10 Ways with Leftover Decking

Waste. I absolutely hate it.

Joe’s shed is filled to the brim with leftover scraps of wood, boxes of miscellaneous screws, and plenty of half-used tins of paint. But they don’t get thrown away. Ohhhh no. Because we know that one day, they’ll come in useful. Or at least, that’s what my inner hoarder tells me…

This summer, as we’ve steadily tackled the garden, leftovers from our DIY decking finally found their place. So if you’re looking for ways to make the most of your leftover wood, see how we’ve utilised leftover decking this summer.

Window planter box
Actually, planter boxes in general, but we just so happen to have built one under our kitchen window. They are so easy to make with just a few lengths of wood, a lining of some sort (I think we used a bin bag!),fill with soil and support on the wall with rawl plugs. Easy! We added a collection of flowering seeds and fast grow compost and after only a few weeks we’re starting to get some lovely flowers popping up outside our window.
Soil Sieve
I know how weird this sounds but bear with me. The soil in our garden has been AWFUL. See below for Exhibit A. It’s been full of rubble, clay, twigs and a fair few nuts and bolts which have fallen from other projects. So before using the soil for flower beds, Joe constructed a sieve to sift out all the junk! Genius, no? All it took was four planks of decking and some leftover mesh in the middle, and voila.
Traditional flower bed
We’ve got a fairly long garden and Joe is currently working on building a pathway down one side. Adjacent to this, he’s built a 30 foot planter using some of the longer decking lengths. We’re just waiting on a new delivery of soil and bark now before we can start planting some beautiful flowers but by next summer, this will look ACE. Here’s a progress picture.
Decking steps
A continuation of your plain old decking but if you have a drop to the main garden you’ll want to build a step, especially if you’ve got kids and they can’t reach the next level. A great way to re-use narrower leftover bits of wood.
Ferret ramps
Okay, so I know this is a little bit niche. If you’ve seen Ferret Mansion in our garden (see how Joe built it himself here) then you’ll know that we re-used some scrap parts of decking as shelves and ramps for our pets! You can see them on the back wall of the below picture. They can use them to climb or perch themselves to watch the world go by outside. You could do the same for any animal with a cage! Rabbits, guinea pigs, degus. You name it! And as most decking is pre-treated and weaher resistant, it should last any animal wear and tear.
Cover ups
We’ve got some truly ugly looking pipes at the back of the house and next to our decked area. Joe had a great idea that we could just continue the decking along the wall, boxing in the pipes and grids meaning they don’t get clogged with leaves anymore, and it’s now a nice little shelf for some outdoor potted plants to sit upon, which we’ll add soon. As it’s under a window, it’s a lovely way to dress an area that otherwise wouldn’t have been used.

Okay so I promised 10 ways but I actually think that if we made anything more out of decking in our garden it will be absolute overkill. So, I’ve done some Pinteresting (to Pinterest is surely a verb by now) and a few suggestions from Am-Tech’s DIY Hub and in particular their post on leftover decking (thanks guys!) for some more ideas.

BBQ Side Table
(Top Left image. Source) Use for serving drinks or keeping your BBQ essentials safe if you don’t have a dedicated outdoor side table. It wouldn’t need much wood at all so a perfect project for leftovers.
Bench
(Top Right image. Source) Again, it wouldn’t need much in terms of leftover lengths and I really love the wood paired with concrete. I think this would look cool against bricks too, if you’re having any renovating or building work done, you could sneak a few for this DIY project. I know we had lots of bricks knocking around after our kitchen extension!
Privacy Wall
(Bottom Left image. Source) We definitely don’t have a large enough garden to justify a privacy wall but I just thought this idea was too good not to share. I think it would be perfect for keeping the wind from blowing away your Al Fresco dinner. Admittedly, it’s probably not the best idea ever for leftovers (you’d probably have to really overestimate how much wood to use on a project to have this much afterwards!) but a cool idea all the same.
Path
(Bottom Right image. Source) A perfect project for different lengths of wood. This could also be great for upcycling pallets. Piece together the disjointed wood and use a jigsaw to smooth out shapes for a stepping-stone path totally unique to you.

So there you have it! What do you think of our leftover decking DIYs this summer? Would you ever try any of these at home? Used the scraps in an unusual way? Drop me a comment below! I’d love to read all about them.

*Disclosure. This post is a collaboration with Am-Tech Tools but as always, all words and opinions are 100% my own. Thank you so much to the brands that support Well I Guess This Is Growing Up.