Junk(back)yard on a budget

I’m lucky enough to have a lovely view from my backyard. It’s a perfect, peaceful place to take in a book, enjoy dinner with a friend alfresco, or just to sit on the grass while the dogs enjoy a couple of Frosty Paws on a hot day. And the sunsets are spectacular. But lately I’ve avoided it, because I let it become an embarrassing jungle. Two of my plastic lawn chairs had grown mossy (who knew plastic could grow moss?) The arm had fallen off of my beloved Adirondack chair. Yes, there was dog poop. Really, truth be told, it was looking like an overgrown junkyard. See the "before" picture?

Eek!

Clearly I wouldn't be bragging about this unless I decided to whip things into shape. And part of the fun, of course, is the challenge of keeping expenses low, often by repurposing used stuff and junk.

The landscaping

Most of the yard is a downward sloping hill—I'm on a sort of bluff. But there’s enough flat grass to set out some chairs and maybe even a table. I’d been dreaming about building a bit of a patio, but I’m just renting, so I didn’t want to make too much of an investment.

I’m next door to a vacant lot that’s not all that kept up, so I created a focal point at the corner of the house, behind what would be the grassy seating area. I did this by creating a roundish flower bed with shade-loving plants such as hydrangea and hosta, accompanied by a makeshift birdbath. I hung a pretty fuschia on the corner as another distraction. I think it works pretty well, though it seems the focal point ended up being the table and chairs. More about the furniture—and the birdbath—in a bit.

At the request of a friend who still believes in that lost art called “laying out,” I did my best to create a larger, flatter area in the one spot that gets a good dose of afternoon sun, by reshaping the border with the grass I excavated from the new flower bed. I weeded and thinned my little herb garden area, uncovered the little path that helps people round the corner to the backyard without taking a spill on the grassy hill (it's happened), planted some cute scabiosa (Scabiosa columbaria Pink Mist—a superb perennial) and a cool new rose bush, and things were shaping up nicely.

A note about the rose bush

I love roses. I hate growing roses. They get diseased and grow out of control and I don’t know when to prune them and when I try to prune them or even just look at them, the thorns jab and stab. But the lady at the garden center insisted I would not regret acquiring this particular rose bush. It’s quite disease resistant, you see, and the flowers are on the wilder, less delicate side and the thorns aren’t quite as murder-weapony as some. Plus it was on sale. So now I have a new rose bush. I like it so far, and I’ve only suffered one mild scratch while giving in to the temptation to sniff. Of course, all the flowers fell off after I planted it, so I don't even have a picture to post.

Furniture! Projects! Making Junk into Stuff!

The furniture

As I said before, the arm fell off of my favorite Adirondack chair. Tragic, seriously. But I screwed the screws back in and hopefully it’ll at least last the summer (and when it breaks again, I pray it’ll be when I sit in it and not a wineglass-wielding friend). I think I want to get another, and a couple Adirondack ottomans. Love those, but not sure if there's room.

Next I decided to create a little dining area, which would also serve as a nice place to kick back with a nice book (or, sigh, kick forward with schoolwork). I found these terrific rattan chairs at Goodwill (half price, even), but the seats were covered in hideous fabric.

Chairs, before. So very 1993.

Better!

I had a heckuva time finding outdoor fabric in a decent neutralish pattern, but finally found one with some subtle green stripes. It works. An hour with the staple gun, and voila! New chairs for $20. Well, $28 including the Scotchgard—better safe than sorry in the damp Northwest.

Costco has some great little bistro sets, so I picked up a table. Luckily my landlord came to my rescue when I was putting the thing together, because it was a nightmare. He insists he didn’t hear me swearing, but I think he was just being polite. He’s so nice—he didn’t even mind combing through the grass with me to find that stupid little allen wrench that I’d thrown in frustration. Anyway, the tables are only available in black wrought iron, so I painted it white.

I love garage sales. I found a neat big Starbucks-but-even-better green umbrella (with built-in little white lights!) and the coolest old white wrought iron umbrella stand for $25. Yay!

And, a few accessories...

A makeshift window box

I found a half-round black and gold metal shelf at a garage sale, painted it white, and installed it under the kitchen window. Voila, lazy window box! It holds three pots pretty happily, and it’s way easier to swap the plants than with a traditional window box.

Window shelf, only a dollar (including paint!)

The requisite fuschia and other planters

The corner was calling out for a plant. I bought the white iron planter at a garage sale for three bucks, the moss for a couple more (though I suppose I could have just peeled it off the plastic chairs), and a pretty shade-loving fuschia for $5.

I also picked up a tin hanging thingy (what do people really use these for? Mail? Plastic flowers?) that I stuffed with a cute little plant. I just tacked it onto the house. It’s cute, but sort of a pain to water.

Fuschia + metal planter

I kept a candle lampshade around for the beads, but as I was looking for a little pot to house a plant, I decided it would make the perfect planter. Lined with moss, it totally works, though it does dry out very quickly.

Candle lampshade turned planter

Fancy Victorian trellis

While wandering Salvage Studio, I came across this lovely metal thingy labeled “Victorian trellis.” Perfect! Well, perfect for... something. I just wanted it. I splurged and paid $15. When I got home, I noticed I already had a beautiful rare Victorian trellis—part of my screen door. Parts of screen doors all across the world. Oh well, it should hide my big ugly gas meter nicely once the morning glory takes over. The “trellis” is secured to the ground with a plant stake. It works (I think).

Oh-so fancy Victorian trellis (grow morning glory, grow!)

And finally, my birdbath!

While wandering a thrift store, I came across this God-awful powder blue lamp with one of those huge drum lampshades (groovy brown and metallic tassel, even). The price was a bit steep (considering), but I thought the base would make a neato birdbath pedastal. $8 and a fight with the checker later, I had an ugly lamp with possibilities.

So about that fight with the checker...

The fight (well, not really a fight per se) with the checker went something like this. Me: “Can I just buy the base? I really don’t want the lampshade.” Her: “No, all together.” Me: “No, I’ll pay the full price, I just really really don’t want that lampshade.” Her: “Must buy together.” Me: “How about I just leave the lampshade, and you can put it on another lamp and sell it?” Her, shaking her stubbornly smiling head: “No.” Me, quickly removing the lampshade and leaving it on the counter: “Oh hey, look, I’d like to make a donation! Have a nice day! Bye!”

Anyway

I wanted to find the perfect basin for the bath itself. I looked high and low—thrift stores, garage sales, even Fred Meyer while feeling especially desperate—for a bowl that wasn’t really a bowl but wasn’t really a plate, and was big enough. Ultimately, I settled and bought a crystal platter that would do okay.
I painted the base white, and was going to wipe some dark green in the cracks to make it look a little more aged, but I got lazy. I still think I need to do something to it.

Unfortunately, when I took the lamp apart, the big rod thing that held the electric cord was literally cemented into the base. So I couldn’t exactly balance a crystal plate on that. I found a hollow mosaic candleholder that was laying around the house, centered that on the base and over the rod, and glued the plate on top of that.

Junk birdbath

So what’d this set me back?

Grand total: $294. A little more than I intended to spend, but I still think I did pretty well. I was able to reuse several things I already had, and bought some great cheap goods at estate sales and thrift stores.

And so, for just under $300, a nifty new backyard!

Now if only the dogs could relieve themselves somewhere else.

(Angelyne is not relieving herself in this picture)

Eagle is home in Seattle's new sculpture park

It is said that the setting in which a sculpture resides is as important as the sculpture itself. Newly placed in the most dramatic of settings as if ready to take flight over the Puget Sound is Eagle, the piece d'resistance in Seattle's wonderful new Olympic Sculpture Park, which opened in January.

In the new park, Eagle has finally landed in a place where its majesty can be fully appreciated. Perched on a bluff overlooking the vast blue water and snow-capped Olympic mountains, Eagle is home. Previously, the sculpture lived in Volunteer Park outside of the Seattle Asian Art Museum—prior to that, in Fort Worth, Texas. Both locations were widely considered inappropriate settings for the piece.

Eagle's maker, Alexander Calder (July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976), was a third-generation sculptor with a background in mechanical engineering as well as art. Calder created Eagle later in his career, after he was already considered one of the world’s most important sculptors.

Eagle is 38 feet nine inches by 32 feet six inches by 32 feet six inches. It's painted entirely in a dramatic shade of orange-red, meant to convey velocity and energy. From four grounded "legs" the piece rises and curves to form shapes reminiscent of wings and a beak. Eagle gives the feeling of an object firmly grounded and quite stable, yet soaring without ever leaving the ground. Every curve and swoop is meaningful and dramatic, giving Eagle the feeling of light, flowing weightlessness.

It's just one of the pieces of art found in the new sculpture park located along the waterfront just north of downtown. And really, the Olympic Sculpture Park is a piece of art in itself. Don't miss it.