Mom's bench...

Hi Everyone!  I hope your week is going well.  I was able to work out in the shop yesterday and managed to get a lot of things done.  I wanted to show you what my mom did with the bench I made her for Mother's Day.  Here's the unfinished cedar bench I made for her.  You can check out the full story here.

 In case you missed it, it was made entirely out of reclaimed cedar that either my grandpa saved from the farm or that had been given to be by my aunt Barb (the wood for the pickets).

 And here it is after my mom painted it to match her front door.  The birdhouses are removable for easy painting.

 I also made her the tall birdhouse in the middle of the bench a few years back.  It was originally white with a black roof.  She updated the paint on the roof to match.  Mom has a few more things to go on the bench but she didn't have time to get them out.

 Here's the other bench at her front door.  I did not make this bench.  But I did make the really tall birdhouse with the picket roof and picket fence around the base.  The base was also made from cedar from the farm that my grandpa saved.  The base is really heavy and has a few bricks inside of it.  I did that so it would stay standing and not blow over when it's windy.

The view from the street.  I really like how she painted her benches to match the front door.  They really stand out from the street.  I think she called it Indian Summer Red.  It looks great and she did a really great job painting it.  Thanks for stopping by.

Gift for my mom...

Hi Everyone!  I hope you all had an enjoyable Mother's Day.  I did some work out in the shop today and then I went to my parents to spend some time with my mom.  The first thing I did for my mom was to buy and plant flowers in her raised brick flower bed.

 They will look much better when they adjust to being there and grow a bit.  But it's a nice start.

At this point, Mom thought this was her gift.  But I had to borrow the pick-up truck and head back to the farm for the second part of her gift.

 This is what I made for her for in front of their house.  It is made entirely out of reclaimed/recycled cedar.  I didn't spend a penny on this.  The reclaimed cedar was in the barn (thank you Grandpa for saving it) and my brother moved it to my wood shop (the old wooden corn crib) about 6 years ago.  I've used some of it to build my sister-in-laws bench but I've been saving all of it for something really special.  I decided to use it for my mom since it was from the farm that my mom grew up on.

 I added the birdhouses to the end posts since my mom loves birdhouses.  The back looks like an old picket fence, but it wasn't.  I got the cedar boards from my aunt and cut them down to make this. 

 The seat is made thick and solid.  It's an actual 2" x 13" piece of board.  They don't cut them like that anymore.

 The birdhouses are removable so they can be painted a different color then the bench easily.  I didn't drill the hole completely through either since my mom doesn't want a bird to try to move in.  It's just indented so she has a place to glue the nesting to.

And here it is out in front of my parents home.  I gave it to her unfinished because I didn't know how she would want to finish it.  I didn't know if she'd want to stain it or paint it or what color.  I think she's going to paint it to match the front door.  And then paint the birdhouses a different color.  So I'll have to wait to show you the finished product.  And I can't wait to she how she finishes it.  Thanks for stopping by.

Linking to:
Catch-as-catch-can-74 @ MyRepurposedLife

Garden art....

Hi Everyone!  Happy Wednesday evening!  I'm sorry I've been MIA the last few days but you know how life sometimes gets in the way of blogging!  My allergies have been keeping me down and out.  And it didn't help when I mowed the yard on Monday.  As some of you may know, I live on a farm and it takes me 3 hours to mow the yard (just the main yard around the house and near the road) and that's on a riding John Deere mower!  I couldn't imagine if I had to push the mower.  And I've been busy with the puppies.  One sweet girl puppy has gone on to her forever home.  She left on Sunday with a very nice young man.  I think she's going to have a good home with him!

So I wanted to show you one of the things I made earlier for the flower garden.  It's made from recycled boards that were cut to look like they came from a picket fence.  And you all know how much I love bird houses.....

The pictures just don't do it justice.  But I really like how it turned out.  It looks old and that's the look I was going for.  Well, thanks for stopping by.

A birdhouse that makes a statement...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Thursday!  Here's a look at the tall birdhouse I made for my mother.  It is about 5 1/2 feet tall (including the base).  The birdhouse is made from cedar.  The roof is kind of hard to see but it's from a small cedar picket fence that you use around shrubs or flowers that I recycled.  The same pickets are used to make a fence around the base of the stand.  The stand is made from recycled barn boards from my farm and is filled with bricks to help weigh it down.

It sits at my parents front door and my dad has to move it on a hand truck when they put it away for the winter.  But it does make a statement and looks great from the street.  And no one in their neighborhood has one like it!  Well, thanks for stopping by.

Birdhouses...

I have a thing for birdhouses. I love to make them. And so far they are big sellers in the shop. I wish I had taken a picture of every birdhouse I've made, but I haven't. So I'll just share a few of them with you.


This was a special order wren house that my client wanted painted black.
These are birdhouse stakes that go in the ground as decoration.

This is a birdhouse that I made and my mother decorated. It's hard to tell, but it has a plaid roof and sits on a recycled spindle that was given to me when a friend took their porch down. I love recycled items, especially when they are free!

I made this birdhouse for mom's deck. In fact I have given her two birdhouses that look just like this. One for the front of her home and one for the deck. She has a thing for birdhouses too.

Here's a grouping of birdhouses from my very first craft fair. I sold all of them except for the large middle one....

because I made it for my mom.

It sits on the floor in her bathroom, most of the time.

I made this super tall birdhouse last fall and sold it at a craft fair. This was the only picture I could find of it. It has a black crow at the top and a wooden welcome sign.

I like birdhouses so much that I finally made a few for myself. This one resembles my home. I sits in the side yard at the edge of my patio. It's almost my favorite one.

But this one is my favorite. It is four sided and sits atop a post in my north yard. I took it down for the winter because there is so much wind on the north side I was afraid it made get blown down, so that's why it's sitting on the planter box. I need to put it back up now that the weather is getting nice. Do you like birdhouses, like I do? Well, thanks for stopping by.