If you think that garden furniture has to be expensive, you are wrong. With a little skill, you can also build them yourself at low cost. Presented here are 4 creative DIY ideas.
For many people, the garden is their personal oasis of well-being. It is the place to retreat and recharge. So that the time in the garden is particularly comfortable, a few pieces of furniture on site are very practical. These sturdy pieces are quick to make with a little time and skill.
These tools belong in every garden workshop
In order to make garden furniture yourself, you need basic equipment. This can vary from person to person, but some tools and parts belong in every garden workshop. These include, for example:
- Various size screws
- Furniture connector
- Spacer wedges to compensate for height differences
- Screw-In Sockets
- Threaded rods and sleeves for unobtrusive connection
- Cover Caps
- Wooden Dowels
- wood glue
- Wood Care Stain or Varnish
- Brushes
- Cordless Screwdriver
- Cordless Drill
- Sandpaper or grinder
- Saw
The following pieces of furniture should serve as inspiration and make you want to start your own garden furniture project. The ideas can be individually adapted to the special garden and its residents and implemented quickly. The quality of the material is important so that the pieces give pleasure for a long time.
You can build this garden furniture yourself in no time
Idea No. 1 - chest of drawers as a planting table
Flowers can be easily repotted or planted at a planting table or the small tubs can be fertilized. So the garden lover is already standing in the fresh air, refueling with vitamin D and not bending over. It also offers storage space for one or the other garden tool such as pruning shears, gardening gloves or clips for securing plants.
Material List:
- Wooden chest of drawers
- Wooden board in suitable size
- depending on the desired height, additional solid construction wood
- Screw-In Sockets
- wood glue
- optional screws or wooden dowels
Instructions:
AtWith this idea, an old chest of drawers is simply fitted with an attachment of the right height. Due to the self-construction, the table can be adjusted back-friendly with appropriately sawn solid construction wood. The panel is simply fastened from below to the solid construction timber at the individual height using a combination of screw-in sockets with internal thread and the corresponding screw-in sockets with a covering edge. This is attached to the chest of drawers with wood glue and can be secured with screws or wooden dowels. Then varnish or glaze the wood.
➩ Extra tip:
Not every local hardware store is optimally equipped with the right screws and tools. Fastening material is usually offered in packaging units with larger quantities. If only a few pieces are needed, the rest stays in the pack. This increases the overall costs for the fastening material considerably. Alternatively, we recommend buying the right number of fastening materials such as screw-in sleeves, screws or dowels from a well-stocked online shop. The necessary parts can be selected individually. A small safety margin should always be taken into account. However, the costs are much lower overall when ordering the individually assembled material because less is purchased.
Idea 2 - Pallet Sofa
Furniture made from pallets impresses with its mixture of robust chic. They are lightweight, comfortable and customizable with colour, upholstery and cushions.
Material List:
- corresponding number of pallets
- screws
- Sandpaper
- optional furniture connector with expanding sleeve
- optional lacquer or glaze
- Pillows
Instructions:
Assemble pallets for this sofa and connect with screws or furniture connectors. Additional pallets can be cut for arm and backrests for more comfort. The surfaces should be sanded down as they are scratchy when not sanded and can injure the skin. If you like, you can paint the pallet sofa in bright colors and protect the wood with a low-solvent paint or glaze.
Matching cushions for the pallet-sized sofa are available in many stores. Additional cushions on the sofa are also inviting.
➩ Extra tip:
The side parts of the pallet sofa can be installed in both directions. If you build the lower side of the pallet outwards, you can place additional planting devices therecomplete. This creates a blooming garden below the armrests with small-flowering plants.
Idea no. 3 - Terrace made of pallets
Your own terrace can also be prepared quickly with pallets. Since the wood of the pallets is previously subjected to a heat treatment, it is already more stable and has an initial protection against mould. However, the pallets require a flat base, for example made of concrete slabs. The pallets are then laid out on top of this.
Material List:
- corresponding number of pallets
- Screws such as chipboard screws
- Construction solid wood strips
- Sandpaper
- optional furniture connector with expanding sleeve
- optional spacer wedges for leveling
- optional lacquer or glaze
Instructions:
In order to connect the pallets to each other, strips are required in the corresponding dimensions of the existing gaps between the pallets. Lay out and saw all strips. Sand down uneven spots so the deck doesn't end up with uneven spots. Then fasten the strips with screws.
Additional pallets are placed upright on the sides of the terrace with the bottom side facing out and fastened with screws. These serve as privacy and stabilization at the same time. In addition, the pallets can be planted on top and thus green the terrace. Screw long boards under the individual "legs" of the former pallets. These stabilize and at the same time provide the soil for planting.
The front of the terrace can also be covered with a wooden board. If it wobbles in one spot, spacer wedges help to compensate for the differences in height.
➩ Extra tip:
Particularly attractive plants such as the imperial crown, a special shrub such as the hibiscus or an unusual magnolia tree create beautiful focal points.
Idea No. 4 - Bench with tree
If you would like to read comfortably under a tree, you should build this bench. The assembly is simple and the effect is great, because the tree practically grows out of the bench.
Material List:
- buckets
- 2 wooden boards (at least 27 millimeters thick, 60 centimeters deep)
- Strips made of solid construction wood (25×27 millimeters)
- Saw
- wood glue
- screws
- glaze
Instructions:
You need a stable bucket with a height of 38 to 42 centimeters for this. It should be no larger than 50 centimeters in diameter and no smaller than 40Centimeter. Caution: The edge of the bucket must be wide. This is the only way to distribute the weight of the bench evenly.
For the bench, a length between 120 and 140 centimeters is ideal. A correspondingly long 27 millimeter thick piece of wood with a depth of 60 centimeters is required for the seat. An identical board the same height as the bench forms the side element. Bars measuring 35 x 27 millimeters are used for stabilization.
First, the hole for the pot is sawn into what will later be the seat. The hole should be slightly smaller than the diameter of the pot so that the board sits well and securely. The strips are then attached to the back about two centimeters from the edge with glue and screws. Here they stabilize the bank. The side panel is glued to the panel and screwed through the side rail. Finally, the wood should be given a protective glaze.
The bucket can optionally be fixed with glue. Once the bench is built around it, it is filled with soil. White gravel is recommended as the top layer. Small trees that are then suitable for planting in tubs are, for example:
➞ Japanese Mini Cherry Tree
➞ Almond Tree (however, it has to be pruned as a tree)
➞ Ornamental Maple
➞ Star Magnolia
➞ Angel's Trumpet (fast growing and great color)
➞ Ball Ginkgo
➞ Bamboo (pot restricts bamboo that otherwise spreads aggressively)
➩ Extra tip:
If you want to better protect your seat, set up a privacy screen or plant a hibiscus hedge.