This was a very quick project made using what I already had around the house. You could easily adapt this idea to work with jars and scrap wood. Since we have lots of these pickle jars, I based mine on using 4 of them.
A few cuts with a handsaw along a pencil line and then was nailed together.
This is the finished box in the raw pine. It was okay like this but I wanted to try out a stain. I was given Minwax staining cloths and was waiting for a project to use them for. This quick wooden planter box was perfect for these cloths because I didn’t need to make a mess getting supplies out. Just one cloth was enough for this and it’s as simple as rubbing the cloth on the wood and then waiting an hour for it to dry. This colour is Natural Oak, a colour new to me but one that I’d use again.
Above was the box before the stain and below is how it was after. This planter is long and low enough to sit on the table without blocking the view and it’s easy to change up what goes inside. This could work for a wedding as well.
The only thing about creating something in a larger size is that you’ll need lots of flowers to fill it. I think I cut half of the daffodils in the yard to fill this. Potted plants could sit inside instead of jars too.
This is my latest piece of furniture that I’ve refinished. After doing 
This is the before and while the shape was beautiful, the scratches, worn edges and finish needed some work. What I didn’t expect was that this top would be very hard to sand down evenly and the staining process gave me more trouble that it ever has before.
After using a stripper (which did nothing) and sanding there were uneven patches.
I tried the darkest stain I had to try to balance out the uneven colour with a red cherry stain I already had.
Then I applied a light grey stain but this colour wasn’t the look I was going for.
I ended up having to buy another stain, a dark grey which is pictured above. I also used chalk paint in graphite as a base layer for the bottom.
This is it after a couple coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in white. After all of the trouble with the stain not working how I wanted, the paint was so easy and enjoyable to do. I distressed the base with some sanding and then added a coat of light grey stain and sealed it with a matte varnish.
Since this table was going up for sale after being completed I took some photos for fun.
I keep saying that this is the last time I’ll refinish furniture that isn’t for our house but I think that if I come across the right piece I’ll do it again.
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