Easy Cinder Block Bench

Hello Zesty Thrifty followers!!

Sam here, we are excited to share another thrifty idea! As we gear up for spring we wanted to venture outdoors with some fun patio ideas…

Billy and I love to have people over and host, so with that we are constantly looking for ways to improve our yard and “hosting” space. We were super excited about our recent backyard transformation! We took out tons of grass and installed some faux grass, added native plantings, decomposed granite and even poured some concrete. Amongst all these improvements we still wanted to create a fire pit area, but let’s face it things can get pricy when it all adds up!! To save some bucks we were able to come up with a great alternative for our new and improved fire pit seating area. Rather than building some large wall with seating we were able to make our own and what’s kind of nice is that it’s not permanent so we can still have some flexibility with changing the yard up as our lifestyle changes.

Supplies: (for my exact bench, feel free to altar to your area)

• cinder blocks (22 doubles , 8 singles)
• 6 4×4 wooden planks
• wood stain
• polyurethane
• paint brush
• sander
• soil/plantings

Did I mention we were able to get some of our husbands to join in the zest?!?!? Oh heck yes!! Billy started with some sanding….

Next Josh and Cooper tag teamed staining the wood.

After the stain is dry go ahead and add a coat of polyurethane for extra protection in the weather…

Now it’s time to play tetras!!

{Also you will want to wear gloves when you move the cinder blocks to avoid them tearing up your hands}

You can see the formula that worked for me here….5 doubles and 3 singles per end. I am mixing in those doubles and singles to create the pyramid look for plantings. For the end “L” part where they meet I used 12 doubles and 2 singles. You can see the little shelf I created in the middle for drinks/etc.

Now to plant! I am going to do some native grasses and succulents since the cinder blocks are not too big and won’t hold too much water for long- gotta think of what will actually live!!

Fill the blocks with soil and get to planting….

And there you have it!! So excited for our next bonfire!!

Yay! LOVE the color and can’t wait until these start to grow and really hang over the blocks and fill in!!

xo

Sam & Chanda

{and the zesty boys}

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