Saturday

Rustic Potting Bench

I used to have a door turned into a hanging potting bench on the side of the playhouse turned potting shed.

But then we turned the potting shed turned playhouse back into a playhouse and the warped cracked door I used to pot plants was sent to the burn pile.

Spring came and I decided not to pot as many plants as usual, but I still missed the shelf I had to do that on.

Enter this big 'ol heavy piece of weathered awesomeness.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

I bought it at an auction because most everyone else looked at it as a POS.

I think the final price was $5.00, and it will end up making two potting benches, a larger and a smaller.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

Daughter #2 and I forced it into the back of my vehicle along with my other wins and stacked them on top of it.

I knew from the get-go it would become a potting bench.

The first step was to cut it in half - not equally - it was table depth not potting depth and if you have short arms that size wasn't gonna work.

In the background, the left hand side of the playhouse - a work in progress - held my long potting shelf, but as you can see it's gone.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

After a hunt in the garage for the Sawzall, that was determined to be in the basement of a sons friend, the skill saw became the power tool of the moment, and it worked fine to saw the table in half.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

So the one big table became two.

My husband who normally works with new wood that should be precision cut and precise so it can be beautifully stained or painted, liked my instruction that nothing on this has to be perfect, but getting him to practice that isn't quite as simple.

He has a tendency to want to fix imperfections in wood, to have everything line up exact, sand out the rough spots, and sometimes I think he believes finished projects have to be museum quality.

This is a potting bench honey, I'm gonna stick it in the woods and put DIRT on it, let those tendencies go.

He did, and embraced the rustic.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

It needed to be reinforced in the area where it was cut in half and he had many new boards leaning against the wall.

But nope, new was not on the agenda, so being bossy like I am, I said uh-uh.... old junk pieces of wood or ones previously cut only please, no cost - no perfection.

And he obliged on that too.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

I wasn't sure he could see my vision of marrying that weathered table with part of a child size black IKEA bed from a garage sale in spring, so I kept moving the headboard around by the table so I could determine if that was in fact still part of my own vision.

It was.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

I asked if we had any old fence posts.  He found one and was able to use it as a leg for the back side.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

It was a beautiful day outside and I didn't want this project to take very long.

Inside there was carving going on with a watermelon in anticipation of shark week.

Watermelon Shark Bliss-Ranch.com

Someone decided to eat right from the sharks mouth and they left the spoon as evidence.

Watermelon Shark Bliss-Ranch.com

Other than it being a nice day there was no urgency to finish the bench rapidly - planting season was over - unless you are me and still have some little plants outgrowing their little flats begging to be put into dirt.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

Brawn was starting to really like the slap it together style I was going for.  Much easier and faster than being precise.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

Extra pieces of pine were doubled up for the other leg and next he came out of the garage with an old chippy piece of wood to use on the base.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

That's what I'm talking about!  My idea of perfect and his idea of perfect were finally the same.

Nothing matching, nothing even getting a coat of paint, at least not today.

The legs on the headboard were cut off with a hacksaw.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

By this point he was taking the part about old junk wood seriously.  

He grabbed some used cedar boards for the bottom shelf.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

The old potting shelf had a place that a can of soil could fit level into the top, but this table wasn't long enough to do that without taking up valuable surface property, so the soil can was going to have to be kept on the bottom.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

Fortunately we have enough old barn wood to fashion into projects, so after the headboard was attached to the top, it was framed.

Finding a place to keep this bench, and people willing to move it around till I did, proved to be harder than the actual build.

Rustic Potting Bench from old table Bliss-Ranch.com

But I guess for this year I'm not too worried about it's location or the looks.

Next spring I'll doll it up a bit and add some hooks for tools, and maybe a shelf on the top for watering cans, maybe dry brush some paint on the sides to clean it up a bit.

But just a bit of cleaning it up ...... after all, it's living on the edge of the woods in an unnoticed spot with the intention of being sprinkled with dirt.


It will serve it's purpose nice and rustically, and all for right around $10 bucks.


Potting Plants over at these links:
Treasure Hunt Thursday @FromMyFrontPorchToYours



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13 comments :

  1. adorable finished project! I wasn't sure where you were going with the bedframe, but it really came out cute.

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  2. Oh that turned out awesome...he brought your vision to life! That shark watermelon cracked me up...

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  3. Love this! What an awesome potting bench!

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  4. Oh, Bliss! It's awesome! For years I've been using my hubby's BBQ table as my potting table. He hates that. It's always filled with pots and dirt when he wants to put a chicken on the grill. He's like your hubby, though, a crazy perfectionist when it comes to building something. If he's making something for me I tell him it's okay to be "off" but he just can't let it go! I've been saving a graniteware table top for my potting bench....whenever we get around to building it. Maybe this fall when it starts to cool off a bit.

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  5. I don't know what I like better, the watermelon shark or the potting bench! You creative Diva you!
    Debbie

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  6. Gorgeous! I want one! And a shark watermelon too. :)

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  7. Shark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That really turned out wonderful Bliss! You had a vision and it came to life.

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  8. Gosh I love it! Wood & iron = pure yumminess!

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  9. The potting bench looks fantastic! I love the mix of rustic wood and iron.

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  10. It's looking pretty perfect to me and right at home. Awesome job, what a great team!!

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  11. You had such a great vision and it turned out awesome! Well done, Bliss and Brawn!

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  12. TEN bucks? how awesome is that! I love cutting up old pieces. :)

    love your knew potting bench Bliss!

    gail

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