Easy DIY Indoor Plant Stand With Light

Hello! This is my first instructable! Hope you enjoy! :)

It's cloudy and cold where we live right now but we don't want to miss out on growing plants so we came up with this guy to help us. We built an indoor plant stand with a plant light to give our seedlings the best, most amazing start to life they could ever hope for. This plant stand was made with seeding trays in mind but anything could be put on it! The light is adjustable and so plants of all shapes, sizes and light requirements can use this!

We made this with some left over wood, screws, a few power tools and honestly thats about all it took. We left it natural but it could be stained or painted too!

This instructable will be the directions we used to make this stand. I hope it works as well for you as it does for us!

All you need are:

Wood boards

A piece of plywood (this will be the base, so size is up to you!)

Screws (small ones and medium length ones)

Cordless Drill and Cordless Screwdriver

An indoor growing light

*This is the one we used: https://www.amazon.com/LIGHTIMETUNNEL-Spectrum-Lights-Indoor-Heatproof/dp/B07HMM3KS5/ref=sr_1_26?dchild=1&keywords=led+grow+light+1000w+full+spectrum&qid=1588013348&sr=8-26

Caulk

Drill

Sanding equipment (if you want a smooth finish, not necessary though)

Putty Knife (again, only for a smoother finish)

1. Grab your piece of plywood and measure the length and width. Our dimensions were 46.5 inches long and 29 inches deep.

2. Cut your wooden boards according so that they can be screwed into the plywood. We only put boards on the back and two sides leaving the front open. The two side boards, were cut at an angle only for a slightly nicer appearance. You can do this too if you'd like.

3. Screw all the boards in by flipping over the plywood and spacing the screws out about every 6 inches. You will use the medium length screws to make sure the boards are securely in place. This is when you use the cordless drill to first make the hole and then the cordless screwdriver to insert the screws. Every time you are inserting a screw, make sure to use the cordless drill first to make a hole.

4. We then cut a board that would've gone on the front part and screwed that underneath just to add some support. This can be seen in the picture.

Next is the legs! These can be as tall or short as you would like. We made ours 18 inches tall.

1. Cut the lengths to the length you want.
2. Screw them into the side boards you attached to the plywood with two screws each. Make sure you measure the same distance from the ends on all four legs so that are even.

*Our legs were a little wobbly, if this happens to you, you can sand the bottoms of the legs that are too long until the table is no longer wobbly.

3. We then added horizontal beams between the legs on the same side. Make sure to measure where you will put the beam so that it is as level as possible.

4. Finally, we added another small brace on the bottom of the plywood on the back. This can be seen in the pictures. This needs to be centered and screwed into the plywood.

5. We then cut two boards at an angle on both ends so that they could be screwed into the leg and the newly added brace. This is done on both sides and adds a lot of support that will be needed with there is heavy soil on the plywood. The screws can be screwed in at a slight angle so that they are firmly in place.

This is the section coming up from the base! The first boards here are the vertical ones seen in the images. These determine the height of your light so it may vary depending on what light you use.

1. We cut two board at 36 inches. We then measured the space on the light between the hooks (where it is hung up). This is how big we made the gap between the two boards. Again, make sure the boards are equal distances from the outside. Screw these in.

2. We then added a board across them at the very top and screwed it in.

3. Then two more boards were cut, these again need to be the same length and long enough for the light to fit below them. These are screwed into the vertical boards on the back.

4. Finally, another board is added across the two new boards at the end coming over the table. This is shown in the images.

This step is critical and makes sure the light is supported!

1. One board on each side of the set up you just made needs to be added. This goes between the side board on the base and the last piece of wood you just put in on the light holder. This needs to be cut at angle on both sides and screwed in with two screws on each end. These should go in at a slight angle. This part is helpful to have someone to help you hold it in place.

Now we add the finishing touches!

*Our total height for the plant stand from top to bottom ended up being 53 inches.

1. We added a board connecting the two legs across the front. Make sure its pushed up against the plywood. This adds additional support.

2. We then added a smaller board across the front on top.

3. Then we sanded everything just to make it smoother and get rid of any rough edges. If you have an electric handheld sander this is ideal, however you can use sandpaper as well.

4. We caulked the entire inside seam between the plywood and the boards added. This combined with step number 2 is intended to make the base leak resistant. We weren't allowed to bring it in the house until we did this!

5. Then, we used a putty knife to scrap away excess caulk for a smoother finish.

Finally! Adding the light!

This may depend on the light you have. Ours is hanging held up by four wires.

1. We measured the distance between the hooks on the light and drilled holes the same distance apart on the horizontal boards of the light holder.

2. Then, every three inches in the direction of the back of the stand we added a small screw but only screwed it in until there was about a quarter centimeter still above the wood. This is where the loop on the wire will go, so yours may be different. All the screws were drilled going towards the back. Only two were drilled between the first and second hole on both sides and three were drilled between the second hole and the back. By putting the loop on each screw this holds the light in place. If you move the loop back one screw with all four wires this adjusts the light up a few inches. This can be done again to adjust it even higher. Then, to adjust it higher you can turn the wire around the screw and back towards the front where you put the loop on the previous screw.

*The pictures help show how this works. The last images shows how to continue adjusting the light when you run out of screws

YOU DID IT! Put in the seeding trays or whatever you want and enjoy! Hope this was helpful!