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DIY Window Boxes & How To Attach To Bricks

Posted on May 20, 2019June 13, 2020 by jennifer froese
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These DIY window boxes are a great way to add year-round curb appeal to your house. I decided to design and build my own after I was unable to find premade window boxes that I loved. The main issue I had with premade window boxes is that most of them are way too small. I wanted mine to look more substantial and proportional to the size of the windows. I also wanted the front of the window boxes to be slightly angled to create a more custom look. I’m so glad I decided to make my own because I love how they turned out!

DIY Window Boxes

During the summer, window boxes look beautiful filled with flowers and vines, or even ornamental grasses. There are so many choices at the nursery in the spring that it can be hard to decide! One year I went with cascading pink petunias that looked great all summer long. They can also look great during the winter – I like to fill mine with mixed evergreen branches and strings of solar lights.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Building the Window Boxes

The finished window box pictured here is 52” long. I decided to make the window box extend 2” longer than the window on each side.

For durability, I chose to use pressure-treated wood. Because of the chemicals used to treat the wood, these window boxes are not suitable for edible plants or herbs. To avoid this issue you can use rot-resistant cedar wood, although it’s a lot more expensive.

Supplies Needed (to make 52″ long window box):

-Two 1″x4″s (10′ long each), pressure treated
-One 1″x6″ (6′ long), pressure treated
-1″x2″ (around 3′ long to make braces, or any scrap wood you already have)
–Exterior wood glue
–Exterior wood screws
-Smaller wood screws to attach braces inside of window box
-Desired stain/sealer (I used a deck stain- Olympic Elite Woodland Oil in Canyon Brown).

Olympic Elite Woodland Oil - Canyon Brown

Directions:

  1. Cut the 1”x4” boards into 52” pieces (gives you four pieces, each 52” long). These will make up the back and the front of the window box.
  2. Cut the 1”x6” board to 52”, you will have a 20” piece remaining. These will make up the bottom and the sides of the window box.
  3. Cut your 1”x2” into eight pieces that are about 4” long to make the braces. These add extra strength to the window box and prevent the boards from warping and separating once they’re filled with soil.
  4. Using a table saw, cut the edges of the two front 1″x4″ boards with the blade tilted 15°. In the picture below I’ve marked which boards you need to cut on an angle to create this look. (You can skip this step entirely if you want a square front instead of an angled one).
  5. Using wood screws and exterior wood glue, assemble the back of the box with two of the 1”x4”s and four of the 1”x2” braces. Make sure your screws are short enough that they don’t go through the other side!
  6. Repeat this process for the front of the window box and your angled 1”x4”s.
  7. Create the end of your window box using the remaining 20” piece of 1”x6”. Use a miter saw with the blade rotated 15° to cut this piece in half on an angle to create the two end pieces. Measure the length needed at the bottom (see the yellow line in the picture below), and cut the 90° angle accordingly.
  8. Now you can assemble the back, bottom, sides and front of the window box together using exterior wood screws. I think I may have used 1-½” or 2” screws.
  9. Lastly, drill a few drainage holes in the bottom of the window box using a large drill bit.
DIY Window Boxes
DIY Window Boxes
DIY Window Boxes

Staining the Window Boxes

After the window boxes were completely assembled, I stained them using an exterior one-step stain/sealer. I used Olympic Elite Woodland Oil in Canyon Brown. I also used this stain/sealer on a pergola and on these DIY Garden Posts for string lights that are fully exposed to the elements and the color has held up extremely well over the past three years. I haven’t noticed any fading at all even though the window boxes are on a south-facing wall.

How to Attach Window Boxes to Bricks

Supplies needed:
–Hammer drill (an ordinary drill won’t work nearly as quickly)
–Concrete anchors
-Masonry drill bit (may be included with concrete anchors)
-Large washers
-L-shaped metal brackets
-Wood screws (to attach bottom of window box to brackets)

To attach these DIY Window Boxes to the brick wall, my dad used a hammer drill with a masonry drill bit. We borrowed a hammer drill from a friend, but you can actually rent one from some Home Depot stores.

Then, we used the Tapcon Concrete Anchors to attach the brackets to the house (make sure they’re level!). The packaging will tell you exactly which masonry drill bit you will need, or it might actually be included.

DIY Window Boxes
Tapcon Concrete Anchors for DIY Window Boxes

After we attached the brackets to the house, we set the window box on the brackets and attached the underside of the window box to the bottom of the brackets using wood screws.

For extra support, we also attached a couple more tapcon screws (with washers) through the back of the window box directly to the house.

We used washers because we were concerned about the weight of the filled window boxes creating too much pressure on the screw heads attaching the back of the window boxes to the house. The large washers help to distribute the weight/force over a much larger area.

DIY Window Boxes
DIY Window Boxes

What do you think of these DIY window boxes? Do you have any favorite plants for window boxes? Leave a comment below!

  • DIY
  • 9 thoughts on “DIY Window Boxes & How To Attach To Bricks”

    1. Kris says:
      April 13, 2021 at 9:05 am

      Your window boxes are fantastic! I also love the color of your house. We’re looking to update our brick rancher, may I be nosey and ask what color your brick is painted? Thanks!

      Reply
      1. jennifer froese says:
        April 13, 2021 at 1:38 pm

        Thank you so much for your kind words! We had the paint color matched at Home Depot to the siding that we used, so I don’t have a specific name, but here is a picture of the top of the can with all the numbers you would need to recreate this same color. If I were doing it over again, I would use matte paint and not satin. The light reflects off all of the angles in the sunlight and it drove me crazy haha!

        Reply
    2. Nicole says:
      April 19, 2021 at 12:07 pm

      I like the simplicity of your window boxes? What is the depth and what brackets did you use?

      Reply
    3. Nicole says:
      April 20, 2021 at 10:35 am

      I like your boxes! What is the width of the side of the box at the bottom and top and what brackets did you use?

      Reply
      1. jennifer froese says:
        April 20, 2021 at 12:15 pm

        Thank you! The bottom of the window box is around 6.75″ deep and the top is around 8 or 9 inches I believe. We don’t live in this house anymore or else I’d go out and measure them for you!! 🙂 The brackets were steel corner braces. I think the exact ones we used are item#64773 at Lowe’s – National Hardware 6-in x 1.125-in x 6-in Steel Corner Brace

        Reply
    4. Kim says:
      May 22, 2021 at 11:53 am

      These are beautiful! When you watered the flowers did the water stain your brick? We have this same set up on our house but the brick is white. My husband has always feared the water would stain the brick if we added a window box.

      Reply
    5. Jenna says:
      May 5, 2022 at 8:45 am

      Troubleshooting for folks having their tapcons shear off/break when trying to attach the brackets to brick: per the Tapcons manufacturer website, Tabcons can only be interested into the base material a max of 1-3/4″, meaning the specified screws are too long for the bracket instillation part. Mine kept breaking just over 1 -3/4″ mark so I’m trying out 1.5″ Tapcons next to see if that works better.

      Reply
    6. MXW says:
      July 22, 2023 at 12:54 am

      Did you have to wait to stain them since it was PT wood?

      Reply
      1. jennifer froese says:
        August 6, 2023 at 12:13 pm

        Yes we did wait a few months to be sure it was pretty dried out before we stained it

        Reply

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    cedarandstonefarmhouse

    Jennifer Froese
    🌿Living a slow, simple life in our 1832 farmhouse | western ny | zone 6a | the secret to having it all is knowing that you already do✨

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    "The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head i "The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul." -Alfred Austin

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    Some things that I’ll always think of when I thi Some things that I’ll always think of when I think of you–
 
The birch tree out by the road, that low branch of the maple tree hanging down over the gravel driveway, the old potting shed with the red tin roof to match the house, all the birdhouses (but especially that one hanging on the silver maple next to the house), the glow of the lights in the windows at Christmastime, your beautiful gardens - the ferns and peonies, the hollyhocks and zinnias, the oakleaf hydrangea, the poppies, the tulip tree and the scraggly old apple trees, the tree swing under the giant maple in the backyard, the fall birthday parties in the big brown barn, football games in your back yard (especially that year when my dad pulled both of his hamstrings), the enamel-top table on your back porch where you and Papa would have lunch, the steep steep stairs and creaky old floors in your house, the gauzy tobacco cloth curtains pinned up at one corner, the paint colors Pearwood and Black Bean Soup, the bathroom door with no lock, your Bakelite silverware, the vintage Tinkertoys, the old gumball machine on the counter of your pantry with the jar of pennies right next to it (that gum was always so stale), the jar of extra-salty sourdough pretzels we could always find on your counter, your soft sugar cookies with frosting and a pecan on top, your famous potato salad, and your linen clothes. But more than all of these things, I’ll always remember how loved I always felt. Somehow you made everyone in your life feel like they were your favorite person in the world. I’ll never forget your smile and your hugs and your laugh and your sense of humor. And I’ll never forget watching you holding my babies for the very first time. You were incredible Grammie, I’m going to miss you so much.
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This white leghorn is the newest addition to our flock, and she actually showed up randomly in the fall and would hang out near the run during the day and disappear towards the evening. This went on for a couple of weeks, and then one day she wandered in when I had the door open and I couldn't get her out. So in she stayed!
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One egg a day is not quite enough to keep up with the baking and cooking for us, so I did have to buy eggs at the store the other week. Talk about sticker shock! I'm curious what prices everyone has been paying for eggs these days.
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