Mission DIY succulent table complete.  I’ve wanted to make this baby for months.  It’s a dissected old shipping crate and some other random scraps of wood lying around the house turned into a patio side table with a planting strip down the middle.

The next couple of pics show a bit of the process.  The was a shipping container for artwork which I nabbed from work before they tossed it into the dumpster.  Love the 3 Rs…reduce, reuse, recycle.  I like these shallow crates…this guy was about 20 x 28 x 5 inches.  Lots of screws on the opening end, but the other side had a ton of nails.  Nothing a make shift crowbar couldn’t handle (aka a big screw driver).

The outside walls were about the same shape as I wanted the table, and I started to build everything around that size.  Basically, I was making it up the design plans the whole time I was constructing this table.  In the middle, the lighter colored wood (scrap), is the place where I am going to plant the succulent garden strip.

Randomly walking around looking at gardens in the hood, I spotted a big pile of old scrap lumber.  I don’t know what these old scrap pieces of wood were used for originally…they were all in different lengths ranging 12-18 inches.  But I thought they would make a nice rustic look for the table top.  Score!  Great thing was they were all the same thickness.  I took the smallest one, and cut the rest down to match.  In case you missed it, look up on images, you can see that I fasten all these small boards for the table top from the bottom side with some thin piece of wood.

I really tried to screw everything in so that the screws were hidden from sight.  However, I figure the legs needed extra attention, aka 3 inch screws, they are visible.  Those red legs by the way are from our old picnic table that once lived in the middle of our yard.

…and it passes the Matti’s strength test.  Although, my buddy Jim pointed out that Max the Border Collie wasn’t so certain it would succeed.

DIY magic.  But wait, the fun part.  Planting in succulents.  We drilled a couple holes in the bottom, covered them with screen, and put a layer of pea gravel in the bottom for drainage.  Megan and I took a bunch of little succulent cuttings to plant.  We tried to stay with those that grow on the shorter side.  BTW, you can see more of the table and garden pics (that weekend) on our Flickr.

Yeah, another project to check off the list.  Before we get going, here’s another shipping container that I transformed.  Man, I swear I completed that project more recent than March 2010.  Seriously need to make these DIY projects more frequent.

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– Far Out Flora