Some ideas for the Yard and Garden

Back to main Trash to Treasure Page

If you found a project particularly inspiring please email me.


Linda Smith of The Blue Gate in Wills Point, Texas. Made these great Bird Baths from old Light Fixtures. She told me that she didn't need to drill any holes. She bought the ones with holes already in them. You can also see that she added Crystals on them. They are oh-so-sweet, and a Quick Project for your wildlife. You can see more of Linda's wonderful one of a kind garden accessories at Canton Trades Day in Canton Texas, or on her web site here

Here's mine

The hardest part of this project, and most of my quick projects, is finding the supplies. For this project, you'll need to look for a light fixture with 3 holes already in it. Many were made like this and they come in many different styles and even colors. Once you have your light fixture the rest is easy. For mine I simply cut 3 pieces of wire, threaded them through the holes, added glass knobs and twisted the wire below. Then I gathered the 3 pieces, twisted them together at the top and fashioned a hook. This project can be used as a bird bath, Bird feeder or even a candle holder indoors. For a little extra sparkle you could hang prisms below the knobs.



Jennifer's old mail box planter


Pam's birdhouses

"I love your blogspot I look at your projects all the time.. I love old items and junk myself and I wanted to show you some of my birdhouses that I build you will see where alot of my junk finds go."


rosepetal from Garden Web

Dress up an old chicken feeder with seasonal Plants.


Steve Baran makes these wonderful birdhouses and benches out of reclaimed items. Steve recently told me about his scavenging.

"I use only old fence and barn boards. Most of my metal comes from a really cool old aqueduct system in the Tonasket, WA area. Tonasket is a fairly dry place. Most of the system is fallen down and some sections have burnt in wild fires - leaving only the metal behind). The metal weathers in all sorts of manners. From what I can gather it is an iron/copper alloy. Due to Tonasket's arid climate the metal seldom weathers through and the colors/patterns are not things that will wash off. Different stuff was used to water proof it too which just adds to the various colors I find it in. I have friends up there and we trek off up hillsides to haul the sheets down by hand (full sheets are roughly 3' x 5'). That's the most fun I have with making my birdhouses - finding cool old stuff that lends itself to a particular feature or use on my designs."

Steve and his wonderful birdhouses and benches will be at The Bigfork Festival of the Arts, August 4 & 5.

Contact: Steve Baran
FOWL PLACES
27303 N. Riverway Road
Chattaroy, WA 99003
509 238-2896


Check out John's Extreme Birdhouses

John Writes
I just recently started selling them a few months ago. My yard has enough of them now. lol I have had 7 articles including the May issue of Canadian Home Workshop magazine done in the last 2 months so they are just starting to get some attention now.

I also want to attempt to set a world record for building the worlds largest log birdhouse next year. There is no record for such a thing, yet. It is over 9 ft wide and over 8 ft high and made from 150 year old barn wood. I have about 4 or 5 days left on it to finish it.




DO NOT USE PROPANE TANKS FOR YARD ART OR OTHER T2T PROJECTS

This is re-posted from the Garden Junk Forum. making cute animals out of old Propane type of tanks is real popular right now. Please read this and DO NOT USE PROPANE TANKS FOR YARD ART OR OTHER T2T PROJECTS.

"If this will save a life it will be worth the read: I emailed my friend who does metal art inquiring the safety of cutting propane tankes...Take HEED.. DO NOT cut on a propane tank. There is no safe way... About 8 yrs. ago, I was cutting on a propane tank with my band saw. I had water running into it for about 30 min. Valve was out. I turned my back and was walking away and it blew. Cost a bunch to fix my saw and replace a window. I was lucky I was turned away when it went. Pig pots like that are hot right now. That is not a propane tank on the pig. Propane tanks do not have seams."


Bec4 had a backless chair and came up with this clever idea.


Linda's Found Object Bird Houses

See more of Linda's projects here

Some tips from Linda

Large tin snips work pretty well to cut them (the license plates). You can also cut them by 'breaking' them. I have 2 pieces of angle iron that can be bolted together. I score the plate where I want the break, put it between the angle irons (these are bolted to a table edge), then bend it back and forth till it breaks. This is a cheesy metal bender. If you know someone who works with metal, they may have an easier way. The plates also cut pretty easily with a metal cutting blade in a jigsaw. You can clean up the edges with sandpaper or a grinder. The plates drill very easily with a regular drill. It helps to make a ding where you're going to drill. Just hit a big nail with a hammer. It will make an impression so the drill doesn't dance around. Sometimes it helps to drill with a smaller bit, then larger. You can buy drill bits for metal. Careful when you're drilling metal. Sometimes it catches and spins. Clamping it down is a good idea. Wearing gloves might prevent a nasty cut.


I love this picture from Tina56. There are really 2 projects here. The birdhouse with the tin roof, and the shelf with the 3 little pots. What a great alternative to a window box, and easy to change with the seasons.. The birdhouse uses several reclaimed Items, I see the tin roof, and an old door knob, Old gingerbread, and spindle for the stand. What great projects.


Ideas from the 3rd weekend Tyler Area Flea Market

<

Left This old chair has been turned into a fountain and a birdhouse,


This birdhouse doubles as a fountain


Jamie A submits this fountain project

Material List:
Fountain pump
Old Spicket
2' of copper
1 90 with male and female ends
1 90 with two female ends
Flex tubing

"All you do is drill a hole in the bottom of the can about 5 or 6 inches up from the bottom, you will also need a hole right above the first one for the wire to come that runs the pump; however the wires will need to be spliced at the plug in order to keep the hole small. Then you will need to run the plumbing up the outside of the backside of the can. The flex tubing will connect the pump to the copper and will need to be fed into the copper (the tubing does not need to go up the whole piece of copper just enough for it to stay in place) You just need enough water in the bottom of the can so that the pump is covered and it will recirculate the water. "


2 variations on the tipsy pot idea, One is table top and the other is hanging.

I've received several requests for instructions on making the tipsy pots. I found a blog with great instructions, read instructions here



Reader Contributions

kudzukween's Projects, kudzukween from Ivillage, garden web

The bugs were just old bottles and I used wire to make wings and antenae. I used pliers to twist the wire tight,and wrapped wire around a screwdriver to make curly features for the bugs. I dug through the tool box to find different pieces that might work for a bug. I glued flat marbles on for eyes on some of them, I had to tape them on til the glue set. I don't know what gauge the wire was.

bottlebugs


Donna from Garden Web tells how she made this Teapot birdhouse.

"I drilled a hole in the back of the teapot to mount it to a board. Then I used GE Silicone II to glue the lid to the teapot. Then just screwed the board to my privacy fence. It was real simple to do and it looks really cute."

*****

Cindee shows her version with a metal teapot.

******************************

Rosepetal over at garden web shares these ideas
******************************

Cindee over at the Garden Web has a page with her wonderful yard creations. I'll picture a few here but you'll need to visit her site

to get the full impact of her wonderful garden and imagination.

******************************

Rosemary's "Flower Bed" and Flower chair

******************************

added 7/4/07

sistersunny made this great birdhouse from re-claimed items

******************************

I Love this project

cheribelle from GardenWeb tells the story of her Gazebo

This gazebo was built by me with some help from DH. The top is a 10 ft fiberglass satelite dish. I bought the 4X4 posts that hold it up. The rest was a porch my friend had taken off her house when she remodeled. Funny story. The carpenters she had hired to build her new wrap-around porch took the old one off and loaded it on my trailer for me. When I hauled it off they looked at me like I'm nuts. Then later, they came into the resteraunt where I was working. They recognised me and asked "What are you going to do with that old porch?" I said I'm going to build a gazebo. Professional carpenter says to me " A gazebo, huh? Those are cool, but really tricky." I said Nah, I have a plan. The look on his face was priceless, a waitress telling a professional carpenter she can build a gazebo??? To funny. heeheehee He has NO clue I have been using power tools and remodeling things for 25 years :0) The copper trellis on the front is one of my designs, one of many I have built. You can sort of see the bottle tree in the back, and the horse planter I just put in. We are still working on the broken concrete patio, lots of old stuff on this old farm place to work with, just takes time and WORK.

******************************

Garden Sheds Hall of Fame by the Empress of Dirt. These are some great and artful sheds, worth taking a peak.

Metal Works

This is yard art made by Jeff Brown, who sells at the Canton Tx Flea Market. He uses old lawn tools to make great little animals.
You can contact at 405-912-0948, He's in Norman Oklahoma

******************************

These are from a different Canton Artist


Table of Contents:

Main Projects Page

T2T Furniture Ideas

New life for old luggage

Projects with old shutters

Projects for old windows and doors

How to make lamp from almost anything

Projects for Old Balusters, Spindles, and Porch Posts

Garden Benches from Old Beds and Cribs

Quick Projects

Past Projects/Artists of the week

Budget Decorating Ideas

Decorating with Baskets

Fun & Games

Decorating with Collections

Decorating with Music and Instruments

Outdoor, Garden & Yard Projects

Reader Projects and Everything Else

Trash to Treasure Jewelry

My store

Questions & Answers

Links and Blogs

Cleaning and Organization Ideas

My Garage Sale Stories

My Workshop and Barn

Image Gallery