Picket Fence Plant Stand

Several years ago, to make room for a new retaining wall and landscaping in our side yard, hubby tore down an old, falling down and decrepit looking picket fence.  He was about to burn the fence, when I persuaded him to keep at least some of it, as I just knew that it held potential for a neat future project!  So, he reluctantly saved some of the better sections, then I came up with the idea of turning it into a plant stand that we could use on our deck.  A few hours later, and a handful of nails, this is what he came up with!

 The funny thing is, when I told my handy hubby about my plant stand idea, I didn't even sketch out what I wanted it to look like.  I just gave him a very brief description of what I had in mind.  Imagine my surprise when he finished, and it looked exactly like what I was thinking!  I've since given it a fresh coat of paint, and after several seasons on our back deck, it's held up beautifully.

 Much of what you see on my stand was collected over the years at garage sales.  This cute pot with the fun aqua glass "polka dots" was a thrifty yard sale find.  And so were the decorative birdhouses, that I spray painted aqua and bright teal.  My mom gave me this sweet little bunny a few years ago.

 The cute little watering can with a French label, and the minty green vintage pot behind it are also lucky garage sale finds.

 One of my favorite things on the stand is my grandma's vintage galvanized watering can, that I actually still use!

 And this vintage watering can, below, was super cheap many years ago at a yard sale.  I finally have been able to get around to planting a few flowers.  Love the bright pink geranium!

 Ok, I'll let you in on a little secret!  The ivy in this pot is faux!  Shhhhhhh, don't tell!  I did want to show you what the pot looked like without the ivy.  It's vintage (not sure who the maker was, as it's not marked) and I absolutely love it.  I managed to get it for free at a church rummage sale, as no one wanted it!!  Can you imagine?

 The blue and white pot to the right of this birdhouse was one of my first attempts at broken china mosaics a few years ado.  Lots of work and a bit messy to do, but fun to create!

 Every garden needs a guardian angel!

 Another cute little bunny, given to me by my mom years ago.  This one is made of soapstone, and I just love it!

 And here is a little surprise!  This tiny nest is faux, but the egg is real!  As we were walking the other day, I happened to look down, and found this itty bitty blue egg, still intact, right next to the road!  I felt bad that it had fallen out of its' nest, but had no idea where the nest could be.

 I've never seen a blue egg this small, it's definitely too small for a robin's egg.  So not sure what kind of bird laid it.  I placed a dime next to it, so you could see just how tiny it is!

 Here are a few more peeks at my plant stand!  I almost forgot to mention that I won a prize for it a few years ago, when I submitted the idea to a gardening magazine, "Backyard Living" that I used to subscribe to.  The magazine is no longer being published, but was from the creators of "Bird's & Blooms" magazine.

 Anyway, each issue had a feature called "The frugal gardener", where readers could submit money saving ideas and tips.  The reader that they featured won $100, and the title "The Frugalest of the frugal", and that was me!  I was so thrilled to appear in the magazine, and with my (and hubby's, of course!) "15 minutes of fame"!  Oh, and the money wasn't bad, either!