String Lights DIY

We love our string lights in the backyard during spring/summer!

This is a simple DIY. The cement part sounds difficult but its super easy and once you get through that part, the rest requires very little skill.

For our project, we only needed 2 planters as bases, and used our house/deck to hang the lights on that end. Depending on your layout of patio you may need to do more planters.

SUPPLIES

Large plastic planters (these from Home depot are what we used, I am sure any planter would work!) Should be approx 14in x 10in
Concrete mix (one 50lb bag was enough for our 2 planters)
2x2x8 pieces of wood
Wood stain of your choice (optional)
String lights we used these from Amazon
Decorative rocks (to cover concrete for a finished look, also optional)
Nails & zip ties

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix concrete, follow instructions on the bag. We used a big bucket and mixed with the mixer attachment on Joe’s drill. You can easily do this by hand if you don’t have the tool.
Before you pour concrete, hammer a large nail into each of the 2x2x8 pieces of wood (so that you can hang the lights afterwards)
Place 2x2x8 wood into planter, and be sure its centered. We did this under our deck, where we could lean the wood to be sure it was straight/centered.
Pour concrete almost to the top. We left about 3in at the top.
Let sit for 12hrs or so to let concrete set
Stain wood if you want a more finished look, add decorative rocks (or you could even do little plants if you have space at the top!)
Use zip ties to hang lights to top at the nails. We strung them across to our house and attached from our deck. Depending on your layout you may need more planters/cement.
LINKS TO EVERYTHING