Plant Stand with Casters Tutorial

I happen to love plants, gardens and growing things.  Sadly, I am not good at growing all things and have managed to lovingly kill some of my house plants, usually flowers of some sort, but bizarrely, I always manage to kill ivy when it is a pot, but I can't kill it in my yard without digging it up. 

Who knew?

I have 3 very large house plants that are a pain to move, say when you want to put your Christmas tree up in your largest window, which is usually where they sit.  Two of them are so large that I cannot move them without fear of hurting myself or my house, so I decided to build my own flower pot stands with casters.


Materials

• 1 1x3x8
• 1 1x2x8
• 1 1/4in. wood screws
• 3/4in screws (to screw in the casters)
• 4 casters (I bought 2in. non-marking rubber casters)
• Wood glue
• Clamps
• Tape measure or other measuring device
• Miter saw or other means of cutting wood

Cuts (cut to fit the base of your own planters)

• 5 18in. 1x3
• 4 18in. 1x2

Since I was building them, I decided to build them well and with nice casters that won't mess up the wooden floors. I know it was a little pricy, but I figure it is worth it in the long run.  I bought 2 2in. locking casters ($4.50 each) and 2 2in. non-locking caster ($4 each).

I used one 1x3x8 and one 1x2x8 of yellow pine that I had bought for something else but had never done that something else so it felt like the wood was free.  After cutting 5 18in. 1x3's, I sanded them before creating the base frame - 2 on top and 2 on the bottom.  I used my right angle clamp to try to get the base frame as square as possible. 

I added wood glue and then clamped the ends together.

Following the same process, I glued and clamped all 4 corners.

Once the wood glue has set, I removed the clamps, and since I am paranoid, the next thing I did was permanently attach the pieces of wood with screws.  (Didn't want all my hard work to go to waste.)  It might have been over kill, but I added 3 1 1/4in. screws to each 1x3 where they are attached from the bottom.

I also predrilled the holes for the casters, using this as an opportunity to add 2 more 1 1/4in. screws on the edges.  The 2 inner caster screws will be 3/4in. since they are so close to or beyond where the 1x3's overlap.

When you predrill your screw holes for the attachments (This is NOT needed when for the pedrilled screw holes for the casters.), you need to make sure you drill a countersink, so that the screw head is flush with the wood.  Drill your screw hole first, and then choose a drill bit which is as large as the head of your screw, drilling directly on top of your original hole to the approximate depth of the screw head. 

Next I placed the 5th 18in. 1x3 directly in the middle of the side that I liked for the top of the plant stand. 

Finally the 4 1x2's. I spaced them about 3/4in. apart from each other and the 1x3's.  I measured, and it just worked out that way.  Again, if you are using different dimension, use your own judgement and possibly more or less pieces.

After gluing, clamping, waiting for glue to set, etc, I added 2 1 1/4in. screws to each side of the 1x2's.

When she was all put together, I applied Minwax's Golden Pecan with 2 coats of Polyurethane to seal it from any water mishaps.  I struggled between just sealing it and adding a little color with the stain.  I think the Golden Pecan did the trick, highlighting the pretty wood grains of the top pieces, even though my big ol' pot will cover up most of it.

Finally, finally, I added the casters.

And most importantly, one of my massive house plants.

Now, if only I can manage another 2 of these guys before next year.  We shall see....

Kelley

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