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10 DIY Cedar Planter Box Plans You Can Make Today (With Pictures)

primroses in cedar planter

A planter box is a great way to spruce up any garden, patio, porch, or interior room. It can also make a great project for beginners or experienced woodworkers, as you can often tailor them to your experience level. Cedar is a great choice for wood for these projects because it’s easy to work with and available in any home improvement store.

If you’re interested in starting a new project, keep reading as we list several DIY plans for creating a cedar planter box. We also list the materials, tools, and difficulty of each one to help you find something right for your skill level.

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The 10 DIY Cedar Planter Box Plans

1. Tapered Cedar Planter Box

diy tapered cedar planter
Image Credit: Jen Woodhouse
Materials: Cedar boards, wood glue, staples
Tools: Hammer, saw
Difficulty: Easy

The Tapered Cedar Planter is an easy-to-build project. It only requires a few materials and hardly any tools, and the result is attractive and useful. There are no difficult angles to cut or any intricate designs, and many people can have it completed in a single day. The result is a large planter that can hold ferns or even a small tree.


2. Snap Fence Cedar Planter Bench

diy cedar planter box
Image Credit: Rain On A Tin Roof
Materials: Cedar boards, snap fence posts, and rails, liquid nails
Tools: Rubber mallet, clamps
Difficulty: Easy

The Snap Fence Cedar Planter Bench is a unique plan that utilizes snap fence posts and rails in an easy-to-build project that you can finish in a single day. The resulting project is durable and large enough to hold several plants, and construction is so easy that you may choose to build more than one.


3. Ana White DIY Planter Box

diy planter box
Image Credit: Ana White
Materials: Cedar, nails, fence pickets
Tools: Tape measure, brad nailer, sander
Difficulty: Easy

The Ana White DIY Planter Box is an easy-to-build planter box suitable for almost anyone. It only requires a few materials and basic tools. Building the legs requires several cuts, but you will have no trouble if you measure carefully and are patient. The best part is that you can apply any finish to match the décor of any environment.


4. Home By Jenn Planter Box

diy cedar planter box
Image Credit: Home By Jenn
Materials: Cedar, finishing nails, wood glue
Tools: Saw, tape measure, drill
Difficulty: Easy

The Home By Jenn Planter Box is an attractive design that looks much more difficult to build than it is. It only requires basic cuts, and even a slow-moving woodworker can finish this project in a day or two.


5. Crafted by the Hunts Planter Box

diy wood planter box plans
Image Credit: Crafted By The Hunts
Materials: Cedar, wood screws, wood glue
Tools: Drill, miter saw, nail gun, electric sander
Difficulty: Easy

The Crafted by the Hunts Planter Box is an easy project that can result in a box that looks like it came from the store. It’s extremely attractive and has plenty of room for your plants, with a depth suitable for rose bushes and even trees. The only downside to this project is that it can take a while because it uses several thin boards that take more time to assemble.


6. Pretty Front Porch Planter Box

diy large cedar planter boxes
Image Credit: Engineering A Home
Materials: Cedar, wood glue
Tools: Drill, clamps, saw
Difficulty: Moderate

The Pretty Front Porch Planter Box is a moderately difficult project. That said, the only hard part is that it requires you to assemble many boards, and that can take quite a while to complete because it requires plenty of accurate measurements. We like that this planter box has legs that help lift it off the ground, which can help it last longer if kept outside.


7. Juggling Act Mama Planter Box

diy tall cedar planter box
Image Credit: Juggling Act Mama
Materials: Cedar, square plastic flowerpot, wood glue
Tools: Table saw, nail gun
Difficulty: Moderate

The Juggling Act Mama Planter Box has a complex design, making it more suitable for intermediate woodworkers. It’s a great choice, though, and the finished product will be durable and attractive.


8. Shanty 2 Chick Planter Box

diy planter box plans – cedar
Image Credit: Shanty 2 Chic
Materials: Cedar, screws, staples, wood glue
Tools: Table saw, staple gun, drill
Difficulty: Moderate

The Shanty 2 Chick Planter Box is an attractive box that will look great in any home or garden. It’s not difficult to build, except that several screws need to go in at an angle, and it can be difficult to create the proper holes without the right tool. However, once the screws are in place, the rest of the project is relatively easy to put together. We like the darker stain in this image, but paint also works great as a finish and gives you a wider range of colors.


9. The Navage Patch Planter Box

diy cedar planter
Image Credit: The Navage Patch
Materials: Cedar, screws, wood glue, nails
Tools: Brad nailer, saw, drill
Difficulty: Moderate

The Navage Patch Planter Box is a moderately difficult project that will result in a particularly attractive cedar plant box. The multi-colored stain helps it stand out from the other projects on this list, and we like that the box is tall and deep, which will enable you to add almost any type of plant, including trees.


10. Chippendale Planter

diy chippendale-planter
Image Credit: House Becoming Home
Materials: Miter saw, table saw, drill
Tools: Rubber mallet, clamps
Difficulty: Advanced

The Chippendale Planter is an advanced design and is better suited to people with plenty of experience in woodworking due to the numerous angle cuts required. This project is likely to take a little longer than many others on this list, but the finished product is well worth the wait and effort. This planter is sure to attract plenty of attention before you even put anything in it.

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Summary

There is no shortage of planter box plans, and many of them use cedar wood because it’s easy to cut and shape. Cedar is also available in various colors, from light brown to deep red. Many varieties have a pleasant fragrance, which is especially nice if you’re keeping the planter indoors. Our favorite is currently the tapered cedar planter because it’s so easy to build, it’s hard not to have fun with it. If your skills are up to the challenge, consider building the Chippendale.


Featured Image Credit: TRIXIE, Pixabay

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