Furniture for Small Spaces » diy

How to Construct a Vertical Garden

ttnorris — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:00:38 +0000

How to Build a Vertical Garden

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

When your horizontal garden space is limited, you can build a framework for a vertical garden. The square trellis described in this article supports climbing plants and the platforms support annuals. You can also add bird feeders and bird houses for extra interest. By following these instructions, you’ll be making the most out of your limited garden space!

Steps

Build a 2 foot square by 11 inch high box from redwood, cedar, or pressure-treated 2 × 6s. Screw 8-foot pressure-treated 2 × 2s at the center and one corner in back, and 6-foot 2 × 2s at the other corner and 18 inches from the back on both sides.
Pre-drill, glue and screw 1 × 2s every 6 inches, starting at the top of the box. Extend the 1 × 2s at least an inch beyond each 2 × 2 to minimize the danger of splitting.
Add platforms by screwing on 3-foot 1 × 2s, then screwing on 1 × 2s laid flat to create a miniature deck.
Add one more 6-foot long 2 × 2 in the center at the front, and screw it to the crosspieces.
Add a 1 × 4 crosspiece at the top of the two longest 2 × 2s. Attach a bird house to the crosspiece.
Hang a bird feeder from a curved metal hanger attached to the side of the vertical garden.
Fill the box with good soil, then plant climbing plants and train them up the lattice. Add other plants in pots and hanging baskets.

Tips

Glue at least half of the crosspieces to make the structure rigid.
If the vertical garden is going to sit on a deck, screw 5/4 × 6 deck boards across the bottom to keep the soil from draining out.
Use deck screws for fasteners (2 1/2″ and 1 5/8″).
Change dimensions as needed to fit your space or make multiple smaller beds with space in between for easy access.
Try training peas, beans, cucumbers, eggplants, melons, or okra up this structure. You can intersperse decorative plants, such as marigolds, or lower plants, such as strawberries, to make this an interesting and tasty planting. Don’t use treated lumber if you’re growing food.
If you’d rather not feed the birds, or if you’re trying to grow fruits or vegetables that you don’t wish to share with local critters, omit the bird feeder and cover the entire structure with netting if you have any trouble with garden “visitors”.

Warnings

Use caution handling treated wood. If you want to plant food in this garden, choose redwood or cedar, instead. The chemicals used to treat wood are toxic.
Be careful with power tools.

Related wikiHows

Sources and Citations

http://www.rd.com/familyhandyman/content/19766/ – treated wood info.
http://www.rd.com/familyhandyman/content/18256/ – a garden project.

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Build a Vertical Garden. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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How to Build a Shoe Storage Bench

ttnorris — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:00:25 +0000

How to Build a Shoe Storage Bench

A storage bench can be an excellent addition to any house or apartment, especially the space challenged ones. Storage bench are easy to build and customize and can provide a quite comfortable and convenient seating as well.

It is actually quite versatile and can be used to store all kinds of things efficiently, while looking neat and great in any space. Depending on where you place it, you can easily customize and transform it. The storage bench can accommodate your plants if placed in the porch, or become a nice seating with some comfy pillows on it.

It can be used in a small office, entryway or provide the necessary tabletop surface when needed – if you want to place some drinks and snacks during a party, while using its storage space to avoid mess.

The shoe storage bench is made of solid wood can complement your furnishing wherever you put it and become a simple but very practical piece of furniture in your house.

You can get this free woodworking plan at DIY Ideas. Once you click on the link, be certain to scroll down the page to find it.

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Build Your Own Double-Sided Desk

ttnorris — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:00:42 +0000

Double-Sided Study Desk

The double sided desk, designed by Pamela Porter is a very practical and functional piece of furniture; it is also easy to build on your own, using a double sided bookcase and attaching two horizontal boards on each side – the boards can be wide enough to be used as working surfaces and desks.

The double sided desk is space saving piece of furniture, which can be used in a children’s room, if you have two kids, or in your room, if you are a couple that needs working space at home.

The double sided desk allows you to work privately although quite close with the other person, having all necessary office items handy. The bookcase used in the construction can accommodate all necessary things and stationeries, allowing you to avoid cluttered desks. It is a harmonious arrangement that occupies minimum space and is very serviceable in any room of your house.

You can get the free woodworking plan of this two sided space saving study desk at DIY Ideas. Once you click on the link, be certain to scroll down the page to find it.

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Build Your Own Under Stairs Storage Cabinets

ttnorris — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:30:48 +0000

Under Stairs Storage Cabinets

Have you ever thought how much space is wasted under the staircases? The under stairs storage cabinets allow you to reclaim all this wasted space and use it to store anything you want; there is no better location to have built in storage shelves, cabinets and drawers under the stairs.

These under stairs storage cabinets can roll and are easy to operate, as you simply pull them out and push them back based on your needs. They are designed to take advantage of every single inch of available space, creating storage room in an otherwise overlooked and awkward place.

The under stairs storage cabinets can be pulled out when you want to have access to the stored items; you will be surprised to see the amount of items that can fit under the stairs in your apartment, giving you a plausible solution to clutter and messy spaces. They can also add a neat look to an otherwise indifferent area of your house.

If you’re interested in building these space saving cabinets, you can get the woodworking plan for free at WorkBench Magazine.

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Best of! Wall Mounted Storage Desks

contrib1 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:00:58 +0000

I’m in love with two wall mounted storage desks that I’ve found so far. One you can make for yourself which is very budget-friendly and the other you could buy and forgo all of the hard work.

I like this one just a little bit more than the one below and just about anyone can make it. Even the less savvy folks out there. The DIY instructions for this desk are availabe at Design Sponge.

Although I also like this desk from Design Republic, it’s not our favorite and I think the price range is a bit higher than what most people would like to pay (currently $720) Perhaps the price might go over better if the shelf for the desk didn’t have to be purchased separately (for $690 more)?

Am I the only one the thinks it doesn’t look too difficult to make a similar enough desk at a fraction of the cost?

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Alternatives: How to Make Cardboard Furniture

ttnorris — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:11:52 +0000

If you’re broke right now but in desperate need of some furniture, you can make your own. The instructable below offers you great insight on how to do so. And since you can create virtually any design from cardboard, you can also come up with your own space saving cardboard furniture.

This is also a complimentary video to the instructable (below). You can see the actual process of how you create a central frame and the support pieces that result in the initial shape of the furniture you’re trying to make.

The cardboard along the outside is then bent to create curves, pieces are glued on, thereby resembling real pieces of furniture that are made of solid wood or wood composites. Later you add color and the finishing touches and voila, you’ve got an awesome piece of furniture made of cardboard.

Note, the clip above was taken from a DVD demonstration by Eric Guiomar. If, after seeing the clip, you’d like the DVD for yourself, you can get it from VineStreetWorks through this page.

Consider checking out this other video clip for additional help, but note it’s in french. However, you can still learn from looking. You don’t necessarily have to understand what she’s saying.

Also you can look at beautiful pieces of furniture made with cardboard here (english translation through BabelFish). It’s done using the same method which is called the Schmulb method.

If after checking everything out, you want to try your hand at making cardboard furniture (and you can’t afford to buy cardboard) free cardboard is available at places like Wal-mart. Call (Wal-mart, etc.) and request info on how you can have them hold cardboard for you so you can come and pick it up.

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How to Build a Plant Ladder

ttnorris — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:17:48 +0000

How to Build a Plant Ladder

I found a plant ladder (above) I was going to recommend on the site, but sadly it is no longer for sale–or at least I can’t find it anywhere else. But I thought the concept was a really good idea, because it’s an easy and elegant way to show off your plant life.

And although my search for finding the plant ladder above failed, I did find a similar enough ladder that I thought you might like. It’s a DIY project on how to build a plant ladder.

It’ll work great if you don’t have much horizontal space but you can make use of vertical space. You can stack your plants one above the other and lean the plant ladder against the wall and then you’re done!

You can build the plant ladder easily with two 2 × 4 rails. Home Hardware shows you exactly how to do it, offering you a beautiful picture of what the end results will look like. So if you like the idea of using a plant ladder to showcase your plants check out the DIY on How to Build a Plant Ladder here.

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How to Make a Bed in a Wall

ttnorris — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:52:57 +0000

I was just roaming the net today and was reminded of a cubby bed I’d once seen visiting a camp with a friend.

The bed was literally inside a wall. Having remembered that, I thought it would be a cool idea to offer some woodworking plans on those for anyone who’s interested.

Sadly, what I found was small, but they are enough to get by if you’re good with home improvement projects.

You will have to have a room that’s big enough because you do actually have to add to the wall in order to create the bed behind one. I know, it sounds contradictory, but you’ll know what I mean when you check out the information on building one.

I’d recommend you start with the discussion Building a Kid’s Bed… Inside the Wall–it includes some photos, and then move onto Do it Yourself: How to Build a Recessed Bed in the Wall.

If this works great for you, let me know. I’d love to see some photos of the results or add an actual DIY on this site of how to do this type of project.

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How to Build a Loft Bed for Small Rooms and Dorms

ttnorris — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:00:47 +0000

You can learn how to build a loft bed for small rooms and dorms. Plan includes hanging closet storage space, so you get a bed and a closet in one.

You’ll love this woodworking plan on how to build your own loft bed, especially due to the bonus closet space included. Before building, if you can get lumber for free or at little cost, you’ll find it’ll save you quite a bit of money in the long run.

One great place to look is Craigslist. Especially if you live in or near a large city. They have a “free” section and often you’ll find things like this that are given away for free.

As for the plan itself, it includes the usual. It fills you in on all of the materials you need, then moves you on to how to design your own loft bed. Then you do some measuring and ultimately you put it all together.

Check out all of the steps which include diagrams and pictures. And if you’d like to download the PDF file on how to build a loft bed for small rooms and dorms, simply click on the link “Download this instructable” above. Once you’re done downloading it, you can print it off and use it at your leisure.

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How to Make Your Own Bean Bag Chair or Sofa Bed

ttnorris — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:00:20 +0000

You can learn how to make your own bean bag chair or sofa bed. Great for college dorms or studio apartments.

This DIY offers you a nice in-depth understanding on how to make your own bean bag chair or sofa bed. It explains what materials to use, what size to choose from. You can choose to make anything from the standard bean bag chair to the block party bean bag sofa. Instructions also explain how to fill it and so forth.

The original bean bag that was made by Dan, the creator of this DIY project, was HUGE. So you’ll get to see pictures of that as well. You can check it out in the steps above.

This is a great project if you’re looking for an inexpensive alternative to basic seating as well as something to sleep on that’s relatively affordable and fairly comfortable.

If you would like to download the PDF file on how to make your own bean bag chair or sofa bed, click on the “Download this instructable” link above.

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