DIY Indoor Plant Stand: Budget-Friendly Project

Introduction

Having indoor plants has been around for many years and for good reason. Plants are known to improve the air quality, reduce stress and anxiety, increase production, and boost your mood. Besides these benefits, plants along with their appropriate stand can be a work of art. In most cases, they are a form of decoration in your home or office.

Plant stands typically aren’t cheap if you buy them new and of good quality. I am going to share with you a project we recently finished for our indoor plants. This plant stand is a whopping 6 feet 5.5 inches long, 3 feet 5 inches tall, and 11 inches wide. It has two shelves and a third could easily be added to it. We currently have 18 plants on it and it is holding strong.

When we bought the wood for this project, the boards were $1.78 each and we needed 15 of them. We also needed a box of screws. Minus the paint because we had some on hand, this project cost us less than $40. For a plant stand this size, that is a fantastic price. You could spend much more than that on a new quality stand and we had much more fun building it. On a Saturday, Joy measured out all the pieces and I cut them and then she painted them. My Father-in-law and I then built it on Sunday.

If you like building things and like this style of plant stand, I recommend you build one for yourself. This plant stand can be modified in many ways. We designed this one specifically for a particular location and wanted the bottom shelf to be at the same level as the window sill. Because the window sill protrudes from the face of the wall, we made the lower shelf’s depth narrower than the top shelf. If you don’t have this condition, then you can make both shelves the same and simplify the build a little.

Materials Used for Plant Stands

Plant stands are made of a variety of materials, including:

Wood
Metal
Concrete
Plastic
Rattan
Wicker
Glass
Marble

The choice in material may depend on your style and the level of durability needed for the size and weight of the plant. Because wood is a fairly strong material when used correctly and because it is readily available, we are building ours out of wood.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Plant Stand

When choosing an indoor plant stand, you should consider the size and weight of your plants, as well as the style of your décor. If the plant is heavy, the plant stand will need to be made sturdy enough to support the weight.

Here are some things to consider when choosing an indoor plant stand:

Size: The size of the plant stand should be appropriate for the size of your plants. You want to make sure that the stand is large enough to accommodate the plants, but not so large that it takes up too much space in your room.
Height: The height of the plant stand is also important to consider. You want to make sure that the stand is at a comfortable height for you to water and care for your plants and to give your plants plenty of room to grow vertically and horizontally.
Style: The style of the plant stand should complement the style of your décor. You want to choose a stand that you love and that will look great in your space.
Material: The material of the plant stand is also important to consider. Some materials are more durable than others, so you need to choose a stand that will be able to withstand the wear and tear of everyday use and the size and weight of the plant.
Price: Indoor plant stands can range in price from a few dollars to several hundred dollars. Sometimes price comes with quality and you don’t want to skimp on quality for large and heavy plants.

DIY Indoor Plant Stand Project

Now we get into the DIY project of building your own plant stand. This is a fairly simple project and I feel that if you have basic DIY building skills (I assume you do), then you should have no problem building this wooden plant stand. Because I am assuming you have these basic skills, I will not be giving a step-by-step process on how to build this stand because there are many ways you can go about building it and my one time process may not be the best way. Instead, I will give you a few tips on the way for things to look out for when building it.

Recommended Tools

The beauty of this design is the simplicity of it which requires basic tools. Here is my list of recommended tools for this project:

Saw – I used a compound miter saw, but you can easily cut these boards with a hand saw if that is all you have or can afford.
Drill and 1/8″ drill bit for predrilling holes.
Phillips screw driver or screw bit for the drill.
Countersink bit – You can also use a larger drill bit for countersinking holes.
Pencil and tape measure.
A couple bar clamps are helpful for another set of hands.
Another person for assistance (Just don’t call them a tool).

Recommended Supplies

This project is made of wood (I think we already established that, but I felt I needed some kind of intro here). Here is a list of supplies needed for this particular project:

Painting or staining supplies (optional).
(15) 3/4″x1.5″ x 8 foot long boards (also known as “Furring Strips”).
A small box of 1-5/8″ deck screws.
(8) 1-1/4″ deck screws.

Download the cut list here:

DIY Plant Shelf Download

The first thing you are going to want to do is to measure out and cut all your boards to size. If you are making the same stand we made, then you can use the cut list linked above that I created to simplify the process.

I recommend painting all the boards now if you plan on painting the stand.

When you begin assembling the shelf parts and you are using screws, pre-drill the holes first so you don’t split the wood and to allow the screws to go in easier. You can also countersink them with a countersink bit. There are different variations in tools that will achieve this, including a larger drill bit, but you want one that will center in the pilot hole better than a drill bit will do.

Here is a basic countersink bit. There are also others that have built in drill bits, which can speed up the process.

We built this plant stand upside down on a worktable so we aren’t working on our knees. Start with the frame of the top shelf and then add the legs.

The middle support is situated so the legs are in the middle of the shelf. (You will see later on that we ended up moving one of the legs inward. You will see why shortly).

The middle legs are attached to the middle support.

When you have the wide faces of the board facing each other, use the 1-1/4″ screws so they don’t go all the way through the other side.

Now with the legs in place, you can add two more boards, one on the inside of each leg.

Attach those two boards to the middle support so they don’t move around.

I lightly marked the mid point of the shelf and the centerline of a scrap piece of wood. This scrap piece was lined up with the mark on the shelf. You can use a clamp to hold it in place. Install two more boards, one on each side of this scrap spacer board. The top shelf is now complete.

Start the frame for the lower shelf. If you are building your shelf just like ours, then install the shorter long board first (The cut list shows this better). The screws used to attach that board will be hidden by the shorter side frame pieces. (This is where you will notice we moved one of the middle legs to the middle of the middle support. This was because the shorter long board was in the way and I failed to follow the printed design exactly)

Here is a better view of the connection.

This is the normal connection at the corners of the shelves, which has two visible screws.

From here, you will repeat the steps you did for the top shelf.

When the shelf is complete, you can go back and touch up the paint by painting the exposed screw heads if you wish. You could also draw a faint line across the centerline of the boards so you have a guide on where the screws would go, that way they don’t stagger like ours did.

Here is the completed shelf. Notice the lower shelf was designed to be recessed back because the window sill protrudes from the wall, hence why that shelf was made slightly different than the top shelf. The lower shelf is also at the same height as the window sill so that the plants too can sit on the window sill.

Here is the shelf fully loaded with house plants. Here you can see why we didn’t add a third shelf or cabinets below (The table and chairs are in the way). In other situations, that could be a great option.

So there you have it…a pretty massive wood plant stand designed for indoor plants. I can see a lot of design variations in this, including ones for individual plants or maybe one with different height shelves that are staggered. Use your imagination and make your own. The whole build concept for this is pretty straight forward and uses minimal and basic tools.

Rick Simper has various hobbies, including woodworking, metalworking, composting, and gardening. He is an Architect full time and uses these hobbies to get away from the busy week of Architecture.

2 thoughts on “DIY Indoor Plant Stand: Budget-Friendly Project”

julie June 24, 2023 at 2:02 pm


It really did turn out very special.
1. Rick Simper June 25, 2023 at 6:29 pm
  
  
  I am glad Joy had the idea and we were able to build it for her. It sure made a difference.