These Are a Few of My Favourite Things: Projects: Old and New

I love having projects for myself to do. I am very goal-oriented person in every aspect of my life. I have to see an objective for everything I do whether it is something as big as finishing a degree or as small as making my family happy with a batch of cookies. I love making lists and checking things off when they are completed.

As a result, I have this tendency of finding little projects for myself that usually require taking something old and fixing it or improving it into something new. I definitely get this quality from my dad who has the ability to turn junk into beautiful things. He however is much better at it and gets a little nervous when he sees me taking out his power tools.

These are just two of the many projects that I have on the go right now...

Wedding Planters:

As I have mentioned in past posts, my brother is having an outdoor wedding at our house next spring and we have been trying to prepare for everything this summer. When I started my job at the greenhouse back in April I noticed two broken wooden planters. They were huge and went past my hip, but they were originally priced at $77.99 each. They continued to sit there all season and finally I got the courage to ask how much they would be willing to let them go for. I got them at a great deal of $8.00 each. Turns out she just wanted to get rid of them, but didn't want to toss them in the trash. She also knew they needed a lot of work.

The wood was painted a mix of white and grey. It was spun around the container.
As you can see it was a complete mess.

Not the Martha Stewart way, but I used glue to reattach the pieces of wood.
I also used a giant stone from the garden to hold the wood in place while the glue dried.
Use gloves when you use Gorilla Glue. It creates a mess on your hands.

I painted a layer white before spraying it.

I then sprayed it with spray paint "Satin Khaki"

I ran out of spray paint and need to go over some spots to make it more even.

I think they look great and will look even better when they are filled with plants in the spring.

The Trunk:

I found this trunk two years ago at Timeless Treasures in Windsor. It was a bit of a mess and that's why it was only $80. I don't have any before photos, but I assure you the inside was peeling and smelled like a dead body might have been stuffed in it at one point. I had to re-do the inside with cedar wood to fix the smell. The patent markings say it was patented in 1877. My grandfather explained to me that it doesn't necessarily mean it was made that year, but only that this type was made that year. He said it is still very old.