Easy Porch Makeover Using Stone: DIY Planter Box Tutorial :

Easy Porch Makeover Using Stone: DIY Planter Box Tutorial

June 16, 2021 in DIY Projects

Easy Porch Makeover Using Stone: DIY Planter Box Tutorial

Upgrade your porch or patio with these easy & budget friendly stone planter boxes

This project is sponsored by Evolve Stone

Y’all Summer is finally here & that means there is a lot of porch sitting going on at the Southern Yankee house!

Nothing beats watching the sunset on the front porch in the warm weather.

Well actually if you are getting to sit on a newly madeover porch that might beat it!

The porch at our new fixer upper farmhouse was seriously lacking character & charm, which is a shame because the 18 acre view is incredible.

Turns out all it needed was a little stone & a whole lot of imagination to make it great!

Before:

Planter Box Tutorial

Supplies:

Evolve Stone (Morning Aspen)
Rain Screen
Typar
Treated Plywood Sheets
1×2 Pine Boards
2” Stainless Steel 16g Finish Nails
Cap Nails
Level
Nail Gun
Measuring Tape

Tutorial:

The first step is to build your planter boxes. For this I used pressure treated plywood ripped into (4) 2’ by 2’ sheets.

Next I made the 1×2 legs for the boxes. These ended up being 2 ½’ long because I wanted to be able to see a small amount of leg at the bottom of the planters.

There are a million ways to assemble a box, but I simply attach 1 flat leg piece in the corner of the plywood & another in the same corner on its side. The picture will help that make more sense I promise!

NOTE: The reason I used two pieces of wood per leg is because the plywood is thicker & with the addition of stone I wanted the planter box to be really solid!

I use a combination of 2” nails & 2” exterior screws to secure the legs to each piece of plywood.

Once I have attached the legs to the plywood, I simply start adding my plywood pieces together to form a box.

After the first planter box was assembled I attached Typar to the outside of the plywood using stainless steel staples to hold it into place.

NOTE: We use Typar because it acts as a moisture barrier & we want these planter boxes to last a really long time!

Once the Typar is installed next comes the rain barrier. Install this with the coil side facing inward. It is super important to make sure to not wrap the edges of the box in rain screen because that could cause tenting.

I used cap nails to secure the rain barrier to the plywood. You will have to predrill holes before hammering in the nails.

Attaching Stone

Finally, it’s time for the fun part, attaching the stone! I chose to use Evolve stone because you can attach it with nails & no messy mortar. We went with the color Morning Aspen in a Capital Sky pattern.

Start by finding the center of the plywood & mark it with a straight edge. I also marked some lines along the sides to ensure I was installing the stone as straight as possible.

Once my lines were marked I simply started at the top of the planter box & worked my way from left to right, then down.

I tried to stick to my pattern as much as possible but in some spots I got a little creative with my stone placement. It was like playing the funnest game of tetris ever!

The stone was attached using my 16 gauge nail gun & 2” stainless steel nails. I shot them at a slight angle for extra hold.

My favorite part of the Evolve stone is how easy it is to cut smaller pieces with my regular saw. There is no need for any special blades to get a nice clean cut.

NOTE: Use a hammer to tap stones into place to ensure they are nice & straight.

There are a ton of ways to install your corner pieces but I went with the easiest method, butt joints.

Once you get moving the stone is installed really quickly! For the top I played with a couple of different options but ultimately decided I loved the stone too much to use any other material.