Futon Repurposed Into a Plant Stand

This corner of my garden has always been a problem due to mine and our neighbour’s large tree. They were so big and gave off so much shade, not even the grass would grow. This year they cut their tree back because it had gotten so big it blocked all the sun from both our gardens. With the tree gone I thought I would try and tidy it up a bit and thanks to my terrors, they supplied me with a solution.

I came home from work a few months ago to this scene. My terrors thought it would be fun to see what was inside my futon cushion. It looks like they had a field day tearing it apart. I took the cushion to the tip but held onto the frame because I was sure I would be able to repurpose it in some way. It sat for a few months behind my shed until inspiration hit. I finally came up with the idea to repurpose it into a plant stand in that corner of my garden.

Taking the frame apart

My first idea was to just put it on its side in the corner, but because of the arms, it kept tipping over. I thought it would look nice with plants hanging down from them too. In hindsight, I should have just dug a hole and buried the bottom side in the ground. This would have made it more stable.

To make it more stable and lighter I removed the arms and the support beams and stood it upright in the corner. Next, I drilled a couple of holes in the fence and used thick cable ties to secure the futon to the fence. This will prevent the futon from tipping over once the pot and plants are added.

I bought some hanging pots from my local budget store and spray painted them black to blend in with the plant stand. Succulents don’t like too much water so I drilled a hole in the bottom of the pot for drainage.

Next, you can add some stones to the bottom for drainage before you add your soil and plants.

You can move the plant pots around until you are happy with how it looks.

Add some extras to the futon plant stand

I felt mine looked a bit boring, so I added a metal gecko and put my bird feeder planter in the middle. This was a quick and easy project to do and I did not have the hassle of carting the futon to the tip. The photo below was taken 1 month after I put the succulents on the plant stand. As you can see it looked like they were starting to die.

One month later and they are thriving in that corner. Succulents grow really well in our area of Australia, except between December and March when our temperatures sore to 40 degrees plus. In those months I can hang the plants in a more shaded area in my garden.

Just to show you another example of what terrorists my dogs are. I made them a really cool hobbit style dog house but they would rather pull out my plants so they can use the planter as a bed.

Maybe they were hinting it was time for me to treat the wood again. They have a way of finding projects for me to do.

Hopefully, in a few months time with all the rain we are having, I will even get some grass in that messy corner.

If you are looking for more project ideas check out this round barn quilt table. This tutorial will show you that it is not as hard to make as you think.

This wooden suncatcher tutorial will guide you through the process which can be used on any piece of wood.