My Plant Stand & How I Made It
Directions on How I Made My Plant Stand
I got the idea from Martha Stewart on TV, and then I saw an advertisement for Office Depot for wire shelves on sale for $69.00 originally $99.00. I hate driving to Office Depot so I went To K-Mart and found the same wire shelve for $44.96.
What you need
- Wire Shelving: Home Essentials 4 shelf black or chrome wire shelving 14 x 35 ¾ x 52 ½ in. (35.56 x 90.8 x 138.43 cm)
- 3 Foot light fixtures one for each shelve you want to light
- 2 light tubs for each fixture, these come in 30 Watts (I used 1 cool white, & 1 warm white)
- 3 prong extension cords one for each light fixture
- Wire Connectors, 2 for each light fixture
- S hooks 4 for each light fixture
- Chain (Optional)
- Tools, drill, screwdriver, scissors, wire striper, ect.
1. Assemble the wire shelve by following the directions that came with it, the shelves are adjustable.
After I got the shelve home and put together I realized that shop lights only come in 2 Ft. & 4 Ft. I went to Lowe's and found 3 Ft. light fixture, but they did not come with the electrical cords. I also picked up 2 extension cords; make sure you get the ones with the 3 prongs; the third prong is a ground wire.
2. Cut off the female end of the extension cords and strip the end of the 3 wires. Open the light fixtures up, on the back and sides of the light fixture they have punched round circles, push one of these out for your cord I put my cord through the end. You will need to drill 4 small holes in the top of the fixtures 2 on each end for the S hook that holds the chains, be careful you do not drill into the wires. In side the light fixtures are the wires, I do not know much about this part my husband did it. Push the cut end of the extension cord through the hole you pushed out. Connect the wires than screw a wire connector on the ends of the wire, don't forget to connect the ground wire. Reassemble the light fixture.
3. Put your S hooks into the 2 holes you drilled one on either side. I did not use the chains, I just connected one end of the S hook to the light fixture and the other end to the underside of the shelve, centered as much as possible. If you are going to be using the top shelve you will have to hang the light fixture from the ceiling with long chains. Adjust shelves or if using chains adjust the lights, so your violets are the proper distance from the lights, add the light tubes.
The shelves are adjustable, I am not using the bottom shelve
because I have 3 dogs that would love to eat my violets. I have my shelves
spaced as follows starting from the bottom up:
Bottom shelve 2 ½
inch from the floor (I do not use this shelve)
Lower shelve 14 inches from
the bottom shelve
Next shelve 21 inches from the lower shelve
Top
shelve on the top of course (I do not use this shelve yet)
The lower shelve
is for my mature violets, they are 10 to 12 inches below the lights. The next
shelve is for my seedling & babies, they are 6 to 9 inches from the lights.
I leave my lights on for 12 hours a day.
Because I have my light stand in my dinning/living room the lights where kind of bright. This is how I made my curtains; I only needed a curtain on one side and of course the front. I used hot glue to hem the sides and used Velcro to connect them to the ends of the shelve. The side curtain is about 23 inches long x 14 this covers up the 2 lights I have on the middle shelves. The front curtains are 35 ¾ x 5 inches, just long enough so you cannot see the lights.
My dogs are into everything, so I had to dog proof my lower shelve this may also work with cats. I had Home Depot cut me a piece of Plexiglas 35 ½ in x 6 in. we glued Velcro to the ends and attached it to the polls on either end. The center was a little wobbly so we cut 3 small pieces of the Plexiglas about ¾ in x 3 and glued these to the large piece of Plexiglas then insert them in the holes of the shelve and connect the Velcro.
The wire shelves posed a problem; I did not have any trays to fit, so I used cardboard and hot glued material onto it.