Restoration Hardware Inspired Planter

Happy Mothers day to all and of you’re one of the many grieving today, my heart is with you and I wish I could hug every single one of you.

Today I wanted to share our Restoration Hardware Inspired Planter with you. I loved the look of the Estate Zinc Planter but unfortunately I didn’t have 1,050 x 2 laying around, so we decided to build our own. Let me first say that this is a very easy build and I will do my best to explain all of the steps.

Glen told me that before going into all of the ins and outs, that I needed to tell you we were using used wood that was from our entry wall. It’s a few years old so it was a bit bowed and harder to work with. But free is always our game and we wanted to make this project as cheap as possible ( In our case, free ) If you were to go purchase the plywood, wood and paint it would be under 50.00 to make! Still a steal!

Shop List for Restoration Hardware Inspired Planter

• 2×2’s ( Glen says buy pressure treated or cedar )
• 1/4″ Plywood
• Wood Glue
• Wood Filler
• Silicone
• Paint or Stain of choice
• Varnish to protect the wood in the outdoors
• Optional plastic lining for inside the box
• Orbital Sander
• Drill
• Table Saw

We added legs to our box as we needed to cover the siding of our home ( that was the point of making this box ) But you can easily eliminate the legs.

Our box measures 82″ L x 36″ H x 12.5″ D

The reason we made our box so long and so high was because we were wanting to cover our siding. We’re renters, so we cannot paint or fix the siding. Our fix is making this restoration hardware inspired planter with tall grass!

We first started off with cutting all our 2×2’s. We cut six pieces at 79″ and we made four cuts for the “legs” at 36″ and we cut six “cross pieces” at 9″.

So you should have 16 pieces of wood cut.

Now I should first mention, that we did three tiers as you can tell. The reason why we did this is because our planter is so high and long and we wanted it to be super stable BUT we didn’t want our planter box to be that deep as that would take a lot of soil. So the lower tier is just for stability and the bottom of the planter box actually sits in the middle tier. Our planter box is 12″ deep.

Does that make sense?

Okay, moving on.

Since all our 2×2’s were being covered with plywood we didn’t do any pocket holes we just did a basket point blank screw together. I told you, this was an easy project.

Once you have your frame built, it’s time to nail on the plywood. We used our nailgun as the holes are very minimal. But if all you have is a drill, you can use that, there will just be more filling at the end.

We cut two pieces of plywood at 82.3/8ths” x 24″ and two pieces at 12″ x 24″

Now the reason we made the faces of our box longer than the actual frame was to cover the cut plywood pieces on the sides.

We put a looooooot of nails in. I would space them every 1″ apart.

Once you’ve completely nailed your plywood on, it’s time to fill holes with your wood filler!

We filled everything. The seams, the edges, the holes. Everything.

This is the key to this box. If wanting it to look like a true metal planter with no seams, you want to fill everything. It takes time, but it’s worth it.

Once that has had about 12 hours to dry, sand it down. We did a good job sanding every surface down and the end result was a pretty seamless box. We used an orbital sander, I would not recommend sanding by hand, that would take hours. Once we had painted it, you couldn’t even tell that it was made out of wood!

The photo above was after two coats of flat black paint. I then sponge painted it to give it the texture of the Restoration Hardware planter. It was SO easy and only took two applications.

For the sponge mixture, I took the black paint I had used in the first place and I actually mixed a tablespoon of dark grey paint into it to make it slightly darker. There is no right way to do this, but I went in all directions. The first application I went one direction and the second direction I went the opposite direction.

Lastly, once you’re happy with how your sponging looks you MUST varnish your box. This step cannot be skipped if this box will be outside. The sun and rain will make your box expand if it’s not properly sealed.

We like to use Diamond Wood Finish – Water Based – Crystal Clear. We also roll it on with a roller to ensure a seamless application. There is nothing worse than paint streaks when the sun hits something.

Honestly, I know this isn’t the best tutorial, so if you have ANY questions, please leave them below!

Are you guys ready to see the finished Restoration Hardware Inspired Planter???

It’s really hard to tell the sponging I did to the planter, but it gives it definition and makes it look like the real deal – even up close! It’s so crazy! I intentionally lowered the exposure on these photos so you could see the definition the sponging gave this planter.

It’s crazy how inexpensive this restoration hardware inspired planter box was to make. We literally looked everywhere to purchase a planter and couldn’t find anything nice enough or big enough – so we made one and it was so easy!

I’d love to hear what you think of this Restoration Hardware inspired planter in the comments!