salvaged fan becomes a backyard table!

this big old orange thing might just look a bit familiar to you...
it's the industrial fan housing that i grabbed right outta' my neighbors' trash can
and turned into a pumpkin in a previous post.

honestly? the pumpkin project was an afterthought.
THIS was the reason i grabbed it before the trash truck arrived...
to make an accent table for our backyard fire pit area!
it was a simple assembly, using things i had on hand already
and it makes a world of difference in this area of our yard.

continue reading to see how just three simple elements created this table...

funky junky pumpkin!

this project has an interesting beginning:

i was taking our garbage cans out to the curb for pickup one morning.

and there at the curb was my neighbors' trash can...

with a fabulous, huge, ORANGE metal floor fan sticking out of it.

as i discovered upon further investigation, it was just a fan housing. no inner parts.

meaning the hard work had been done already - 

so how could i NOT snatch this thing up and repurpose it?!!!

especially when my whoooooole quarantine mission has been

to NOT spend money on craft or decor supplies. to just use what i have.

this thing shows up right in front of me, on my street. what am i supposed to do?!!!

i thought you'd agree.

so yes, in just a few seconds i did grab that fan housing right outta' his garbage can!

and i knew exactly what it was going to become...
last year, i made some junky fall pumpkins from similar salvaged metal parts.
and this version is even better!

continue reading to see several versions of 

the giant junk pumpkin that i made from it...

painterly pumpkins

it's been over 110 degrees where i live this past week. WAY over. ugh. 

this does NOT feel like fall, my friends. not. one. bit.

so, i've been hiding in my air conditioned studio to escape the heat.

i was tidying my studio and went to toss something away, 

when suddenly a flash of inspo hit... and these colorful pumpkins are the result. 

cute? yes! painterly? yes! made of trash? yes!!

[also: completely unplanned!!!] 

continue reading to see what i repurposed to make them!

ping pong paddle painted cacti

i sometimes see something online that inspires me, 
and i take the idea a bit further...

add or subtract or just let it jump-start my imagination,

and end up creating my own new version of something.

i thought i'd share this view of a past project with you today...
it was inspired by someone else's project, i took it further with my own idea,
and i shared the BACK side of it last fall.
(to be honest, i like this side the best!)

continue reading to see all of the prickly details of my faux cacti!

garden junk in the bathroom?!

you can't give a guest room a new look without foofing up the guest bath, too...

i completed that task using things i had on hand in a new way, and it didn't cost a cent!

one of the projects i completed for this quick makeover 

was a variation of something i've done before with a certain piece of junk.

the other was painting some fun and funky faux cacti - using a pretty unusual material. 

continue reading to see more!

faux succulent wreath & wall decor

 when it came to wall art in our newly 'refreshed' guest room, 
i re-thought the currently hot trend of 'basket groupings' on walls

and went with a grouping of repurposed rusty metal items instead.

resembling woven baskets, they give the room a 'boho' feel - in a unique way.

my take on 'modern boho style' is less earth-child hippie and a bit more mid-century in feel.

and there's a reason for that:

during my sophomore summer, one of my jobs was selling imported baskets at the swap meet -

it was a hot, sweaty, physical job that a friend and i did every weekend all summer long.

we had to drive a junky old 'three on the tree' van to the drive in, unload it,

set up displays of the baskets, and then sit there all day convincing people to buy them.

then we had to load up anything that didn't sell. it was exhausting.

the only redeeming quality of it was the paycheck and spending time with my friend.

so now i have an aversion to baskets being used as they were back then! (the late 70's)

i like this solution... and just wait until you get a closer look at those succulents!

continue reading to see all of the details and 'how-to's'...

repurposed wood crate entry decor

decorating with succulents and cacti is a hot design trend right now...
these easy-care, high-impact plants are making appearances 
in mod boho bedrooms and rustic farmhouse dining rooms,
as well as on back decks & front porches everywhere.

last summer, i was inspired by a very creative display idea at a store, 
so i re-created a budget version of it in our front entry, using succulents.
i never shared this project in a blog post, so it's time to make up for that.
(plus, it ties in beautifully to a whole new series of posts i'm prepping for August!)

continue reading for the details

faux painted bamboo mirror

 when we moved into this house four years ago,

our decorating modus operandi was truly 'use what you have'...

more than 90% of the furniture we used came from my mom's old house

(1% came from mine - my grandpa's dresser and my farmhouse table!)

the mirror we have in our entry hall came from the guest room at the last house,

where it matched a dresser with a 'bleached oak' finish.

honestly, i love the mirror here...

it bounces light from the kitchen into an area that is lacking light.

but mercy, the original frame! i just haven't been sure about what to DO to it.

i contemplated a simple black satin stain or paint finish at one point,

but ruled it out as being too dark for this area of our home.

then two days ago, a brainstorm hit, and in just a few hours 

that mirror was made completely new using a faux paint treatment.

continue reading to see more details - including the 'before and after' shot... 

scrap wood tikis

last winter, i created a lot of tropical & tiki decor
as part of our fun 'Happy HULA-days' Christmas theme.

you've seen posts sharing most of it appearing in our current summertime decor,
bringing a tropical vibe to our home and yard for us to enjoy
during this 'staycation' that is lasting a whole lot longer than anyone anticipated.

one of my projects during quarantine has been the front entry of our home...
which isn't a porch but a 'vestibule' - and is really hard to decorate.

i came up with a simple solution using last December's holiday entry decor:

continue reading to see how i re-used my own tikis made from scrap wood!

diy galvanized birdbath

while songbirds love to come and splash in our backyard salvaged galvanized bucket fountain,

i noticed that the tiny wrens and hummingbirds who visit us don't go near it.

perhaps the bubbling water frightens them, or the buckets are too deep for their use...

it seemed to me that a birdbath was called for.

i went looking around the yard and garage to see what we had that i could use to build one,

and found two items that combined perfectly for this project.

continue reading to see how to make a simple and easy birdbath for your garden!

repurposed wire lampshade mobile

wire has made an appearance in my projects on this blog many times,

from the various ways i have used wire tomato cages and wire lampshade frames,

to the simple crowns, cages, and domes i have fashioned from this inexpensive material.

earlier this summer, i grabbed some wire items that i've created in the past,

and combined them with wire lampshade frames and a few new finds

to create a whimsical wire mobile in my studio.

i love how it adds movement and color to the room

and because it's overhead, it takes up no space at all!

continue reading for the incredibly simple way it is suspended...

metal chair = magnet board!

a spur-of-the-moment solution to a project i'd been considering took over my weekend!
making a change to the black metal chair in this photo has been on my mind,
but i wasn't sure about the method. or the outcome. mostly, the permanence of it.
so it's been 'on the back burner' for awhile. um... years.
then a solution presented itself - and in less than ten minutes, i had done it!

continue reading to see the final colorful outcome of this crazy-easy undertaking,
and hear a tale about the chair in this photo. it's been on a journey to get to me...

tiki garden markers

in March, we worked on the raised herb garden in the backyard,
ordering plants online from our local nursery - who offered curbside no-contact pickup of our order
during our state's 'Shelter at Home' quarantine.
social distance gardening - who knew??!

the garden needed some plant markers,

so i came up with a way to utilize an item that we have a plethora of around here.
and that worked great - for awhile.
but with the recent infusion of tiki decor in our yard,
those original plant markers just didn't fit anymore. so i gave them a makeover!

continue reading to see their old and utterly ridiculous (and FUN!) new look!

repurposed tiki signs

these signs appeared in my past two posts... one for each recent project.

do they look familiar to you? they should - you've seen them before!

  i shared them LAST YEAR as part of our Happy HULAdays theme - but they didn't look like this.

when i wanted signs to accompany recent tiki projects in our backyard,

i knew these pieces would work perfectly... and with a little paint, they did!

it's just one more way i can decorate using what i already have here at home.

if i can use summer tiki decor at Christmastime,

then i can re-purpose my Christmas decor as summer decor!

continue reading to see the before & after shots (and find out a secret about them)...

a tipsy tiki totem pole

you may have seen the sign that says 'Tipsy Tiki Bar' in my last post...

that's connected to another recent 'restyle' of an old project.

a week before the tiki bar came into being, Mom had an idea for something else in our backyard.

she shared her idea with me, and i liked the fact that it was basically a way to re-use items

from our Happy HULA-days theme last Christmas.

i started noodling the 'how' of the project... and remembered a favorite feature at Disneyland.

yup. there's something there that my grandpa Ward helped to build in 1963

that we enjoy to this day, and that inspired this project!

continue reading to see how i re-used our Christmas decor!

build a backyard tiki bar in a sandbox!

you guys, i discovered that my kids actually listen to me!

i mentioned to two of my daughters that i was sad that i couldn't go to the beach (thank you, Covid19).

and do you know what they did? they sent me a backyard sandbox for Mothers' Day!!!

"now you can get your toes in the sand, Mom!" 

little did my darlings know that they were kicking off my first project of the summer...

one that caused us to re-think EVERYthing about our backyard.

because.... if you can't go TO Hawai'i, then bring Hawai'i to YOU!

 i recently shared my salvaged wood potting bench in this post. i built that last summer, 

then took it down and put all of the elements in other places.

well...... as the plan for the sandbox unfolded, i pulled all of it out again.

because you know me, i love to just keep making one thing into another....

continue reading to see how a sandbox and a potting bench became a TIKI BAR!

junk makeover: beachy wood signs

many many many vacations have been cancelled or rescheduled this year,

by many many disappointed people. myself included.

there were no planned excursions to Hawai'i this year for us,

but because it is a place that my Mom and Dad loved, and now i love,
it has a special place in our hearts. even if we can't GET there.

here's my take on that: if you can't go to the islands, then bring the islands to YOU!

and that's exactly what my Mom and i have been working on in our backyard.

continue reading to see just one of the recent projects we've undertaken
to add some tropical charm to our 'staycation location'...

salvaged junk potting bench

spring and summer bring out my green thumb,

and having a potting bench to plant, replant, and putter around on is a necessity.

me being me, though, i'm not about to spend money on one!

i'd rather create something that is 'one of a kind' that no one else has,

re-using the junk and salvaged stuff that's already around the house...

so when i spied an unused plywood table extension in the garage, 

my mind saw it as a component of a potting bench for our backyard.

so last year, i got to work on it - and because i wasn't blogging then, i never shared it here.

with gardens on everyone's mind right now, i thought it was time to remedy that!

continue reading to see what ELSE i dragged out there to build this useful diy piece...

painted books?!

oh, yeah, you read that post title right... PAINTED books!

now, before the book-loving librarians, historians, and antiquarians

start ranting at me - lemme' 'splain:

i bought these six large encyclopedias from a thrift store

for ten cents each. three years ago.

miscellaneous volumes circa 1950, with covers that were yellowed, aged, cracked leather.

perfect for the store display i was using them as props in!

but since then, they've languished in a box in the garage. just gettin' older.

my decision was to either recycle them - seriously, the library does NOT want them donated - 

or do something creative with them to make them useful again.

so i turned to my trusty friend, Paint.
turns out a MAYkeover was exactly what they needed! 

continue reading to see where they live now...

vintage door = inspiration board

while i love Pinterest as much as the next girl, i prefer the old school method...

an actual 3-D 'bulletin board', inspiration board, mood board -

whatever you want to call it. and the bigger, the better!

years ago, i had an old door that i turned into an inspiration board

by filling the window area with a large piece of modular ceiling tile.

(you know the kind that drops into the T-bar in the dropped ceilings of every office building?)

 it worked great - but that material is messy as heck. it's like styrofoam.

  

so when i undertook the same project again recently, i needed a new material to use.

turns out, i had what i needed in the garage!

 continue reading to learn how to create a bulletin/inspiration board, 

using an old door or window frame - or even a new window frame, or picture frame.