Upcycled Drawer Plant Stand DIY

This post is sponsored by DecoArt. See below for disclosure statement.

You know how there are “cat ladies” out there? I think I might become a “plant lady” one of these days. I have fallen in love with plants and almost always buy one when I go to a store with a garden center. I especially love buying the “hanging in there” plants on clearance and loving them back to health. I get a good deal and feel great that I could nurture it back into its beautiful self. That being said, I needed a place to start holding some of my plants. The upcycled drawer plant stand has fixed that problem.

It all started with these three dresser drawers from roadside trash I salvaged. I really  wanted to turn them into something. After thinking of what I could make using my very limited wood working/power tooling skills, I knew that a plant stand would the perfect project.

So to make this stand you will need a dresser drawer. Make sure it is sturdy. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you want it to hold up.

You will need some Americana Chalky Finish paint and the ultra-matte varnish. I chose that varnish to be the finish because I plan on having this outside one day and it’s designed for indoor and outdoor use. I hope to try the wax one day though. I used carbon and everlasting for the paint colors, but check out all the colors and see the ways you can mix them to get all kinds of pretty shades. Americana Decor Chalky Finish paint is available in Home Depot, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, A.C. Moore and other stores. Visit the DecoArt Chalky Finish website for more chalk paint ideas and inspiration.

Grab a paint or foam brush too.

Clean up your drawer and remove any hardware from it. Sand if there are any uneven spots you don’t want splintering, but other than that NO SANDING NEEDED. Amazing. No sanding. My favorite part. Once all clean and dry, start painting. I used a regular brush and it went on so nice. Instructions say to do more lighter coats as opposed to doing fewer heavy coats. So I started with a very thin coat of paint. I painted the inside carbon and the outside everlasting. I only needed two coats to get the coverage I liked even with it being light coats. This was actually my first time ever using a chalky finish paint and I fell in love. I will no longer paint furniture with any other type of paint. It was just too easy. It went on great, dried so fast, and feels so smooth once dry. And remember that no sanding part? Yeah. That’s a big bonus too. Then, when all your paint is dry, paint on a thin coat of the varnish. I did one more coat after just to have extra coverage. It went on great as well and it says it can also be applied over acrylic paints too fyi.

For the bottom of the stand, I went the super simple way and bought a folding tray table for $8.99 (from Target). You can find these at many places though. If you can’t find one in the color you want, paint this as well. I lucked out finding it in black, but after having a failed attempt at trying to make legs for this stand with some scraps we had in the garage, I didn’t mind taking a short cut.

I first used some wood glue to attach the stand to the drawer bottom. I placed weights on top to help add pressure while it dried. Then I used our drill and added a few screws here and there. Make sure to use a screw that isn’t too long so it won’t come out through the top of the drawer. The drawer I used had this wood area in the middle that I put the screws through, but if yours doesn’t you can always drill them in from the top (meaning go through the drawer into the stand as opposed to going through the stand into the drawer).

Put back on the hardware if you like or add new ones. If you didn’t want any hardware at all, I would suggest using a wood filler or wood plugs/wood filler before you paint the drawer.

Place in a sunny spot and fill with plants. I even plan on using this for other things, like holding products at craft shows and such. I think it will come in quite handy.

-Jess

I parterned with DecoArt for this post and received compensation for doing so. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting businesses that support Happy Together.