Kettles Turned Planters

So how did I get into this?  It started out merely as a necessity, this fixing things myself (DIY) around the house.  Then I went on to refurbishing furniture pieces as my Mum wanted to get rid of some of them.  In the meantime, I kept finding discarded stuff that was still useful, and giving them a makeover.  Now people want to buy some of my things.  The thought tickles me!                                                                                    

I had bought (yes, bought) these two old metal kettles 'cos I saw their potential.  Someone had seen my earlier conversions of some of them and wanted them as planters as well, one in blue and one in green.  Here are the steps.  It's really quite simple!                                                                                                            

                                                                                     

1.  Take a Before-photo (for me, 'cos I blog.  For you, so you can show your friends how ugly they started out
2.  Wash them with soapy water and sand off as much of the soot and muck as possible.
3.  Hammer a large nail to makes holes at the bottom, so the plant has drainage.  Personally I would not grow a plant directly into the kettle as I don't know if it will slowly rust and affect the soil. I'd rather put a pot inside.  Take photo.

4.  Paint first coat of primer (for metal) all around.  Take photo.  Leave to dry in the sun (meantime, check facebook :)

5.  Then paint primer on the base.  Take photo.  Leave to dry (meantime, have breakfast that you forgot).

6.  Then using the hammer, hit flat the jagged edges of the holes that you made earlier, inside.  This, so it does not hurt anyone who is trying to fill or clean it ('cos I'm a forevermum who thinks of these things).  Of course this step should have been done before painting any primer.  Take photo.

                               

7.  Oops.  Forgot the photo before this stage, which is, paint the handle black.  Leave to dr-. (start writing blog post).
8.  Paint the body with one coat of coloured paint.  Leave to d- (reply whatsapp message).
9.  Paint base.  Leave to --- (meantime, put laundry out).

10.  Second coat of colour.  Leave t.d. (meantime, cut finger nails).  Take photo.
11.  Second coat of colour on base.  L.t.d. (wash some laundry by hand).
12.  Spray lacquer.  L.t... (wash dishes in sink...nehhh...husband likes to do that).
13.  Spray second coat of lacquer.  L. (you know the drift?).  Meantime, water plants on porch.
14.  Wait to next day 'cos you're done for the day.  Next day, fill up with different plants until satisfied, for 'modelling' the After-photo (you can even hang the planter since the kettle has a handle). Take photo. Send photos to customer for approval.
15.  Upload photos and finish blog.

Simple enough? :)


BEFORE

 AFTER

Now dolled up....
           

 

                    

 It is really hard for me to part with my pieces after I make them.                                                               

 (*weeping quietly).                                                                                                                                   

Wheelbarrow Rustic Love

For the longest time I have wanted to make an all-wood wheelbarrow!  I do not have a garden so, one on my front porch with potted plants will be so charming.  Then I see pictures like this and I go, "That's it! I'm making one even if I don't know how to!"                                                                                               

                                               This picture is from http://patinaparadise3.blogspot.com

I now have to buy wood as all my supply of recycled wood has run out.  What a bummer (I do not like to use pallets, personal preference).

I'll let the pictures do the talking.  There's a lot of elbow grease involved but I have kept the pictures to few so that you will not be discouraged to make one yourself! haha!  Seriously, if I can make one, so can you!

Since I could not get the hole-borer I bought to work for me, my husband improvised by using a normal power drill to bore the hole on the wheel and the rod holders.  Round and round and round he went slowly until the hole got big enough for the branch I had (yes, it's a branch).  Mind you, this wheelbarrow is for ornamental purpose only although I am quite sure it can function pretty well, too!

The size of the bucket alone is 25 inches at the longest part, 16 inches wide and 11 inches deep.

I didn't have nicer plants especially flowering ones, at this time so here it is, as is.                                                                                                                                          

Makes me wanna go out right now and buy some flowering plants and fill her up!  aaaarrrrgh!  I LOVE it so!

For Want of a Garden

Hello! I'm baaaack!

By way of explanation, I'd been working in an office for about 6 months and could not at all keep up with blogging.  Now we shall resume like old friends who meet up after many years and continue a conversation like it never ended.  Okay?

Okay.

Thank you for that resounding response.

I was looking through photos and did not even know I had these.  We don't have a garden so I have to devise ways to make my porch pretty.  (My porch does not look like this now as we've had it tiled since, so this is like a Throwback Porch?)

1.  Take one ugly corner of your porch...

2.  Find some tree stumps (yes, hubby and I screech car brakes whenever I see things like these by the wayside).

3.  Drive some nails on the top of the stumps so you can position the pots (through the holes at the bottom of the pots) and they won't topple over easily.

4.  Choose pretty plants.

Love this one but it has since died. RIP.  See, the thing about rearing plants and rearing pets is you are less likely to get emotional when a plant dies.  I can't handle pets dying on me.

4.  Choose SPTs around the house.

The windows on this wooden plaque can actually open...

*SPTs - Sweet, pretty things - I knew you'd ask :)

5.  Buy pebbles, black or white. Or green or amber or fuschia or mauve or luminous.  It's your porch. (luminous....heyyyyyy....are you thinking what I'm thinking?)

6.  Put them all together.  And....

7.  Now sing that Happy song..."clap along if you know what happiness is to you.."

Oh, you know that wooden window plaque thing?  Visitors to our home actually open those windows out of curiosity, so we let them....

Beauty in your Trash

Here's a wooden high chair that my tuition kid's mother was throwing out! Wha- ?
Like a wet kitten stuck in a deep monsoon drain, I rescued it immediately.





















It only had one flaw, but I didn't care. I could see its potential!
















I painted it yellow. Yellow makes me happy. (I even painted my kitchen walls yellow - the shade was called Jovial!)

But I wasn't happy with the shade of yellow the paint shop had. I wanted something more mustard-yellow. No worries, it'll get fixed somehow.






















I sanded to distress it - with an electric sander
which vibrates so badly you feel you've been
de-fragmented when you're done using it.












Then I used wood stain to stain it.
Now I was happy with the colour.















But still not happy-happy, you know? I wanted a second tier.

I had, some time earlier on, collected a thingy I found cast away under a tree (really! the things people throw away!)



Is this a headboard for a child's bed, or the railing of a cot, perhaps?

















I knocked off the slats...
















And nailed them to make my second tier.
And painted, sanded, distressed and wood stained the new tier.














Moral of this story: What's trash to someone is treasure to another.

Please don't throw things like this away! Call me. I'll come to their rescue.

I may not be faster than a speeding bullet
... or more powerful than a locomotive
... or able to leap tall buildings in a single bound
... I certainly do not wear blue onesies with red underwear on the outside

... but I can drive.


So how cute is this?






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