Fine Woodworking Project Guides

Beginner Projects

Member-Only

Cedar Planters with a Bench

This simple project can transform any outdoor living space.

By Asa Christiana Feb 26, 2021

cedar bench with planters — **Design options.** To make the full planter–bench combo, make the planters four boards tall, screw cleats to the inside faces, and add the seat boards. To use the planters on their own, just make them shorter. The short boxes look great anywhere, but they combine especially well with the outdoor bench project.

One of the great things about building stuff is your ability to customize it. Design it the way you like, make the dimensions work for you, and use whatever wood you want. Build your world. In this case, the planter boxes can be made tall, with a seat suspended between them, or shorter and placed on their own, wherever they fit.

The key move with planters is not to ask them to hold dirt, which is full of water and bacteria and will ultimately win its battle with the wood. Instead, start with plastic planter containers, whether long boxes or big pots, make sure they have holes for drainage, and build wood boxes to hide them.

In this case I started with big 16-in.-dia. pots (actually a tad bigger than 16 in.) from my local home center. The planter boxes are beyond simple: just roughsawn cedar fence boards screwed onto…