Wooden Mid Century Plant Stand DIY

Though I love my plants in all sizes big and small, the smaller ones are definitely less expensive to “outfit”. You can buy several small, cute planters for the cost of one big one. There are lots of large planters that I love, but the bigger they are the pricier they get too. I wanted to do something a little special for my fiddle leaf fig that I’ve kept alive for over two years now (doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s my record!), and I thought making a midcentury inspired wooden stand for the simple square planter would make it more interesting than if it was simply sitting on the floor.

Supplies:
-1.5″ x 1.5″ boards
-jigsaw
-wood glue
-wood screws
-paint
-ruler and pen
-drill

First decide which planter or pot you want to use with your plant stand. The stand does feel really sturdy once it’s built, but I know that some of the oversized thick porcelain pots can be pretty heavy just by themselves and almost impossible to lift by yourself once filled with dirt and a plant. So I would suggest more of a lightweight planter (like this one) to keep the weight limit down. Measure the width and height of the planter so you can decide how big of an opening you need for your planter to sit snugly in the plant stand and how high you want the sides of the plant stand to stand against the planter.

Use a jigsaw to cut the boards into two lengths. One length will make an “X” across the bottom of the planter for the planter to sit on. You need two boards that length (mine were 12.5″ long). The other length will be the side legs for your plant stand. Add how high you want the planter to sit up off the ground with how high you want the legs to come up the sides of the planter (mine were 13″ high total). You need four identical pieces for the side legs.

Next, use a ruler and a pen to mark the middle of your two underneath pieces. Mark off an area in the middle that is exactly the width of the board and continue that mark halfway down the sides of the board. So, since my board was 1.5″, I marked .75″ on either side of the middle mark across the top and then drew the line .75″ down each side. You are trying to carve out the same size notch in both boards so they will make a flush surface when you put the notches together.

Use the jigsaw to cut down the two side lines.

Since you can’t make a 45 degree angle turn with a jigsaw to get across the bottom line, drill a hole as wide as the jigsaw blade right next to the line. This will give you a place to insert the saw blade and begin cutting from there to the corner. Once you get to the corner, you can turn around and cut back the opposite way across the bottom line.

See? It works! Repeat process so that both of your underneath boards have the same notch.

Put the two notches together with some wood glue between them and add a wood screw in the middle to secure.

Once you have your middle “X”, you can measure how long you want the legs to be (I made mine about 5″ long), and attach the X to the outer legs at that measurement with some wood glue and a wood screw from the outside edge.

Do a light sanding to remove any rough edges, and paint your plant stand. I find that if I am painting wood with a metallic paint, it looks a lot better if I do a base of a white primer before adding the gold finish. Once your paint is dry, you can add your plant and you’re done!

I really like how simple and clean the plant stand looks in the space. Just getting it up off the floor a few inches highlights the planter more (and it makes the tree look taller as well!). The gold legs also compliment the touches of gold on the TV stand and the brass globe sconce next to the plant as well. That makes the “design balance” part of my brain so happy. This would also be a great idea to hold outdoor planters if you used outdoor treated wood and an exterior paint or stain and made a few of different heights… Uh oh, looks like it’s back to the lumber store for me!! xo. Laura

Credits//Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess Actions.