MINI HERB HOUSE
It’s SPRING! Yay!
Last night I had dinner out on the balcony for the very first time this year and it felt so good. I can’t wait until the weather really warms up and I can get started on giving the balcony a little makeover. But for now, I’m doing what I can to make it feel like spring inside with this little DIY herb storage “house” for the kitchen.
I felt like the herbs sitting in little terracotta pots in my kitchen needed to go in something so I could easily put them out on the balcony and bring them back in when I need to use them, or if the sun gets too strong.
I am notorious for killing basil plants because I leave them out in the sun for too long so I thought this might just do the trick. It’s like a tray/house with a handle and I love it!
DIY mini herb storage for the kitchen
- 4 square-shaped strips of wood 1m long
- 4 square-shaped strips of wood 25 cm long
- 4 sheets of wood for the sides
- 1 square sheet of wood as the base (this one is 32 x 32 cm)
- Screws just slightly longer than the width of the square strips of wood so they go all the way through and into the next plank of wood
- Screws just slightly shorter than the width of the square strips of wood so they don’t go all the way through
- Wood putty
- Fine sand paper
- White paint
Equipment:
- Ruler & pencil
- Wood saw
- Miter box (this is a box which guides your saw so you can cut the wood at 45° angles to make the point at the top of the little “house”)
- Handheld screwdriver
- Electric screwdriver & drill
- Paintbrush
First things to do is to secure the four planks to the 25cm long strip of wood which will be the pillars of the little house.
Mark out where you want the screws to go in the planks and drill holes smaller than the screws you are using. This will make it easier to screw in the screws. You are going to do this every time you want to use a screw.
Use a handheld screwdriver to secure the screws to the 25 cm long pieces of wood. You will have two screws going through as indicated below so make sure the ones on the other side of that particular pillar don’t go in at the same point, otherwise they will not go into the wood.
Measure the distance between the two bars and cut two of the narrow pieces of wood to the right length and secure with screws through the top.
Saw 4 approx. 30 cm long bars of wood and use the miter box and the saw to saw 1 edge of each of the 4 bars to a 45° angle.
The angles you just cut will meet at the point of the “house”.
Cut a wooden bar to the same distance as the width of the inside of the box you made above.
Secure the angled edges to this bar with screws as shown below.
Use C-clamps to secure the “roof” you just made just behind the bars.
Align the edges and use a pencil to mark a line across where the arrow is below. You are making out where to saw the extra wood off.
Saw along the pencil mark.
Then, measure out little stubs of wood which are going to attach the “roof” to the body of the house. Secure with a screw above and below as shown here:
Then, nail (or screw) the base on to the bottom of the house.
It’s hard to get perfect angles when you’re cutting with a hand saw and don’t have professional equipment but don’t worry too much about the little gaps that you can see between the wood.
You can use wood putty to fill in these holes.
Give the whole frame (especially parts with the wood putty) a good sand with fine sandpaper and smooth over the edges.
Paint the whole thing white and you’re done!
Fill with fresh herbs of your choice and give them a good water so they start settling into their new pots.
I chose 2 basil plants, 1 mint plant and 1 parsley plant as these are the herbs I use the most when cooking.
I couldn’t be happier with how this worked out and I would say that my kitchen is almost ready for a full kitchen tour! I think I might even make a video out of it!
Thanks for stopping by the blog today! I’ll be back on Thursday with a delicious recipe. xS
