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