Easy garden projects from recycled wood

Benches and chairs, How to: Easy project ideas

9 Fun and easy wood garden projects

When this group, Flea Market Gardening, talks about wood, we’re talking about recycled and weathered wood! From doors to old stumps, we love the soft grey look of weathered wood or old furniture and discarded building materials, like doors, windows architectural surplus. Recycled wood projects you can do!

Befores and Afters, our favorite!

Kirk Willis’s toolbox find

Kirk Willis Before
Here’s an old rustic toolbox I found at a garage sale for $2.

Kirk Willis’s tool boxed all stained

After
Here’s the “after” photo of the old toolbox I posted below. Planted bright red Geraniums in it.

Mary Olson’s wreck of a sofa-bench

Mary Olson Before

Mary Olson adds new wood seat and back

Mary Olson’s new cheerfulyl painted bench

After
Loveseat finished

Cheryl Farley’s ‘easy’ chair

Cheryl Farley describes her easy chair project:

“I built this chair from old scraps of lumber and barn boards I had laying around…My goal this summer was to re-use and do everything as close to FREE as I could get. This chair cost me my time only……and it’s comfy!

It’s mostly 2×4’s and the slats are 1×51/2 barn boards same with the boards along the front of the seat….

I used deck screws…Pre sanded everything before putting it together. I used the measurements from my hubby’s favorite lawn chair and made sure to allow for the 1 1/2″ 2×4 because if you measure them they aren’t really 2×4 they are smaller…. If anyone wants measurements I can easily take them from my chair. This was done totally free hand on my part…I’m going to make a change on the slats on the back rest. I want to cut them in half and fill in the spaces a li’l more….Wait until you see how I’m going to stain it. Totally free…”

Sue Gerdes door arbor beginnings

Sue Gerdes of Flea2Fab took two discarded door and made a garden arbor! She used two 2x4s at the bottom and four decorative cross beams for the top to stabilize the frame. Sue says, “I painted it yellow and white and then dry brushes some burnt umber color onto it.

Sue Gerdes gave this door arbor to her daughter

After
Sue says, “One of the many things you can use a solid door for…endless”

Sue’s sign says, “To Plant is to Believe in Tomorrow”

Presto Chango!

Kirk Willis’s old wooden seats

Kirk Willis says, “These are the stools and a table that went with the chairs. It was fun matching up the stain to the stain Dad had once chosen.”

Kirk Willis’s spiffed up seating

To paint or not to paint?

That is the question. Some would say it is a shame to paint weathered wood, bit in some cases it brings a bright color accent to your porch or garden.

Sue Strazewski’s discarded find

Sue Strazewski says, “This is my chair on the front porch on which I decided to add a pop of color, see following picture.”

Sue Strazewski’s finished chair

Storage bench project

Veronica Butler found an old bench

Veronica Fisher Butler found her bench at the Flea Market She says, “I asked the lady how much. She said what would you give. I said $5.00 & she said OK!”

Veronica Butler smoothes and sands the bench

Veronica Butler smooths and sands the bench

Veronica Butler’s beautiful bench after its transformation!

After! My $5.00 bench from the Flea Market, now!

Who wants an out house?

Dreama Bender outhouse project Before

Dreama Bender’s little out house After

Dreama Bender from, ‘the chicken coop’ used old barn wood to make an old outhouse out of her stash of weathered wood boards.

Recycled materials and tools were all we needed

Tractor Man and I are working on a project and here’s a clue….I’ll post the results this evening….if we don’t kill each other, JK ….we had a plan but had to change it midstream, like most projects! ~~ Sue

Sue Langley’s free and easy bench

Ta-da! Now, this is my favorite bench. I’ve been buggin’ my hubby for so long to help me make this and today we did! He nearly killed me because the first plan didn’t work and we had to change it, but now we are both happy with it. Now it fits so well on this ranch-y property where we have lived for so many years here in the cattle land of Central California.