DIY Planter Chairs - A quick and easy project

The idea for chairs repurposed as outdoor planters came across my pinterest feed back in March, and like most things I pin, this idea gathered dust for a while before I decided to commit to it.

In part because annuals are on sale at most places right now, and given that I have two sets of broken-seated chairs in my garage awaiting a new life, it seemed like the perfect crafternoon activity post-work on Monday.

I had originally planned to remove the broken caning from the seats and simply drop a couple of old hanging planter pots into the openings. . . easy enough, but where's the challenge and fun in that? Not to mention that once I got the pots out and surveyed the amount of plants I had brought home, I realized that there wouldn't be quite enough space in the pots for the plants to be happy enough.

Plants!

Thing 1 and Thing 2; both seats in disrepair!

I used a pair of snips (aka gardening clippers) to cut away the caning from the edges.

The pot fits. . . but we can do so much better!

I happened to have several pieces of old chicken wire and some burlap on hand so went with plan B in which I stapled the chicken wire to the underside of the seats and lined these with a couple of layers of burlap, creating baskets to hold the soil and plants. The chicken wire provides a sturdy, moldable base and the burlap contains the soil yet allows for drainage so the roots of the plants don't become sodden and rot. 

Action shot! I stapled the chicken wire to the
underside of each chair seat.

Hard to see, but the chicken wire creates a basket beneath the seat.
The flexibility of the chicken wire allowed me to stretch it out to accommodate
the plants and soil.

I doubled the burlap over and pushed it into the chicken wire basket.

I added a few handfuls of potting soil to the baskets then started adding plants and additional handfuls of soil until everything was pretty firmly in place. I watered the heck out of them since most of the plants were fairly root-bound, and it is a hot week, weather-wise.

All tucked in for the rest of the summer

These guys now reside in the planter, plus an unlabeled guy - the light green
antler-shaped plant

Nice bottom.
Burlap and chicken wire are beloved by the DIY craft world, and by hipsters.
I just happened to have both on hand (for actual, practical uses, mind you), but
now that I think about it, this project has hipster written all over it. I apologize.

I'm happy with how they turned out, and it was a super quick project - both were finished and planted within about 30 minutes.

Hello, new friends!
Note the artsy drape of the burlap. . . clearly intentional, or I used random
sizes of burlap. You decide.

The chairs are currently sitting against the house, which this puts the flowers directly under the roof drip line and may not be the best long-term plan for the chairs themselves. I do plan to place the chairs up on bricks to keep the feet out of the soil to help slow the rotting of the wood legs, and I may eventually paint the chairs.

Statement planter chairs. Kin to statement rocks, which every decent garden needs.

I already have a few ideas for the fall - mums, perhaps, and next spring/summer - nasturtiums or herbs in the veggie garden are top on the list! Of course, I do have another set of chairs in need of new lives still sitting the garage. . . perhaps another set of planters is in order?