19 Incredible DIY Garden Structures

Since we are building our cocoon of trees in the backyard to shield us from the dogs that seem to be multiplying on all sides of us at an alarming rate, we have been tackling many an outdoor gardening project.  I am hoping that eventually, out of this cocoon, our backyard will emerge a butterfly. We will see. I just potted up a 20 inch pot with some grasses, coleus, and impatiens and it is filling in our one big gap nicely. I also made a Bamboo Trellis to help my poor wisteria become less mangled and posted it on Hometalk. 

 Hometalk is an amazingly creative and diverse community online where you can get advice about projects around your home or post projects that provide inspiration to others in the community. It is similar to other sites in that you can create clipboards of similar projects to help you stay organized.

The great thing about this site is that you DO NOT need to be a blogger or have a website to post! 

~Anyone can do it~

If you have read this blog for about a minute, you know that I love re-purposed items anywhere you can get them but they really seem to lend their usefulness in the garden. On Hometalk, I found lamps remade into totems, branches into an obelisk, old pool deck steps re-purposed into a vertical planter, doors into a fence.....an old camper turned into a potting shed(...gotta get me one of those!)

If you click on the graphic above it will take you directly to my clipboard and you can click through each of these projects. 

(The cool title was added by Hometalk. They are snazzy like that!)

What are you waiting for? 

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!

Read more at http://diyshowoff.com/2013/04/01/that-diy-party-10/#xgMAcRCgRocl5vmh.99       

 

 

RoomMates Decor Decals Feature

Just wanted to let you all know to go check out RoomMates Decor website. They featured my cherry blossom bureau on their blog!

Nicole, from RoomMates, found this dresser on Pinterest and recognized their decal and asked if they could highlight it. Of course I said Yes!!

This is the during of the dresser makeover with RoomMates Cherry blossom decal. The beauty of the decals is that they come in separate pieces so you can create your own design.  

Not only does this give you more say in how you want the finished product to look, but it if you have ever fussed with decals, the smaller the better!

Decals are much more manageable for placement and accuracy when they are in smaller bits. 

I only used about 1/4 of the available branches for this dresser. And I even went further and sliced up portions so that they fit together they way I liked and then painted over the stencil. A few pluses to this product. I re-positioned a few branches several times in order to get the look I wanted and the decal did not lose it's adhesion at all. If you were using this on a wall then, this is an absolute necessity and greatly appreciated. But when you are ready to remove it, will it harm it or the paint because it stuck so well? Nope. When it was time for me to remove the stencil to reveal the wood, the stencil came right off, did not leave any residue, and left my paint job intact! These are things that I think are look for in a product and have value to me. I will use these decals again in a heart beat.

And if you go to their website, they also show all the ways their decals have been used or could be used. It is a great starting point for someone new to using decals or if you just want to look for inspiration.

Who knew decals could be used so many ways! The good people at RoomMates do!

Well, the good people at RoomMates are soooo awesome they are giving away a decal of YOUR choice, up to a $60 value. Which is a lot of decal.

Did you know that they also have wallpaper?? I did not and I spent a little too much time on the website checking it all out instead of doing laundry...

And I don't feel guilty one bit. 

So go to check out their wares and then get right back here and

 enter to win people!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

No, I did not get paid for this...I just think they are cool!

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!

Read more at http://diyshowoff.com/2013/04/01/that-diy-party-10/#xgMAcRCgRocl5vmh.99       

 

 

Hollywood Regency End Tables

Ready for some eye candy?

Finally got around to reposhturing these awful tables into something 

worth talkin' about!

These were found on the trash on the way home from piano lessons about a year and a half ago. They got stuffed in the basement and promptly forgotten about. Unearthed them when we had to clean up the basement recently and they came to light once more.

Shazam! Did they need a major overhaul.

See they are even dated so you know I'm not lying to you! I had visions of keeping that top like it is cuz' I find it kinda funky and fun but couldn't figure out a color that would go with it. I guess that is why it languished under piles of pallet wood....

Then I had another Shazam! moment and decided to silver leaf the tops and just the tips of the legs and my Hollywood Regency End Tables were born.

I sanded, primed and painted the frame first, then taped off the edges and added the sizing ( that's silver leaf speak for "glue"). Once the sizing was tacky, I started in the middle and just added my squares of leaf one at a time, towards the edges.

Use a soft bristle brush to adhere it gently and when all of the squares are on, use a more firm hand with the brush to push it into the surface. Brush all of your shavings off and poly with Polycrylic so that nothings yellows over time.

Have you ever tried silver-leaf? Will this make you want to try? Do you think a detailed tutorial would be a good idea?

Let me know in the comments section.

For some more leaf projects that I've done see Copper-Leaf Drop Leaf table and my Faux Mercury Lamp Bases

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!

Read more at http://diyshowoff.com/2013/04/01/that-diy-party-10/#xgMAcRCgRocl5vmh.99