What's Old is New Again...

I would love for you to meet a very sweet gentleman!

This is my Uncle Bob--my mom's brother!

About a year and a half ago he passed away.

He was a very creative and talented carpenter who

built a beautiful home for he and my aunt in the late 1960's.

We are alike in our creativity...just different mediums--his was wood, mine is fabric!

As happens when people pass away, their belongings go to various family members.

Uncle Bob was a meticulous carpenter. This bench below...sorry I don't have before pictures...was one of two work benches that he made. They were rough and plain wood and to him they were a tool. My mom and I were so endeared to them and thought they would look cute painted white and put somewhere in the yard with pots on it.

As I finally got to them this summer, I started by painting them white, but in my creative mode of the moment, they turned into this!

It was OLD but now it is a NEW beautiful addition to my americana themed patio!

This "NEW" patio chair was an OLD redwood and aluminum lawn chair that belonged to Uncle Bob. I was about to donate it somewhere when I had the wonderful idea to spray paint it glossy red. Gorgeous!!! Doesn't it just invite you to sit down and relax?

Well, in the spirit of thinking about what I did with my Uncle's "treasures" here are a few other OLD things made NEW around my yard this summer.

My brother gave me a beautiful park bench a couple of years ago. Originally it was stained and the iron was green. It was supposed to weather through the winter being sealed, etc. Unfortunately, it didn't and it has been looking very sad for the last year!

So, to the rescue, out came my red spray paint!

An OLD bench, made NEW again.
What do you think?

What about this below? When I bought my home three years ago, this 50+ year old fireplace was in my side yard. At first I thought I could restore it to use as a fireplace but that plan did not materialize. Last summer, some gardener/landscapers helped me turn it into a water feaure.

I recently finished adding pots, plants, etc. to make it look fantastic! Sorry, I don't have it turned on at the moment.

The water comes out of the top and the front!!!

An OLD fireplace = a NEW water feature!!


This was once an OLD tea kettle. Someone...not me....found it and envisioned it as a watermelon themed art piece. It came home with me to add a NEW splash of summer to my patio!

And, finally, last but not least...these pansies were planted last fall and earlier this summer trimmed back to almost nothing....they were OLD and now they look NEW and beautiful again!!!

Isn't it amazing!?

Dotti