We love pottering around in our highveld garden, especially this time of the year. There’s always so much to do, bulbs to plant, lawns to mow, edges to trim and tackling that odd creeper that seems to have taken over the world while we weren’t watching. It’s also the ideal time to finally make a little potting shed for our smaller garden tools. What is it with small tools? Whenever I look for them they’re MIA. It’s probably my own fault. I have this really bad habit of just leaving them somewhere when my mind changes gears. We’ve even found them in the fridge on one or two occasions. Yup, gardening is thirsty work. This mini potting shed is the ideal solution for balcony gardens or when you don’t have space for a real life-sized version. It’s quick and easy to make, and just big enough to hold little garden necessities.
What You Need
We believe in repurposing things we already have at home. So for this little potting shed we used pallets scraps and two metal signs. We bought a whole bunch a few weeks ago and they’ve be repurposed to make this really cool light for my son’s bedroom and a chilled beer caddy. They’re 31 cm (12 1/8″) wide and 15 cm (6″) tall. Just the right size for the sides of the potting shed. Add some pallets and a hand drawn sketch and we were good to go.
When it comes to tools, you’ll need a saw and drill. So nothing fancy. Oh and you’ll also need two picture mounting plates and magnetic catch. The ones you put on kitchen cabinets.
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How to Make a Mini Potting Shed
To build the mini potting shed, we used the pallet scraps and metal signs to create a simple frame that everything else attaches to. The metal signs form the sides, while the pallet wood makes the top (roof) and base, each measuring 23 cm by 15 cm (9″ x 6″). The door attaches to the base with a piano hinge, and measures 31 cm high by 23 cm wide (12 1/*”x 9″). The pallet door sits flush against the frame when it’s closed and swings open downwards to create a small working surface. I’m hoping the rough sketch below will make sense.
Measure and cut the top, base and door. If your pallets have loads of splinters or look a bit yucky, sand them first.
Measure and cut the wood
Paint or stain the wood pieces to suit your decor. We aged ours with our rusty nail muti and sealed them with beeswax to protect them from soil and water damage. Once the stain was dry we nailed the metal signs onto the sides of the base and top.
Sides, base and door
To join the door to the base, we used a piano hinge. It distributes the load across the entire width of the door, making it stronger when I flip it open to use as a little work bench for potting up my plants.
Piano hinges are stronger
Now all that’s left to do, is add a handle.
Repurposing a valve into a handle
I couldn’t find a handle I liked. They were all too boring. But we did have an old, stripped valve and two copper saddles in our stash that would do nicely. To “age” the saddles, Hubby used his blow torch to add a lovely old patina.
Use a blow torch to age the copper
They look so much better and tone in nicely with the valve.
I wanted the valve handle to sit flush against the door, which meant making a small hole.
Make a small hole for the valve
That way the bottom rounded bit of the valve could swivel inside the hole without scraping.
Valve in the saddles
We attached the valve using those gorgeously aged saddles.
To keep the door closed, screw a magnetic catch to the inside of the roof.
Magnetic catch inside the shed
Screw the magnetic plate to the top of the door.
Metal plate on the door
To hang we added two picture mounting plates to the back of the mini potting shed.
She’s just big enough to for all our little gardening bits and when the door flips open I can use her as a potting bench.
I absolutely love how she turned out.
What do you think?
Don’t forget to pin it if you like it
Oh and if you’re looking for some of the things we used, we’ve got you covered. Disclosure: Clicking on the links below, means we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us make more amazing crafts to share with you.
And if you prefer to buy rather than DIY, then maybe these beauties will appeal.
Sending blessing and loads of love as always
Last update on 2026-04-23 / Source Amazon Affiliates
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