Plant stands

Plant stands: before and after views of upgrade.

A few years ago we made some simple plant stands out of two by two and one by 12 lumber. They were about 28 inches tall and 12 inches wide by 18 inches long, painted white. As plant stands they worked just fine. But recently we were looking at some internet sites that featured furniture and saw some small tables that were similar but much fancier. It seemed to us that we could rework our existing tables by adding some features and details to look about like the ones we saw on the internet.

So we went to the home building supply and got a sheet of three fourths–inch plywood that was sanded for appearance, a sheet of eighth-inch hardboard, some eight-foot pieces of one by four lumber and several lengths of plain molding. Also, we wanted the stone look so we got a few boxes of slate tiles (which happened to be on sale at the time) to install on the top of the finished stands.

We had to sand the tables on all sides first, as that was not done when they were originally put together. Some of the stock was quite rough and required substantial sanding to get to a smooth appearance.

Next we made a 20 by 14 inch base for the table out of the plywood. Around that we added the one by four lumber, and put the molding around that. The corners are all mitered so no end grain shows.

Around the top we applied two layers of the hardboard to get a scalloped look. The inside layer is raised about fourth-inch above the level of the table to make a place for the slate to be fitted later.

After all assembly was done and everything sanded and nail holes filled, we painted it a high gloss white overall, except where the slate was to be installed. The last thing was putting the slate on.

The slate tile is 11 3/4-inchs square so that left about three and one-half inches of table on either side. We decided to use some flat round rocks and bought some flat glass beads that were about one inch long and applied them with tile adhesive to the table. After grouting around the slate tile and the rocks, the table was finished.

Now it is nice enough to be an attractive end table or it can still be used as a plant stand. We have done several projects like this over the years. This way we get something that custom fits our needs.

Sometimes they seem a little difficult at first and require some figuring out, but we can usually come up with something useful and at a substantial savings over buying readymade. Once in a while we will have to buy a tool in order to be able to complete a project and that always adds to the cost. But then we are all set the next time we do a similar project.