French Hatbox Inspired Planters

A couple of years ago we added a porch, where once stood an old deck. That deck had served us well.  Even though it was small and in the sun,  I never let it keep me from hosting outdoor dinner parties.  But, I always dreamed of having a real porch. We love to sit outside, rain or shine but having no roof presented a problem. The umbrella worked sometimes…but not always.  So, I dreamed of building a porch one day.

Finally, my husband gave me the go ahead to build a porch! Yes, a real covered porch. I love it. We love it. Our whole family loves it.  Most days, we live on our porch more than in the house. This picture shows one of the columns…along with  the small table and chairs…I call the Perfect Find!

When they built the porch,  they had to cut about a foot from the bottom of the columns they used. There were 8 of them and I asked the builders to save me the bottoms. I already had an idea what to use them for.

Herbs are so invasive and my herb garden on the side of the house had really been more than I could handle. The oregano and pineapple sage had taken over. I needed containers to keep this from happening.

I knew these column bottoms would be perfect to make planters for my herbs.

I love the colorful planters in various catalogs that come in the mail…..

Have you seen the colorful planters in GrandinRoad?  They’re so pretty. I ended up taking my inspiration from them.

Of course, mine are not nearly as perfect as the catalog ones……but they’re perfect enough for me.

The furniture on my porch is blue, so I painted the ‘planters’ various shades of blue and white. I used stencils in different designs to vary each one.  When I stepped back and looked at them, I realized they looked like hatboxes. And the blue colors made me think of France…. so that’s the story behind my French Hat-box Inspired Planters.

I found my stencils at Walmart and the base color is a spray paint.

It’s so nice to step out the backdoor and have herbs for cooking, at my fingertips. And know they won’t be taking over the flower bed…least not anytime soon.

Do you cook with fresh herbs? They can be expensive in the store, but they are very easy to grow. And they don’t need much tending to, if you plant them in a container.  And most of them live from one season to the next, at least at my house they do.  My favorites have to be a tie between basil and dill.

You may not have access to the bottoms of columns…( if you know a builder, I’d certainly ask them to save you some)  You can achieve the same look using clay pots. I’d prime them first so your paint is the true color you want.

The above picture was taken a couple of weeks ago….now see the same plants:

The bottoms are open because herbs need well drained soil. They don’t like to be wet and prefer hot sun. So do keep that in mind. I plan on a heavy mulch in the winter so they will hopefully survive until Spring. The clay pots in the same location did survive, … I have high hopes for these….

So, what are you waiting for? Be inspired….you can do this….:)