What you’re building
Two H-shaped frames, each a pair of legs with a rail between them, stand under a square top made from three glued slats. The rails sit up high, flush with the top of the legs, so the frame is stiff where the load is. The stand is 12½ inches tall, which gets a pot up to where you can see it and off the wet concrete. It’ll hold a big ceramic pot without a second thought.
The frames don’t connect to each other except through the top. That’s fine at this size: eight screws down through a 1½-inch top into four legs is plenty. If you make it taller, add a second pair of rails across the other direction.
Pick the board
Legs need to be straight, so sight down the board and pick one without twist. If the stand is living outdoors, use pressure-treated or plan on exterior paint; bare SPF will gray in a year and soften in three.
Cut
Three top slats at 10½, four legs at 11, two rails at 6. The legs must match each other exactly or the stand will rock, so cut all four with the same stop or check them against each other and trim.
Build the H-frames
Lay two legs flat on the bench, 3½-inch faces down, 6 inches apart. Set a rail on edge between them at the top end, flush with the ends of the legs and with the outside face. Check square. Glue the rail ends, clamp the legs against them, and drive two 2½-inch screws through each leg into the end of the rail, countersunk. Make the second frame the same way, and check that the two frames are the same width.
Glue up the top
Three slats edge to edge, growth rings alternating, clamped across the width. Wipe the squeeze-out. Sand flush when dry. The top ends up 10½ inches square.
Join the frames with the top
Set the top upside down. Mark a line ¾ inch in from each edge on all four sides. Stand the two frames on the top, rails to the outside, with each leg’s outer faces on the lines. The frames sit parallel to each other, 6 inches apart on the inside. Glue the top ends of the legs, drive two 3-inch screws down through the top into each leg, countersunk, and flip it over.
Finish
Round the top edges. Paint or exterior oil. If it’s going on a deck, four rubber feet stop it leaving wet rings.
If something goes wrong
- Rocks. A leg is long. Find the high one and sand its bottom.
- Frames aren’t parallel. The lines on the underside of the top weren’t followed. It’s cosmetic; nothing structural depends on it.
- Rail screw missed the rail. The rail end is only 1½ inches thick. Center the screws on that thickness, ¾ inch from the leg’s outside face.