Hello Pinterest friends. I hope you enjoyed some baking, crafting, painting, organizing, sewing, building, or knitting lately — because it’s time to participate in this season’s unofficial Pinterest Challenge (a fun idea from Katie to stop pinning and start doing). The only rule is simple: pick a pinned project you’ve wanted to try and actually do it. No more endless pinning without action.
This season we chose window boxes. I had pinned a couple of window-box images — one purely for inspiration and another as a tutorial for DIY boxes in case we couldn’t find affordable ready-made options. We thought window boxes would add dimension and soft greenery to our long ranch-style home. They weren’t essential for resale, but we wanted to see how they’d look before moving on. Here are the three windows we decided would benefit from a touch of greenery.
We picked up the window boxes, plastic liners, and wall brackets at Home Depot after comparing the cost of buying versus building — the prices were close enough that buying made sense for us.
The planters had a clean, mid-century look that suited our ranch. For mounting them on our brick facade, here’s what we did:
Step 1: Mark and center the window box beneath each window, then use a hammer drill to make pilot holes for the bracket screws.
Step 2: Attach the brackets following the package instructions. The brackets include a small metal tab that folds over the planter to secure it; you’ll install that as directed. A couple of mistakes we learned from:
- Avoid the short, inexpensive screws that often come with the kit; for masonry we used 2″ Tapcon screws leftover from another project and they held up much better.
- Use a hammer drill to drive the screws. We tried a regular drill first and those screws were loose and had to be redone — the hammer drill gave a much firmer installation.
Step 3: Once the brackets were secure, place the window boxes on them. Bend the metal tab over the top of the box to lock it in place — it bends easily by hand once the box is seated.
Step 4: Insert the plastic liner into the planter. Before you do, pop out the drainage holes in the liner (I used a house key to push them out) so they line up with the planter’s pre-drilled drainage holes. That alignment makes water drainage straightforward and protects the planter.
You might be wondering what John and Clara were doing while I installed the boxes…
They were spreading mulch — very helpful and very cute. By the end of our outdoor session we had plenty of inchworms decorating our clothes.
For planting, I used a practical trick: buy hanging baskets from a nursery and transplant them into the window boxes. Hanging baskets are already full and trailing, so they create an instant spilling effect without waiting for plants to grow over the edge. I used two hanging baskets from a local greenhouse; since they were already grown in, they saved a lot of time.
I gently divided the baskets, taking care to preserve their trailing habit, and placed portions into each window box.
With a few careful splits, each planter ended up with plants that immediately spilled over the edge, giving the look of mature, cascading flowers without the wait.
The blooms are charming. I’m not certain of every variety — the white and pink look like petunias, and the purple ones are likely a smaller petunia or trailing annual variety — but they create a lively, colorful effect.
The window boxes add a subtle, casual charm to the facade. Because they match the brick tone, the flowers become the focal point without competing with the house. As the plants fill in and trail more, they’ll look even better.
So that’s how we installed three window boxes, plus a few tips on what not to do when hanging them and a quick way to get that spilling-plant look right away.
And look at that fresh mulch — it really finishes the curb appeal.
Be sure to check in on Katie, Emily, and Renee to see their challenge projects — they’ll be sharing theirs today as well. We’d also love to see what you made for this season’s challenge. If you’ve blogged about your project, please:
- Click the “Add Your Link” button at the bottom of this post and paste the direct URL to your project post (not your homepage).
- Use a descriptive project name in the name field (for example, “Homemade Leaf Wreath”).
- Consider linking back to the project posts that inspired you so they get credit — and linking to any Pinterest inspiration you used.
If you don’t have a blog, feel free to post a link in the comments or share photos on a public gallery so we can all enjoy your project. I can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to.
