to the first method of predrill, countersink bit, wood glue, then screw and finished it off. I held the 1x2 into place and used finishing nails to attach it to the 1x4s. Using a nail punch, I made sure there was a little hole atop each nail. I filled all the holes and a few of my mistakes with wood filler. While the filler was drying I repeated all the steps, sans many of the mistakes adding in a few others, and was done with the first step of building shelves! Next I used a two inch angle brush and applied the primer. After it was dried I applied the paint using a two inch roller. When it was all dried I marked my studs and my board, predrilled, and screwed them into the wall! That was it! It was so much fun and completely empowering. I can't wait to do the next one.
Comments
KatieO (not verified)
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 20:11
Fabulous!
Wow! LOVE IT! I love the taller posts so you can incorporate the chicken wire! I SOOOO needed to do something like that this year. Also, the vertical garden boxes are BRILLIANT! LOVE IT!
Guest (not verified)
Sun, 07/10/2011 - 14:19
Love the vertical garden!
Love the vertical garden! What a wonderful idea! Did you line the boxes with plastic??
drowland
Thu, 11/17/2011 - 07:59
Success
We ended up getting a ton of tomoatoes and green peppers from the garden boxes. We've actually built a couple more. We'll probably double again before next spring. We're looking at adding more veggies.
We now have ton of stuff planted for the fall...
Guest (not verified)
Tue, 03/13/2012 - 10:46
Plan?
How did you build the upright planter boxes? Do you mind explaining the building process/design? I really want to plant this in my yard!
colton's mom (not verified)
Tue, 04/03/2012 - 06:19
vertical box instructions?
i love the vertical boxes. I am just trying my hand at the world with a green thumb and could use as much advice as possible about how to make as well as to line the boxes or not to line them. All advice appreciated!
berman (not verified)
Fri, 11/23/2012 - 21:53
Hello there
Hi, my name is berman. I found you pin from my pinterest and your box garden is so great. I am a newbie in this field and so interested to build garden in my house. If i can ask you some question, could you please to answer that?
cheers,
berman
[email protected]
Tue, 03/10/2015 - 21:19
Vertical Box Instruction!
Hello! Do you mind sharing the Vertical Box Instructions? I absolutely love this idea!
missy-lec
Sun, 05/31/2015 - 21:00
Love the vertical boxes
Came across this beautiful design while searching for my next diy garden idea. Wondering if there are blueprints available