Share
Stylish and providing a relaxing space for enjoying the garden, these corner bench seats were made using fence palings and feature two planter boxes.
The project
I use treated Pine fence palings to make garden boxes, wishing wells, garden bridges and a lot of other projects. For this project, I created outdoor bench seats and planter boxes using palings.
As with most things that I make, the plans are all in my head. The measurements of the benches are 1400mm x 400mm x 400mm. That makes the best use of the 1.8m x 100mm palings. I used 70mm x 35mm Pine to make four squares for the frame, measuring 400mm x 400mm.
I screwed the palings to the frame on three sides, leaving the underside hollow. These seats are actually just an upside down version of the garden boxes I have made in past projects. The planter boxes are 400mm x 400mm x 400mm. They are 300mm deep, which is the size of three palings, and sit on 400mm legs with two palings across the bottom to place the plants on. The horizontal boards are screwed to the vertical corner legs from the inside with 8g x 25mm screws.
The only downfall of using palings is that they aren't kiln dried, so the wood can shrink as it dries, causing gaps. Not so much with garden boxes as the moisture keeps the wood swollen, but in other projects the palings can shrink up to 5mm in width. I usually keep a dozen or so up in the rafters of my shed to dry out for future use, strapping them down to avoid twisting and warping.
More bench seat projects
Workshop member Chaks_DIY made this beautiful bench seat with an in-built planter box by creating an internal structure using treated Pine slabs and then cladding with decking.
Workshop member LePallet created this pallet bench seat with handy storage underneath and two planter boxes.
How to build a raised garden bed
Experienced Workshop member Adam Woodhams shared a comprehensive step-by-step guide to building a raised garden bed that includes an optional seat for when you want to take a break and enjoy the garden.
For beginners, Adam has also shared a step-by-step guide to building a really easy and simple raised bed, while MitchellMc shared how to build a raised garden bed using pallets.
