A friend wanted me to make her a planter that looked like a mini-greenhouse. After seeing some great picture frame lanterns and lamps here on Hometalk, I knew just what to use for glass.
by Jim Cox
Micro-mini Greenhouse Planter
5 Materials
$24
2 Hours
Easy
A micro-greenhouse I made for a gardening buddy out of picture frames and a craft box
shopping at Walmart for materials
I removed the glass and backing from the picture frames
align the hinges against the frame
I drilled the edge of the picture frames with a 5/64" bit and installed two hinges along an edge. Note that I only used the outside screws, as not to interfere with the glass.
Hinges make a great adjustable bracket in a lot of situations, even if the finished product doesn't have to move.
I then installed two more hinges on the other side of each picture frame. These will attach to the craft box
To prevent any damage to the glass, I went ahead and marked and drilled the holes in the craft box for the bottom hinges before the glass was installed/painted
I then re-installed the glass in the frames and taped off the "Muntins" (or Mullions if you prefer) with masking tape. BTW the blue masking tape doesn't stick to glass very well, I would recommend trying the old school yellow stuff.
Brush the spaces between the tape, and the frames themselves. I used white acrylic chalk paint. Cover the hinges too. Don't worry about getting outside the tape, it cleans up easy with a razor knife/scraper
Remove the tape, and attach the frames back to the craft box using the previously-drilled holes. Now you can touch up any part of your window. I added some chalk paint to the craft box so it would look a bit more uniform to the window using a dry brush technique.
As hard as it was to mask the glass, I think painting the whole pane and scraping off the 'windows' might have been faster and easier. As far as the costs go, I already had the paint and tape.
I'm really happy with how this came out
Don't be surprised to see a cart near my front lawn with some re-purposed house windows attached in the same manner some time in the near future.
Looks right at home!
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4 of 59 comments
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DesertRoseon Jun 15, 2020I love this. You really hit it out of the ball park with the looks and idea. This is a must do for me!
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Jim Coxon Jun 15, 2020TY for the kind words. It looks great sitting on the porch : )
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Babs Donovanon Sep 10, 2020Very cute and inspiring to a craftily gardener. I will definitely try this
im confused by the reference to
“mate paint”—is that a typo for
”matte”? Not shiny?
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Jim Coxon Sep 10, 2020You’re correct :)
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Have a question about this project?
What type of plants would be best.
I can't help you there, I'm fairly new to gardening. Wherever you put it (full shade, moderate, etc) match your plants to the location
Did you line the box with anything to keep it from rotting? It’s very pretty I love it I made one out of picture frames too not to long ago have it sitting on my kitchen table in a tray I found at a thrift store don’t have anything in it right now
I'd love to see project with red wagon. I have wagon fading outdoors missing a wheel.
I absolutely love love this. Can you seal it for putting it outside at entry way???
Ty