The current project I’m working on for Lowe’s Creative Ideas fits into two categories for me: indoor gardening and vertical gardening. “Migration” was the theme given to us which means we were to bring the garden indoors but the issue with that for me is space. I bring plants indoors to overwinter each year like coleus or my avocado tree but space for more gardening is limited. With three kids there’s lots of stuff and it’s hard to bring in more! The solution was to think about some sort of vertical garden. We do have wall space an idea was developed to create a decorative planter that hangs on the wall!
After coming up with numerous ideas I eventually settled on a 5 tin bucket with a lightbox effect around it. Lighting isn’t a big issue where the hanging wall planter is going to do since we have south facing windows in the room. The plants will be on the south facing wall and won’t be in the direct sunlight but will receive plenty of residual light from the rest of the room.
I bought a few things at Lowe’s to accomplish this project including 5 small tin Buckets (2.5 qt.), Screws, small rubber gaskets, washers, a 12″x1″ pine board, a 3″x1″ board, LED rope light, and aluminum flashing.
I cut the 12″ wide board to 42 inches long. Then I measured out where I wanted the tin buckets to go on the board and proceeded to drill light holes for a sun pattern. I used a paddle bit for the large sun hole then smaller bits to make holes for the “rays”.
 |
| You may have seen this on the Growing The Home Garden Facebook Page! |
On the back of the board I glued and screwed a center board. I didn’t buy this piece since I had a scrap piece just the right size already in the garage. This board is where the rope light was wrapped and will also help to hold the planter to the wall studs. I glued some scrap pieces of wood which came from the 3″x1″ board to the corners on the back and clamped them down. Clamps are the most wonderful thing in the world! You need some! Even if you don’t think you do, you do.
Then I stained the wood with a cedar stain.
When the stain was dry enough to work around I wrapped the rope light around the center board and weaved it around the light holes. I secured the rope light into place using the brackets that came with them and some drywall screws. The screws became guides for the rope light.
After the rope light was secured I cut and added the aluminum flashing to the back. It’s purpose was to become a reflective surface for the light. I cut and added a piece of the 3″x1″ board to fit from the top left corner to the top right corner and the bottom left corner to the bottom right corner. This added a little depth to the planter and secured the flashing into place.
Next I added the tin buckets to the front of the board. One tin bucket went under each set of sun light holes. I pre-drilled the screw holes then used screws with a washer and rubber gasket. Since water will be present in the buckets at some point I thought gaskets were necessary to seal the screw holes completely. Even though my plan is to put pots in the buckets there will still be moisture in the area that I don’t want to spill onto the carpet, the wall, or my lovely 30+ year old orange couch! (It’s the most comfortable couch in the world!)
All I have to do now is to hang it on the wall and add plants. I’ll do another post once I get it up on the wall so you can see how it all came together!