The DIY Balcony "Flower Bed"

Apartment Therapy reader Jackie Honikman sent us her whimsical and imaginative DIY project that puts a cheap canopy bed frame to reuse in a whole new light as a balcony garden flower bed. We could also imagine this working with a mini-lawn to lay down upon for a nap, but maybe that's because we're just tired...

I converted a twin canopy bed purchased for $80 bucks on craigslist into a raised flower bed with living details (aka succulents). The bed is depicted at two different states:

After painting: regular wooden bed frame painted with glossy black exterior paint
Complete: Cedar boards added, used to create the sides of the "bed"; filled with soil; succulents are carefully placed, flowers are planted on top.

This was part of a bigger DIY balcony makeover that included a a fence, padded benches and a bar... all hand made by me (a totally inexperienced girl with a jig saw.) I think this is a cool project because we really transformed our (rental) apartment's balcony into a secluded party-garden.

Comments (10)

I love it! This made me smile.

posted by jenn on August 5th 2009 at 9:46pm
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LOL!

posted by M2JL on August 5th 2009 at 10:31pm
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I get it but it still reminds me of those tubs...

posted by leadingedge on August 5th 2009 at 11:04pm
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I love the idea. Very nice.

posted by Maroha on August 6th 2009 at 12:39am
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love your bed of flowers!!

posted by formosagirl on August 6th 2009 at 2:08am
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Enough to make me smile - but can't stop thinking about how big a waste it is, both of a bed and space.

posted by ChrisGal on August 6th 2009 at 6:13am
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@ChrisGal, looking at the pictures, it looks like she has nothing to worry about in terms of wasting space.

posted by chikiyuu on August 6th 2009 at 8:53am
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Pretty flowers! I like the idea of a bed of grass, too.

posted by Brandyjane on August 6th 2009 at 9:10am
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FAB!

posted by LoriSF on August 6th 2009 at 12:51pm
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Thanks to everyone for the kind comments! The idea really evolved from just wanting to build a raised flower bed for planting vegetables. The bed frame had the perfect WxL dimensions for it, but making it deep enough was going to be tough. We went with a more shallow solution that allows us to grow flowers and maybe some veggies that don't need more than 8in of soil. Originally I purchased the bed thinking that I would make it into an outdoor daybed kind of thing, but it wasn't really working with the space. In case it matters, I didn't get leadingedge's reference to "tubs." thanks again!

posted by jackiehonikman on August 8th 2009 at 2:00pm
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