Welcome to my home! We have been busy checking things off our "to do list" and making our ideas come to fruition. We hope that by sharing these ideas with you it will ignite your own creativity!At the front door we had a very old and ugly Adirondack chair that just needed a good sanding and a few coats of colour to make it sit proudly. I think it makes for a welcoming place to rest after a busy day. I also have always wanted shutters on my home, much to my husband's dismay, so I took it upon myself to paint these old wood shutters to match my front door and I had them just leaning up against the window, ready and waiting for when Mike came home from work. I even had the tools out... what could he say!
Two easy paint projects that make my front door so welcoming! Thanks Honey!
We have a "make-do" attitude in our family, so we challenged ourshelved to try to make the yard beautiful using things we already own. Working this way is both good for the environment and our pocket book. To add interest in the front garden we have a concrete birdbath, slightly damaged, I found this years ago at a thrift store for $25! Behind the birdbath is a portion of a picket fence I found on the side of the road! One person's junk...
Something else I have always wanted was a climbing rose. I planted this one last year at the front door with visions of it growing along the front of the house. Well, this year it is growing alright! I am really not sure how to train it but for now we put up this trellis to keep the roses from growing under the roof line. I love the red flowers and how they match my newly painted red chair!
Welcome to the backyard. Here I put an old sign up on our shed and added old brackets to the door for interest.
Nothing beats a homemade birdhouse. "The house that junk built"!
We have a funny little garden under a tree in the back. I used reclaimed chimney bricks that we got for free to line the garden. In the garden we have some old rusty farm tools that we got from a garage sale and the birdhouse was found on dumpster day. I am a proud DDD...Dumpster Diving Diva!
A few years ago we built two raised vegetable gardens next to the shed. Not to complain, but the chicken wire fencing to keep the animals out was not too attractive, so this year I was inspired by a picture in a home and garden magazine. About 15 years ago, my girlfriend andI rescued an old fence from a burn pile and I just knew that I would someday need these treasured planks. Well, the day has come...I took out my table saw last weekend and ripped each and every board in two in order to recreate the photo and make pickets for a much more attractive fence to keep the animals out of my veggies! An over sized vintage garden gate allows me the ritual of entering my soon to be, bountiful vegetable plot with pride! Supporting the three "R"s, our pathway was also constructed out of reclaimed paving stones. I think the imperfections add nothing but character!
The back corner of the yard had a wonderful view of our neighbours over sized workshop and forklift that he so kindly left in his back yard, in perfect view from my kitchen!! One can only be so neighbourly...that view had to change! So, my "structure builder" Mike and I got to work. We created this great space with two double hammocks that enable the whole family to lay out to watch the night sky. It is my hope that the grapes we planted at each end will grow nice and thick!!! From lemons to lemonade!
Another way to reuse, recycle and to add interest to your garden is to use old windows, with or without the glass, they add colour and character.
This is a large township drain disguised as a birdhouse. Only you and I know what is underneath!
Along the side fence we've used an old iron bed, both the head and foot board grace this garden. There is another bedstead at the front of both raised veggie gardens. Iron beds also make for a great trellis! "Making do" lets a person give new life to a piece of history, flaws and all!
A little memento from a trip to the sunshine coast...driftwood. There are pieces of it here and there in the garden and when I look at it, it reminds me of our holiday. No two pieces are alike, each bent and shaped into unique pieces of art.
We saved this old trellis destined for the dump and hung it proudly to train a clematis
Another use for old windows is to hang them for privacy and to create outdoor rooms.
Around the fire pit we have this great bench! It feels just like you are camping. The day started as a family hike to walk the dog and ended up to be a search and rescue mission for two old logs and this cut log that we found deep in the woods of a public park that will remain nameless! It was very, very heavy and a long walk out of the woods but what we women won't do when we get an idea into our heads!
You can not just have a garden full of recycled finds...you need flowers! Thanks to some very special friends who shared their perennials with me, I have the pleasure of watching all sorts of little babies grow.
Another dream of mine was to look out my kitchen window and see flowers. We have been in this home for seven years and up until last week, I had a wonderful view of our neighbours shed and storage area. Well, since my "structure builder" Mike was purchasing lattice for the corner pergola, why not pick up an extra piece to create a trellis outside the kitchen window. Again, I had it painted and ready when he got home from work. The trellis is sitting just high enough to reach the neighbours roof line and completely block the shed. We added these two concrete fireplace pillars I purchased them from a concrete place going out of business. The guy could hardly believe that I would want them out of his discard pile, but I just knew that I had to have them. (I only had to wait a few years to use them) But I loved them the whole time! Mike also built me a planter box out of the old lumber we had left over from another project and I have planted two vines. I am sure I will have a wall of white flowers by the end of summer! We call this my "Secret Garden".
Sitting in my "Secret Garden" is this little guy and I am sure he is just busy thinking about new and creative ideas for the garden. What about you...any ideas for your garden?