Finally! A Garden Bench Wannabe!

13 years ago

Hi Everyone! If you saw my posts earlier this summer, our neighbors moved to Phoenix and gifted us with truckloads of treasures...the NICEST people! Well, one of their last "gifts" was a workbench that he had made.

I spent the afternoon repurposing the bench. I soooo wanted to post a picture but will wait until I have a completely finished bench. As you can see by the before picture, there are 2 enamelware pans and 3 old refrigerator doors from an old store which I found at a salvage yard for $5 a piece (wish I would have bought more!)...

Well, I chose the bigger enamelware pan (flattened out the rim so it fit nicely)... I cut a hole in the top of the bench and inserted the pan. I added the 3 doors to the top back so I'll have lots of space to hang things.

I went to my favorite country thrift store today and found the coolest antique metal shelf brackets. I added those along with some rusty metal pieces I shared in the past!

I can't wait to show you the finished product!!!! Our neighbors left us LOTS of paints and stains (and brushes too!) so I will stain it all and show you soon!!!!

That's our 3 year old son Benjamin in the picture! He follows me around when I'm doing my many projects! I love that! Stay tuned in the coming week for my finished potting bench...what I have done so far has made this my favorite garden junk project ever. Can't wait to share! I am always inspired by your many ideas!

Bear Hugs! Kirk

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (15)

kirkus
Original Author
13 years ago
Oh, I need to add that the refrigerator doors fit perfectly when I put them side by side on the back. Then I added an old wooden ladder pieces to the back for support. It was the exact perfect length! This project was meant to be! :o) Can't wait to share!
jeannespines
13 years ago
"AN....TI....CI....PATION!" (with such a great helper, you should be done soon! Love that sweet smile!) TFS! Jeanne S.
Related Discussions
Wanna-be cottage gardener seeks advice
Q
Comments (9)
Rebecca, You have a great garden already! And I love your house. It is a true cottage. My suggestions are not really about planting, becoz I think you have that concept already. If you love plants, as I think you do, you should check out the winter sowing forum becoz many of us cottagers use that method to get lots of plants cheaply and gives us a fun thing to do during winter. I think that there are a couple of things you could do to get that true wild cottage look. One would be to paint your house a brighter color. You might not be inclined to do it, but it is just a suggestion. The other thing is to change the sidewalk to the house. Notice Libby's gardens. The paths are meandering and the garden beds are larger. You are restricted by the small size of the foundation beds due to the way the sidewalk comes in. You could continue the bed you made on the other side of the sidewalk and make large beds on either sides of the entry. The entry is great, I love the brick landing. You would have to tear up the straight sidewalk, and come out more directly from the landing with some sort of stepping stones or something (you can do this cheaply, just look around for the right inexpensive stepping stones). I hope I'm making sense. This would bring the garden out to the front yard more, put a bench or 2 comfie chairs out there. An advantage is having less lawn to care for. Also, you can add garden art or birdbaths or gazing balls, that can give you height while the plants are taking hold. You can put a little trellis and vine in there somewhere to give you height. A quick annual vine in summer or a perennial vine, whatever. Good luck with all your projects. Laurie
...See More
Finally....a few pictures of the garden :)
Q
Comments (36)
LL, How wonderful to get up this morning and look at your beautiful garden pictures. The evening shots are so ethereal and inviting. They make me miss my gardens at the ranch where I too had my horses following along the fence line watching everything I did. I completely understand the weed situation and I know first hand how country weeds in bare land can take over and smother the plants you placed. The only answer is mulch and lots of it at least 4 inches deep. If you are not planting seeds a goodly amount of Preen can also help but if I remember correctly you are a chemical free gardener. I used to buy 10 bags of mulch each month from the farm store in town all through the year so that each spring as things began to come up I could clear the areas and mulch them well. I also had opportunities with the state folks who cut trees to have loads of mulch dumped at the ranch or they'd give me a heads up when they had left a pile along a highway somewhere and I could go load it in a pick-up to carry home. Weeding will still be required after this but it will be minimal in comparison to what you are dealing with now. What you are doing is back breaking and frustrating, I know. The gardens are beautiful, wonderful in fact and I personally love the spreading Feverfew as it adds a feeling of open meadow to the overall look. It looks natural and that is very difficult to achieve in open country. Bravo, my dear! MeMo
...See More
Plunker , wannabe planner
Q
Comments (68)
That is a great photo! And I thought my cats were weird! I used to have one who totally camped out on the coffee table too! Now I've got a toddler who thinks it's her personal dancing platform! how quickly they go from this: to this: haha
...See More
Wannabe Vegetable Gardener Musings
Q
Comments (60)
Just thought I'd update the thread a little... The tomatoes have been pretty much a bust so far this year...the wet, hot summer has been conducive to ripening tomatoes rotting on the vines. The tomatoes coming on the indeterminate vines now that are higher up show a bit more promise being as they look more healthy. I've tried to keep the lower parts of the vines clear. Okra is producing. Zipper cream cowpeas are producing well...the bright spot in the garden, so far!!! Small bell peppers continue to supply us with what we can eat. The cucumbers suffered from Downy Mildew and then the pickle worms arrived...did not get much of a harvest from them, though everything was planted late so didn't have much time between starting production and the time that DM and the pickle worms arrived. Squash struggled and now pickle worms...again, late planting didn't help them. Watermelons are just now setting fruit. Cantaloupe actually look pretty good for the few hills that I planted...looks like we've got about a dozen melons growing. It's a learning experience, that is for sure!!! Where we started...and where we're at today...
...See More
kirkus
Original Author
13 years ago
Just noticed Ben's shoes on the wrong feet! LOL! He's dressing himself now and so proud of it! Off to work on my potting bench! :o) Bear Hugs! Kirk
luvs2click
13 years ago
Tee hee! Shoes on the wrong feet were the first thing I noticed - love it! Can't wait to see the finished product!
Arlene
luna_llena_feliz
13 years ago
I can't wait to see the finished bench! What you have looks very sturdy and strong.

And Ben sure is getting big! He's not a baby anymore. I didn't even notice his shows on the wrong feet. lol What a cutie!
Marlene Kindred
13 years ago
YOU are such a tease Kirk!! NEED TO SEE!!! Looks like it will be a great potting bench. And that Ben is such a doll! Too funny about his shoes...my DD did that too for a while.

HURRY UP already!! 8D
kirkus
Original Author
13 years ago
Had to go back to my favorite country thrift store today to buy more iron pieces for this project. I'm adding a shelf on top to store things...also bought some iron doodads to hang my tools from. When I attached the wooden ladder pieces to the back, I saved the rungs from the wooden ladder. I attached these to the sides to hold towels. This project is so much fun! I have been so inspired by all of the potting benches posted lately. (Thank you!) I'm struggling with what color to paint/stain the potting bench... I did several swatches on the back and will go back and look as to what's my favorite... Can't wait to share! Bear Hugs! Kirk
Purplemoon
13 years ago
FANTASTIC project!! And definitely a "meant to be". You collected such neat things to put together! I can't wait to see the finished product.

As for BenBear...I love him to pieces!

hugs, Karen
sunnyca_gw
13 years ago
Little Ben is getting to be a big boy & daddy's helper too! Good bones as they say so should be a great potting bench with lots of useful extras. Can't wait to see the finished bench!! Jan
bverste
13 years ago
Very creative, but I was unsure when you were talking refigerator doors--I was picturing a sears or frigidare, but those look to be wooden doors, so help me understand, why are they refrigerator doors?
kirkus
Original Author
13 years ago
When I bought the doors from a housing salvage yard, they told me they were pulled from an old store's refrigerator units. I remember doors like these when I was younger when we bought our bottles of soda pop at a neighborhood store. The front part of the unit was glass with the doors in the back. They're heavy and have metal pieces on the back plus insulation tubing along the edges. Oh, what memories...I remember having to pull on the doors hard as the suction was so strong...and the sound of the doors closing... Those were the days... If theses doors could tell a story.
excessfroufrou
13 years ago
What a great project, it's going to be super. That's funny about going back to the junk store, when DH and I are working on something (a trellis this last weekend) we are constantly running back to the hardware store for something. Luckily we have an Ace right around the corner. Frou
kirkus
Original Author
13 years ago
I finished the potting bench tonight...I am pooped. :o) I am sure my wife wonders if I am even around! LOL Took all day to stain the various pieces. I added a shelf...found a piece of scrapwood in a free pile in our nearby town. Guess what? THE PERFECT LENGTH! I mentioned that I attached ladder rungs on the sides...didn't even have to cut them down. This project was meant to be. It's too dark now but I'll take some pictures tomorrow and post them on the forum. Bear Hugs! Kirk
Marlene Kindred
13 years ago
You are SO right....this was definitely meant to be!
luvs2click
13 years ago
Well, Kirk, where is it?? I've been waiting all day. Sure you're in a different time zone and are 3 hrs. behind us on EST, but it is now 1:00 in the afternoon there - the sun has been up for quite some time now......Why are you making us wait?? LOL!

Finally! A Garden Bench Wannabe!

Comments (15)

kirkus
Original Author

jeannespines

Related Discussions

kirkus
Original Author

luvs2click

luna_llena_feliz

Marlene Kindred

kirkus
Original Author

Purplemoon

sunnyca_gw

bverste

kirkus
Original Author

excessfroufrou

kirkus
Original Author

Marlene Kindred

luvs2click

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Finally! A Garden Bench Wannabe!

Comments (15)

kirkusOriginal Author

Related Discussions

kirkusOriginal Author

kirkusOriginal Author

kirkusOriginal Author

kirkusOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

kirkus
Original Author

kirkus
Original Author

kirkus
Original Author

kirkus
Original Author

kirkus
Original Author