Our Rustic Gazebo

Years ago, way before we all had fabulous camera phones in our pocket and blogged about such projects, we rescued a gazebo from a trash ditch. Actually, we helped rescue two. Our friend had spotted two gazebos, rolled over on their side in a trash ditch, so he stopped and ask the owner if he could have them. Joey called Jeff and ask if we would help pull off the rescue, in exchange for one of them. We took a truck, tractor, and trailer and loaded them both up!

Well, over the next year or so, we completed a makeover on ours and it became the focal point of our yard. By this time, we were blogging all the time and took pictures of the process! We got featured by several blogs at the time, it's been all over Pinterest, and usually gets featured by a few garden pages each spring (that I see).

In January of this year, I was ironically enough out junkin', when I got an email that said "Country Living Feature." A staff writer was asking permission to feature my junk gazebo on CountryLiving.com in a round up of DIY Gazebos. Of course I said yes and they would link back to us here on our blog. (I love features, when permission is ask and credit given.)

I checked this weekend and discovered the article had been published a few weeks ago!

15 DIY Gazebo Ideas to Bring an Outdoor Oasis to Your Backyard

Have your gazebo match your style.

We are included at slide # 8. 

So for all of you who don't know the story or seen the past pictures of my gazebo, I'll provide a few links back to the original post for you to catch up on (or you can use the search feature and type in gazebo to see even more.)


Here's the original makeover with paint and a scrap metal roof can be seen
at https://www.gypsyfarmgirl.net/2011/08/gazebo-reveal.html
(please forgive the collage pages / pictures - I was also an unsuccessful affiliate for a digital scrapbooking website at the time and trying to use their products with my pictures.)

The first spring after the makeover and the unveiling of the Junk Yard can be viewed at
https://www.gypsyfarmgirl.net/2012/03/welcome-to-junk-yard.html
This is when I decided to only use upcycled, repurosed containers and you wouldn't see plastic or store bought planters. Some of favorite gazebo pictures reside here!

The Rusty Bottomless Bucket tutorial was also created around the same time. Find the instructions at https://www.gypsyfarmgirl.net/2012/03/bottomless-rusty-flower-bucket.html

We also have fun decorating it for Christmas

https://www.gypsyfarmgirl.net/2017/12/christmas-in-gazebo.html

As you can see in the 

 2019 spring gazebo reveal, https://www.gypsyfarmgirl.net/2019/04/spring-in-gazebo.html, the shrubs and trees have sure grown a lot in the last few years. The bushes have almost overtaken the bicycle and now it's in need of rescuing! 

We've certainly enjoyed our Junk Yard and planting and decorating the gazebo throughout the different seasons. Thank you Country Living for including our gazebo in your round up! 

Please stay tuned, because the 2020 Spring Reveal will be coming soon! I've started planting in more unique containers. 

P.S. Want to feature or use our pics? Please ask like Country Living did and always link back to my blog. Also, please do not remove our watermarks! (I recently discovered some stolen pics with my watermarks cropped out and this does not make us happy.)

Let's Plant Something!

"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." 

- Audrey Hepburn 

My morning quote and picture that I shared on Facebook today spoke of gardening and later in the day, I just happened to find myself at the garden center!! Two actually! 

So we had to come home and officially kick off the spring 2020 gardening season! I recorded a live Facebook video planting some succulents in upcyced containers. Hope you enjoy and get inspired to get outside and plant something this spring! 

Spring in the Gazebo!

Grab a cup of coffee or ice tea, if you please and pull up a chair - It's time for the spring gazebo tour! You know we are all about the rust and repurposing vintage items. If you are new here, our gazebo was literally pulled from a trash ditch a few years back and we have had fun with the makeover project and decorating it each season. The first spring we had the gazebo, I decided that I would no longer have visible plastic or store bought containers in my yard, so everything is rescued and given a new purpose!

We have lots of galvanized goodness in our yard! 

You can catch the video and my tips and tricks for planting in vintage washtubs here.

As I said, we rescue and repurpose buckets, even if they don't have a bottom. This bucket has a rusted out bottom, but I still turn it into a hanging basket! (You can find the original post on planting in bottomless buckets here.) 

I had this piece of grapevine laying around after we changed our booth up last month, so I decided to drape it over the doorway and I like how it looks. If it's laying around, its apt to find a place decorating the gazebo. 

When we first planted the 3 bushes around the gazebo, they were small and the bicycle really stood out. Now it's hiding in the bushes! I have lights on the bike and at night you can see the outline better. A gym locker basket has been wired to the handles of the bike and holds an assortment of clay pots. 

In the back of the gazebo, a metal pig feeder is a pedestal for a vintage chicken feeder with flowers. 

It's pretty and it's pink! I fell in love with this ceramic dish at the thrift store and immediately knew succulents belonged in it. 

 A fern sits in an old crock.

 Sweet potato vines and dianthus are nestled in this old water cooler.

 Evenings in the springtime are my favorite and the light is almost magical!

The birdcage with herbs and the itty, bittiest little fern you ever saw hangs on the left side of the entrance. I use trampoline springs to adjust the height of the planters. We were cleaning out an old barn one time and came home with a wooden tool box of oddities - included was the trampoline springs. (I shared my birdcage planting video here.)

 Fresh herbs from the yard are the best!

Some have commented in the past about why was the door in the back of the gazebo? Well, it has a few purposes. 

1. Block the view of the storage building behind it. 

2. The door serves as a backdrop for me to photograph items like wreaths and shirts for my shop. 

 3. I get to hang funky, junky wreaths or hang plants on the door. 

I was digging through some of my junk the other day and decided to make a new wreath. I found a grapevine wreath in the greenhouse, then tied on a license plate, made a star with a folding ruler, a very rusty handle from a shovel, a chicken feeder, and a piece from a roll of barbed wire. 

To me, the four loops from the barbed wire spool looked like a flower outline. The chicken waterer thingamajig  (a mason jar can screw into it) formed the center of the flower.  

 That little blue piece was a tag on the barbed wire spool and added just a touch of color to the wreath. A scrap of burlap ribbon made a bow, along with raffia and jute twine used to tie everything to the wreath. 

You might be wondering about the rectangle frame - Angea ask me about it recently and wondered where I found it. Well, way back when I first started gardening, we had a wheelbarrow planted with flowers. Over several years time, it finally rusted out and broke apart. The frame above is actually the old rim of the broken down wheelbarrow! I hung the wreath and frame together on the door with a wreath hanger. Now see, that's a good reason to have a door there, right?!?

The undercarriage of the wheelbarrow found a home in a flower bed, protecting a few plants from the dogs making a home on top of them. Nothing goes to waste! 

So there you have it! Hope you enjoyed the tour. 

As I stated in one of the videos, the gazebo and plantings are ever changing and evolving, so stay tuned to see how things progress through the seasons.