Have you ever thought about getting a greenhouse? How about building one? Hey, I’m Dana, the Fabs’ Oregon coupon teacher, and besides saving money with coupons, I love to garden. I come from a family of gardeners (grandma and pa, mom and dad, and now me and my sister).

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This winter, I decided that I wanted to try to build a greenhouse for our garden. The growing season here in central Oregon is very short (we generally get our last freeze in mid-June) and I wanted somewhere other than my bedroom window to start plants from seed. And since I am frugally minded and like to upcycle as much as I can, I decided that we (my husband and I) would attempt to build a greenhouse using as much on-hand materials as possible, for less than $100. One. Hundred. Bucks.  So I went on over to Pinterest and found this little build that spoke to me:I love how this builder used what he had on hand to make something he wanted…and that’s precisely what I specialize in. That’s weird to say…I rarely feel like I specialize in anything. But, regardless, I identified with this guy because I had a lot of what he had: old windows, extra lumber, and creativity. So I want to share with you, step by step, how my husband and I successfully built our own greenhouse for less than $100, and encourage you to try to do the same. This is what we started with: A bunch of old windows. Pre-kids, my husband and I were avid garage sale shoppers. Now, our window collection is pretty extensive, and we even had quite a few that come in perfect sets of two, excellent for making matching side walls. You may not have access to this kind of collection, but keep in mind that there are other ways you can make your walls (think greenhouse plastic and some 2x4s). We also had a considerably large window, 5 feet tall and 5 feet wide that made our rooftop.

A bunch of spare lumber. We had about seven 8 foot 2×4′s from a prior project that we got started with. The 2×4′s, both on hand and then purchased, were used to make the majority of the framework. We also had a lot of hemlock wall trim from a house we used to live in, and used nearly all of that to frame out windows in the walls (more on that later).

A box of 3″ exterior decking screws and a box of exterior framing nails. The Hubs likes screws with a torx bit because they are great if you don’t want to predrill. The screws and nails together cost about $20.

So, now onto the build…and instructions for you.

Step 1: Determine the design.

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