The ultimate do-it-yourself project, window boxes are easy to make and require only the most basic tools to construct. Materials can be sourced from your local home improvement store, many even available in pre-cut sizes. If not, you’ll find that most stores will cut the materials for you on-site, saving valuable time. Painted and mounted on metal brackets to the home’s brick exterior, these window boxes perfectly accent the white windows and casing. Best of all, these low-key boxes stand back and let the true stars of the show shine, that container garden favorite: brightly colored perennial calibrachoas. Build a plain, unadorned window box. Cut the ends of one-by-two boards on an electric miter saw into sharpened points. Simply turn the guide to a 45-degree angle and cut a stack of four pickets at a time. Flip the boards and cut the other side. Cedar pickets can be left as-is to naturally weather to an attractive silver-gray over time. Or, for the true picket fence look, prime and paint with exterior white paint. Attach the pickets to the window box with an electric nailer. This fence style with the corners lopped off is called dog-eared. Blogger Sara from The Aqua House cut off fence tops from standard 6-foot cedar fence boards, each piece 5 5/8 inches by 5 1/2 inches. Then she applied them to her 60-inch window box for a winsome, homey look.
