DIY Louvered Wood Planter Box–An Easy Spring Project

I hope you guys are ready for a flood of DIY spring projects coming at you in the next several weeks (or months, who knows?).  I’ve never been much on the “seasonal” projects on here (if you haven’t noticed, I have very few), but this year I got spring fever (you can see my new spring wreath here) and I’m excited for outdoor projects and sprucing up my yard.  (This totally has nothing to do with the fact that I can’t fit anything else INSIDE my house at this point, so I’ve taken to filling up the outside….TOTALLY irrelevant…)

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So, in case you haven’t noticed, yet, it’s spring outside!!!  And, this makes me both happy and a little sad.  I’m kind of sad because I had to take down my favorite winter snowman wreath (whose name is George…but we won’t get into that right now), and all winter I hoped for snow and winter came and went with only ONE measly inch of snow (that quickly melted away in the same day it fell).  Sad day. 

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BUT, now that it is spring, there are flowers and ferns EVERYWHERE.  And that makes me happy because my porch is naked and needs some life on it like ASAP.  See??  It’s shameful…all that nakedness on display for the whole world to see.

So once the ferns come out for spring, I am the first in line to get some. 

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Side note…I kill most flowers (I really have no excuse except I forget to water them), so we stick with ferns on the porch 🙂  Any other black thumbs out there??  #blackthumbsanonymous

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But, even with just ferns, my porch still seemed naked…and the ferns needed up off the ground…they’re hard to sweep around.  And if it takes extra effort to clean, I’m probably not going to do it. HAHAHAHA no, seriously.

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So, I actually built some DIY wood planters (you can see them in the picture above) to house my front porch ferns during the spring and summer months (and my mums in the fall) almost two years ago and never actually shared the how to on here.  I’ve had several compliments on them and questions about them from you guys, and since my mom needed a matching set this year, it was the perfect time to finally share them with you!

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You know, just in case you need plants to cover your porch’s nakedness…and are also a super lazy sweeper.  (Or because the inside of your house is too full, so you want to start filling up the outside…which, again…is totally unrelated to my situation…)

I’ve got the whole how to for you on these DIY louvered wood planters over on Build Something so be sure to check it out!! Build Something (if you don’t already know) has TONS of awesome building plans for you to look through with easy step by step instructions.  So when you’re done with the planters, look around and see what else you can build!

These louvered planters are such a super easy build, and EASILY customizable to whatever size you need.  Mom needed bigger ones than I did (I have a tiny porch), so hers have five side slats, but mine only have four.  I also made her slats about 2” longer than mine, but that’s so easy to modify.

And I love the louvered look…it’s simple, but adds some interest. 

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Mom wanted her planters painted black, but I like the unfinished wood color.  They look great with ferns and mums.  I’d tell you they look great with anything, but I only have experience with ferns and mums haha…I kill just about anything else.

So if you’re ready for a super easy weekend project, be sure to get the plans here and add these to your list 🙂

And don’t forget to pin for later.  Let me know in the comments what other plants you would put in your planters…or what other plants are okay in the hands of a black thumbed woodworker 🙂  Or just tell me what other spring projects you hope to see on here soon 🙂  I love hearing from you guys!

Until next time, happy building!