Monday, June 18, 2012

Wooden DIY Privacy Screens

I've really got a large stash of wooden bed slats! You will recall I've mentioned that there's a furniture shop near my place that often throws out stuff like this:

 (Whyyyyyy?)

So I decided I'd make some privacy screens, to be placed on our porch, between my neighbour's house and ours.  Don't ask why because it involves dead plants, aquariums and fish ponds with fishless murky, green water, glass chips, 672 cigarette butts (no, I didn't count), a dead rat, dog poop... 

My husband, bless-his-heart, helped me with making these.

First, we had to pull out all the slats as the gaps between them were too big. That's like 672 nails to be yanked out (no, I didn't count).



Next, we re-arranged them closer together with unevenly-spaced gaps, and nailed them down.

 The base was also made with wooden slats.  Each base had four castors (I'm in love with castors - the first time I used them was on a trolley here:

 http://tree-shades.blogspot.com/2012/05/tongue-twisting-teal-tea-trolley.html)

 I wanted to be able to roll the screens around because I had exciting ideas of the many ways the screens could be used.


See the base turned over, with the four castors, up there? :)



Gee, all you need to do is attach a large basket on that and you could wheel grandkids around and no-I-am-not-hinting-for-any-sigh.

 We then made props at the back to hold up the screens.



We made four of these screens.

Loved them!  At this point I should have left them in their au naturel glory, but no... ol' Itchy Hands here had to go and paint them.

I painted them a very pale grey as I was afraid white would be blinding in the sun.

 

I sanded them to give them a worn, rustic look, a look I'm realising I love more and more.  Kinda like finding the genre of music you want to produce and finally settling on one (does one need to?) but that's another story.

A coat of polyurethane to protect them, and we were done.  I love them!  Now comes the time I play around with them.....I could add plants on the base -

I


I could poke plants through the gaps, just for decoration...

I could hang pop bottles filled with this crazy thorny plant growing in the wild (I loved the look of the berries) - which are probably poisonous, seeing how it loudly declares come-near-me-or-else.






I could think of so many ways to decorate the screens!

...and then...
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I get a message from church asking if I could help with some decoration for Father's Day.  So with the help of my friend LSY, we came up with this (thanks JDP, for the photo):
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I knew those screens would come in handy... :)



















25 comments:

  1. Wow, that is quite the project!! The screens came out really cool. Love that you got the bed slats for free, and re-furbished them....great for you and the environment! Can we see the neighbor's pond and dead plants? :-)
    And, thank you for your recent visit to my blog. I appreciate it.
    Cheers from DC,
    Loi

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  2. Loi Thai - fancy that, a comment from DC! Thanks so much..I really did want to post up photos of the neighbour's goings on but...let's just say it's not eye candy so...!

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    1. Yes, a new fan from DC! I especially love how handy and creative you are! BTW, your birdhouse turned out wonderful. Talk soon, Loi

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  3. Great job!Great ideas! :)

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    1. Thanks, Allana! And again, when are we meeting up?

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  4. Oh my! What an excellent solution to your problem .. and it not being a 'permanent fixture' too ... and at a fraction of what it may have cost your initial plans .. you are one great creative woman ...well done, one of your best DIY jobs ...

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    1. Ardent fan - I have one? Yay! Yep, not sure if I wanted them to be not permanent or just wanted to be able to roll them around for fun, hahaha!

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  5. Glad you got rid of the 672 nails. Looks like it is loving project for husband & wife . .. a good one, too. So, what's next ?

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    1. You didn't count, did you? Several projects done, just not blogged about yet. And several in my head :)

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  6. Is it for SALE? or RENT? But really it a splendid idea for making your porch look grander. Well done...can't wait for another one of those ideas up in your sleeves. You really know how to make people happy.

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    1. It made ME happy...I don't need to look at the goings-on next door anymore.

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  7. I love the Father's day decor, why did I not come back a week early to see this (snif snif). I have seen the screens in person and they are great!!! Can't wait to see your next big project. And by the way, you will make amazing grandparents, for now Kayla, Dom and many others are great practise (wink wink)

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    1. Sandra, you're back!!!!!!! grandparents? neh...not hinting, not hinting at all...

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  8. Great job ... again. You are so creative and hardworking too. Keep it up!

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  9. Such a creative way to reuse the slats. I love the way you displayed the plants on them. Well done!

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  10. My husband and I have wanted to make a wall that would be portable...Thanks for the design...Blessings, Becky

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    1. Becky, ooooo....please improve on my very crude work and show me, show me!

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  11. Hey, i juz saw your latest project, those privacy screens are superb, i like esp. the indoor ones, very useful. Great idea!

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    1. loke mei kuen, oh I am honoured with your compliment. Thank you! I have so many things I want to make but not enough energy for them...sigh.

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  12. Ohhhh, I can totally see some sunshine word art on these!! Great screens. :)

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