Window Boxes in our 2nd Story Porch

That’s how it was the first time I looked at our 100 year old house when it was for sale. It’s a big ole rambling house, and I was totally, and I might add, very sweetly surprised when I was at the end of the 2nd floor hallway… or so I thought it was the end, and not only did I find the back kitchen stairway that had been closed up from the kitchen end, but also an attic stairway, and still there was another door. As I tugged it open I was greeted with this room… a wonderful 2nd story porch on the south end of the house!! My 1st thought was, “This is just like my dream!”

This 2nd story porch gets wonderful light with huge expansive windows on all 3 sides of it. I’m sure originally it was a sleeping porch with just screens at the window openings, but at some point a previous owner put in these windows, and I’m so glad. It makes it so much more usable for our region.

So this year I wanted to try a go at raising some herbs and lettuce…

When I found these 6 handmade window boxes that a gal in Minneapolis was selling I was thrilled. They fit comfortably end to end on the 2 South facing windows. (She was a very interesting lady… had started her own business making casegoods for a major retailer and thus had designed these and had her carpenter make them for herself, but when she moved, they didn’t fit in her next porch)

But they fit mine, and here they are:

I was thrilled with the vintage green color and fun contemporary yet classic style.

When it came time to mount them, since these windows didn’t have much of a window sill, I was left with a couple of options. I could invest a lot of time and effort and money and make deeper window sills, or shelves at the sill height to set them on, which would be nice…

But I opted for a much cheaper and easier route…

I’d mount them just below the actual sill with a simple bracket. (and I could DIY that!)

As you can see in the picture above the bracket needs a block about 1″ deep behind it to hold it firmly in place.

I found a strip of MDF leftover from the trim the carpenter made for the kitchen that just happened to be the perfect depth.

I just needed to cut 18 blocks from this board.

Now let me just pause a moment here and say, I am not by any stretch of the imagination a carpenter, nor do I really like using power tools all that much. (Unlike Gail over at My Repurposed Life… now she is an amazingly talented gal/Gail 😉 and it’s so fun to see what she’s repurposed lately) However, I do love this chop saw we have and the ability it gives me to make a quick cut. (this is the same saw I used on the antler candle holders!)

And now that I have it set up on this super handy Workmate table, it’s so darn convenient! (check out this Workmate table here, it’s under $65, and would make a great Father’s Day gift!)

So I don’t know much in the way of tricks & tips for using power saws… except keep your fingers out of the way.

OK, so actually, here is a tip, besides the obvious fingers thing:

I had to make 18 cuts all at the same 3″ width…

So instead of measuring each one out, I did like what I have on my sewing machine…

I marked with a pencil right on the flat surface where to place the end of the board for the next cut, (if you look carefully, you can just barely see the pencil line a couple inches to the right of the red cutting area)

That actually saved a ton of measuring time.

So with the blocks of wood, simple white hardware brackets and a drill with some proper length screws, (longer for the wall and shorter for the bottom of the window boxes) I drilled then screwed each window box up….

and here’s how they look now.

The brackets hold the window boxes up nicely… and the brackets themselves are pretty unnoticeable.

Now I have herbs and lettuces getting plenty of sunlight and hopefully growing healthy.

Uh-oh!

Once the window boxes were done…

I realized that when we moved into the house, we were so busy renovating the rest of the house, we had just left this 2nd story porch exactly how it was, only added a bunch of furniture from our last sunroom into here…

These cute window boxes make me realize how awful the floor looks…

Ugh, and that dark brown ceiling… wouldn’t it look so fresh and light if it were porch ceiling blue?

OK, I’ve got a little more work to do before I show you the rest of this room… But I already have the paintbrush in my hand, so hold tight, I’ll be right back.

As always, please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest the more the merrier!

I appreciate you stopping by.

For those of you interested in following the link parties I typically follow and join in, due to SEO recommendations, I will not be joining most of them, just one or two interspersed is all. One of the best link parties that I get wonderful results with is from our friend Susan at Between Naps on the Porch… so I will still be linking to that party when I can on Mondays. 🙂

And on Fridays, (well Thursdays really) is Courtney’s party at French Country Cottage… again a wonderfully fun party!