planter made from a file cabinet

Now that we have a terrace with a fatso view, we’ve been looking at minimalist planter options and found this image of a cool one at Houzz: a four cabinet file cabinet with drawers removed, turned on its back. It is one of a series of  file cabinet planters made by Minimis and has a pricetag of nearly $800. Yikes! So we poked around for other options and found several people had the same idea. Check out this d-i-y before-and-after we found at Pretty Shiny Things:

photo: pretty shiny things

The boxes are lined with plywood…

photo: pretty

Faye at You Are the River took a slightly different approach; she discovered that “all you really need to make a file cabinet into a planter is a piece of wood cut to fit the open bottom.  I also drilled holes in what will be the new bottom so water can properly drain”

You Are the River
photo: you are the river

…and gives some interesting trial-and-error-won info about painting them (white didn’t work)…(Click here for how-to spray paint a file cabinet – basically sand, prime, spray paint with the toughtest paint you can find). We like her idea of elevating one or two on concrete block…

photo: you are the river

They looks as good as high end ones!

Related posts: colorful d-i-y shipping pallet planters (w safe paints info)
portable milk crate farm (d-i-y), for roof, terrace, lot
lesson from venice: hang up your terrace cushions
stealth improv: philip besonen’s backyard retreat

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2 replies on “d-i-y minimalist planters made of file cabinets

  1. Very cool. LOVE the file cabinet idea! I just made a pallet garden “DIY” planter … and this may be on the list for my next project.

  2. We as a society generate an awful lot of junk, stuff that ends up in landful. Anything that can make our world a little more beautiful by transforming trash into living color is a real contribution to balance.

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