The DIY That'll Turn Your Old Piano Bench Into A Unique Planter Display

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If you've spent any time nurturing plants in and around your home, you likely take great pride in their display. Whether you're looking to pot a few bright flowers for indoor storage through the down season or you're interested in sprucing up the aesthetic of your yard, now might be the ideal time to bring in some added decorative flair, like a whimsical planter. You can make an eye-catching outdoor planter out of a wine box, discarded construction materials, or a small piece of furniture scavenged from a local garage sale. One popular, rustic idea calls for repurposing an old piano bench for the perfect plant display.

A piano bench is an easy-to-find piece which you can likely pick up for cheap via thrift store, Craigslist, or Facebook Marketplace (it may even be free, as pianos are difficult to re-home these days). These benches typically include a hinged seat which can be lifted to reveal a small storage compartment, where musicians keep sheet music. In the case of this DIY, this makes for a perfect adjustable base, allowing you to place pots on top of the seat, or plant directly into the inner compartment (using the underside of the seat as an opportunity for a colorful background). Some designs work best on a bench with no upholstery (particularly if it will live outside), though upholstered benches can be converted with a few additional steps. Like many DIY garden decor repurposing projects, this one requires just a handful of supplies, a pinch of creativity, and a little effort. To get started, make sure the piano bench is clean, wiped down, and dry. Sand any varnish or polyurethane to more easily apply paint, transfers, or other decorative accoutrement.

Once you've got your piano bench stripped down, feel free to decorate to your heart's content. Consider the planter's placement before beginning the project, as that can impact the designs and materials you use. The content creator in the YouTube video above decided to decorate with a floral blend of green, blue, and crimson terra clay paints, to create a colorful, weathered fantasy garden-driven look. From there, she added a white gel stain to the sanded seat's wood grain surface, then layered on a kaleidoscope design on both sides of the seat using rub-on transfer sheets like the 10-sheet botanical flower rub-on images from Sinmoe.

No matter how you decorate your piano bench planter, be sure to seal the whole affair with a proper sealant, to protect the wood outdoors. You certainly won't want to see what happens if you don't seal your wood deck or outdoor decor. From there, feel free to use the top of the bench as a basic surface to stage potted plants, or fold the bench seat up and place your flowers inside the newly-decorated furniture for a more dramatic presentation. Be advised that a bench planter is only a few inches deep, so you'll want to avoid planting anything that requires super deep roots directly inside. Furthermore, the design principles at play in this DIY can be easily translated to other pieces of small furniture: Feel free to get nuts with an end table, coffee table, or even a picnic bench if you enjoyed this project. They could even all coordinate!