I love gardenweb and the ideas you obtain from great gardeners!!! Thanks for the ideas, they're great. Some of the other ideas from Garden junk were about the same, an outline for a small garden or a smaller garden within my larger garden. Originally I was going to use it as a surround for a small tree and plant flowers that would flow over. But then I didn't want to line it with landscape fabric or anything black. Another great suggestion was a border for a small fire pit. I like the thought of using it as a planter though because as Ingrid said, it is a perfect match with the walls I'm working on. This idea just came to me as I was outside with my rambunctious mutts.....since I am working on an English "style" garden and this piece kind of looks like the top of a castle (sort of with the knobby things), what if I use stones to make a circle planter....raise it higher than my walls, maybe waist high and put this piece on top, so it looks like a castle. I can then plant a rose or two that will cascade over. Any thoughts on this idea? What would be a good rose....seafoam?

Kat, Those are adorable! Stars aren't only for Christmas time. You can just change the color of the bows to make them seasonal. Pastel colors for Spring, Red White and Blue for summer and then orange or brown for Fall. That makes a nice and easy, yet interesting year round display. It makes me wish we had saved ours after it rotted.

Yes, they are brass. The thrift shop throws away much nicer things than they have in the store. Saturday night, just before they closed, someone dropped off a big donation of several boxes of stuff and the workers set it all by the dumpster, because the dumpster was full. Most donations go to the dumpster. They have a distribution center that sends a truck every day, and their back room is crammed, packed full. Anyway, I brought home a truck load of stuff. A lot was bird houses and wooden novelties and lots of interesting jars and bottles. I kept a few bottles, one bird house that had the Texas flag on it, and gave the rest to a friend of mine who sells that kind of stuff anyway and is going to open a shop. I also got a nice braided rug and a cut glass (not pressed) bowl...it isn't a real old one, but it is very nice, despite 3 chips on the rim from being tossed in the dumpster. They aren't really obvious tho. I got a lot of other stuff...can't remember it all now. There were 2 sinks in there too, but they were rusted very badly around the drains. Oh, another thing I got was a little teapot made to be a trinket box. It was made by Baum Bros. and was in a box from Harrod's in London. The medical cabinet came from my favorite junk store. They had it sitting outside under a lean to, so fortunately, not damanged any more than it is. I am going to spring for another beveled glass for the door. It will be expensive, but will look best, in the end. I paid $70 for it.

The Perkiomenville Auction is still going -- every Monday year round. There are still dealers and the auction part. There are far fewer dealers than there used to be -- I would recommend if you are going to have a far drive to go on a holiday weekend like memorial day or labor day as that is the only time the auction is really hopping anymore. (Though the first few nice Mondays of spring are also bound to be crowded.) The deaers also don't seem to start as early as they used to -- used to be most dealers were there and set up by dawn. Now if I get there at 7 or 8 it is still empty -- people are rolling in to set up when I am leaving at 9. Again, though, the holiday weekends are an exception -- best to be early those days. I did figure out the auction tables thing - yes, you can pick through things left behind. Technically, though, I think you are supposed to offer money to the woman collecting money for the auctioneer for what you take -- I have seen her yell at people. But there are always a ton of people taking stuff and not being very subtle about it (they bring boxes and tote bags and load up) and no one seems to pay. I'm pretty sure that what gets left behind gets tossed unless the consignor comes back to get it (and most of it is like mildewy clothes and moldy books, etc. that you know no one is coming back for) so I guess it is better that people take it than it goes in a landfill somewhere. I have also bid on things at the auction - it is exactly like I described above - a crowd of people standing around an unorganized pile of stuff, while the auctioneer holds something up. Bidding usually starts at a dollar. The winning bidder hands over cash and puts his new item in a pile -- by the end of the auction, there are piles of people's wins all over the place. I have seen some really nice furniture go for very cheap (most of the other bidders are dealers looking to buy low for a profit, so it is not hard to outbid them if it is something you want for yourself.) But I have also seen them auction TOTAL junk -- furniture that is moldy or falling apart, broken glass patio tables, etc. In fact one day they auctioned a plastic covered cat litterbox that still had litter and cat poop in it. No, I am not kidding and no it did not sell LOL! I think they literally load the truck up at a house cleanout and bring it directly to the auction as is -- thus the litterbox full of poop etc. At one point, I was waiting around to bid on one oak schoolhouse chair that matched my kitchen chairs. The lot before it was 4 kind of ugly folding chairs from the 40s. When those didn't get bids, the auctioneer added my oak chair to the lot. I was the only bidder and got all 5 chairs for a dollar. I had no use for the 4 folding chairs and when a guy next to me saw that I was planning to leave them behind, he asked if he could have them and I gave them to him. I ended up with another chair for my kitchen table for the sum total of $1 and he ended up with 4 free folding chairs. So anyhow, that might be more than you wanted to know but there you go.