Ah spring! The trees are budding, the flowers beautify our garden, terrace or balcony, the beautiful days and the rays of sunshine are arriving.
Now, how about thinking aboutlandscaping your exterior by taking some inspirational ideas for make a garden furniture ? 🏡
Yes, whether you only have a small balcony or a large terrace, garden furniture is an essential piece of outdoor furniture. So let's go for lots of inspiration !
Make a garden room
wood and steel
Forget stacking European pallets to create a garden bench. Although this DIY “pallet garden furniture” is very easy to make and brings a beautiful result (if well laid out), this technique is increasingly used and is becoming less original (because it is very widespread).
So today we are going make a comfortable garden furniture with some local steel feet and wooden planks ! Don't worry, we're still on a DIY that's pretty easy to make. 💡
Thus, for the manufacture of a sofa 180 cm long with a corner return of 60 cm, the necessary materials and tools are:
- 4 terrace boards: dimensions 240cm x 12 cm from €4 per board (nf: Castorama)
- 5 wooden cleats 12 cm long
- 5 varnished “Intrépide” square feet: 40 x 40 cm price €75/foot
- 20 screws (supplied)
- screwdriver
- circular saw
- varnish
- 1 pencil
- 1 rule
Step 1: creating the board
First of all, cut your boards to 180 cm long using the circular saw. Sand the ends to smooth them, then apply a coat or two of protective varnish. Next, fix the boards 180 cm long between them and those 60 cm together using wooden cleats.
Ripaton info: the dimensions of the boards depend on the space available on your terrace or balcony.
The first step of the DIY is done! 👍🏽
Step 2: Fixing the feet.
Place feet at equal distance on the boards: 3 on the big ones and 2 on the small ones. 📏
As far as distances are concerned, opt for a spacing of 10 cm maximum between the ends of the boards and the two feet. For the Intrepid foot located in the center of the board, attach it to 80 cm from each foot (it should be an equal distance between both feet).
For small seat of 60 cm, fix the feet 10 cm from the edge. We have chosen to leave this seat independent and not to assemble it to the rest of the sofa. This will allow you to place it wherever you want : attached to the sofa to create a corner sofa or not. ☀️
Our selection of RIPATON feet
If you want more personalized garden furniture, you can also apply one or two coats of paint in the desired color before varnishing the wood.
And There you go : you have just made a wooden garden furniture!
What did you think of this DIY: pretty easy right? ☀️
Add some seat cushions for more comfort, a little decoration and relax in the sun!
Make a bench garden furniture:
waxed concrete
Aaah the waxed concrete: big trend in recent years, he has become the star of the flooring, walls interiors and exteriors. But the use of polished concrete does not stop there!
It is also increasingly used in DIY for furniture coating. 🖌️
So we also thought we were going to use waxed concrete to build a garden bench !
For this second DIY idea original "garden bench", you will need:
- 16 concrete blocks (the number of concrete blocks depends on the size of the bench desired)
- 1 gun and fixing glue
- A pot of waxed concrete
- Spatula
- A plywood sheet
Step n°1: Placing the concrete blocks
First of all, place the first 8 blocks on the ground at the desired location. Next apply a layer of glue fixing on the eight blocks using the gun then lay down the 8 remaining concrete blocks. 🏡
RIPATON advice: to ensure excellent solidity and perfect alignment, reverse the positioning of the two concrete blocks of the second row located at the ends. 💡
Once the two rows are glued, come apply a final layer of glue on the concrete blocks before place the plywood board which will serve as a seat and which will provide more comfort.
You have done the hardest part! 💪🏽
Step 2: waxed concrete finish
To give a true charm and style to your garden bench, get the waxed concrete pot and spatula. Use the latter to cover the cinder blocks and the waxed concrete plywood plate. 🤗
Apply as many coats as needed then let it dry !
Finally, for a better protection, apply one or two coats of protective varnish.
And here is your bench like garden furniture is finished! Add decoration, cushions for more comfort, originality and style on your terrace and you're done.
If you want you can also build a concrete coffee table for a piece of furniture to match your bench seat. 🤗
Make a garden room:
Solid wood
Here, we forget once again the pallet garden furniture and we teach you how to build a solid wood garden furniture. 🔨
Rather simple to make, you will need:
- 2 solid wooden boards of 200 x 20 cm
- 2 solid wooden boards of 80 x 20 cm
- 1 solid wooden plate of 200 x 80 cm
- 4 wooden cleats 80 cm long
- 6 wooden cleats 40 cm long
- 4 wooden cleats 200 cm long
- screwdriver
- Screws
- Some nail polish
Step 1: making the wooden frame
First of all, make the frame of the sofa using the cleats. Place the first 4 cleats (2 200 cm long and 2 80 cm long) on the ground to create the lower part of the rectangular frame. Fasten them together with screws and the screwdriver. 🔩
Then, screw the four wooden cleats of 40 cm in each corner and the two remaining cleats in the center of each 200 cm long cleat. 🪛
Finally to complete the frame, attach the remaining wooden cleats on those (perpendicular) that you have just screwed.
Step 2: fixing the wooden planks
Last step of this DIY, it will allow you to finalize the creation of your outdoor sofa. Here, you will no doubt have understood, it is a question of fixing the boards on each side of the frame. This will hide the cleat frame and make your garden sofa. 🪛
Once this step is done, all you have to do is screw the wooden plate 200 x 80 cm on top of the sofa to create the seat.
Add seat cushions, throws and decorative pillows and rest (you deserve it)! ☀️
Make a garden room:
Pallets
We know how much you love them. Quick and easy DIYs. So, we don't present it to you anymore (but we'll tell you about it anyway): the DIY garden furniture in pallets.
For this production, nothing could be simpler and faster. You will need 6 European EPAL pallets that you will only have to superimpose two by two to form a corner sofa.
Of course the number of pallets varies according to the dimensions of the desired sofa. For example, for small spaces you may only need two pallets (to be placed one on top of the other).
RIPATON info: if you wish, you can screw the pallets together to ensure that they stay in place. However, given the weight of each pallet, your sofa should not move. 💡
If you like the easily manageable and movable furniture, you can also fix casters under your pallets. You will be able to move your furniture as you see fit! 👍🏽
BONUS Make a garden pouf:
The rope
You have made your garden furniture but do you feel like you're running out of seats? How about making garden poufs? 🧐
For this DIY recovery you will need :
- 1 old tire (not usable but still in good condition)
- 2 plywood sheets of the tire diameter
- Jute rope 8 mm in diameter
- Glue
- screwdriver and screws
Firstly attach the two plywood sheets using the screws on the top and bottom of the tire to create a solid base. 🔩
Then very simply come glue the rope creating a spiral. Start in the center of the tire and wrap the rope all the way around the tire.
And here you have made your jute garden pouf ! If you wish, you can make others for even more seating. 🤗
Ready to set up your exterior and make your garden furniture? ☀️
Discover our packs to create your DIY garden sofa, the result of a Montpellier collaboration between Ripaton and Les Toiles du Soleil.
The packs consist of legs for garden sofa “The Sunny” made in our Montpellier workshop, seats and cushions made by Les Toiles du Soleil.
Entirely in wood, in pallets, in concrete or in a mixture of wood and steel, garden furniture comes in all shapes and styles! 😍 Once your garden sofa is created, make a matching coffee table to have a perfect set for your terrace or balcony.
Find the best materials, get inspired and let your DIY talents shine (and above all don't hesitate to share your creations with us). 🤗
Find all our advice and DIY on our blog.
And don't hesitate to share your creations with us!
The Ripaton team 🚀