DIY WINDOW BOXES

You guys, YOU GUYS!!!!!! Do I have your attention now? We MUST talk about our latest diy! In the 16 years we have lived in our home, I have always wanted window boxes on our cape. I feel like it is the type of house that looks adorable with them! A few things stopped us along the 16 years: 1. They are expensive, 2. We had babies, which derailed all diys for a while, 3. Our windows are fairly wide and we have bay windows, 4. The good, vinyl, nice looking ones I wanted were expensive – have I mentioned that already?! Last year I finally bit the bullet and ordered two – one for each window in the front of the house. I decided to just do the middle window of the bay windows. BAD idea! First, they weren’t wide enough, second, they looked funny not encompassing the whole window. So, I returned them and moved on, BUT the itch for wanting them was still very much there! SO, this year, I finally decided that if Mr. Seasoned Home could build us a screened porch, shiplap a vaulted ceiling, tile various rooms, and do all the woodworking around our house, then I bet he could figure out how to make us some window boxes! Boy was I right! Then I figured if they gave me this much joy, then I must share them with all of you, because more than likely they would give you joy too! So the following is all materials needed, how we hung them and finally what we filled them with!

The following are the materials needed to make one window box of any width. For reference, ours range in width from 3-5 feet and are all 8 inches tall and 7.25 inches deep. You will notice that the materials are not inexpensive, but we went for what was most durable and long lasting. We wanted to do this once and only once! This material is made of PVC and meant for the outdoors and the elements. You will need 3 (1×8) boards for the bottom, front and back of the boxes. They come in lengths of either 8 or 16 feet. You will need 2 (1x8x8) for each end cap. Then for the decorative trim, which we used to add interest, you will need 2 (1×2) of whatever width and for the vertical detail pieces, you will need to cut all vertical trim pieces to 5.25″ each and 1 (8×8″) L Bracket for about every 2 feet of your window box. We also used brad nails and a nail gun. The cost of one 5 foot window box was approximately $70 to make.