Well, it’s officially spring!
Right in the middle of an unseasonably warm mid-March, the temperature here in sunny Southern Illinois is a comfortable 81 degrees. The birds are busy painting my black car white, the bugs are collecting on my windshield, and the red wasps are busy making nests around our back door. But honestly, even with those unpleasantries, I can’t wipe the smile off of my face. This is, without a doubt, my favorite season in this part of the country for a few reasons.
The humidity is still low! I can go outside and enjoy the sun without instantly being covered in sweat. I can enjoy the wind in my hair without crazy 80′s frizz. And without humidity, 80 degrees feels a lot more like 80 degrees and not 100. ;) I can throw the windows and sliding door open and let all that musty winter air out of the house and hear the birds singing while I graphic design at my desk. Which, while not as good as working outside, is about as close as you can get.
For those of you who have been keeping up on the blog or following me on facebook, you may already know that our little Christmas surprise has been keeping me from blogging regularly! But now that I am well into the second trimester and feeling much better, I plan to jump back into writing regularly, so check back or friend me on facebook for updates on new posts!
First an update on the last blog post: Baby Rogers is a boy! He is tentatively named (oh, who am I kidding? We’ve loved this name from the very beginning…) Carter Bradley. And while I may have grown up blissfully oblivious to what a “pallet” is and its many folksy and useful upcycling uses, Carter is probably going to be painfully aware. That’s right, I’ve stumbled upon a couple of new pallet projects and I couldn’t help but share. ;)
I can already see it… Our little family is cruising down the freeway in Daddy’s truck. From the shade of a quiet group of storage units, right next to a large dumpster, a stack of handsome pallets catches our eye. *Screeeech!* We’ll whip around and pull in the lot to inspect them. If Carter is, by this time, old enough to be embarrassed by us, this is the part where he’ll be rolling his eyes or hoping against hope that no one from his school recognizes his parent’s truck. ;) Yep, we’re already refining our “weird parents” quirks well before Carter makes his grand debut. But thankfully for all of you, I’m perfectly comfortable with embarrassing my child with my love for ”upcycling” so he’d better just learn to love it. ;)
On to the project!
How easy and adorable is this planter? I’ve been eyeing the standing planters at Rural King for a year now, unable to pull the trigger and drop $80+ on a tall, wooden box for my plants. I’d never even considered that my beloved pallets could do the same job!
The supplies for this project are all things that we have here, thanks in part to Brad’s extensive garage tool arsenal.
- 1 pallet
- 2 large bags of potting soil
- 16 six packs of flowers (one six pack per opening on the face of the pallet, and two six packs per opening on the top of the completed pallet garden)
- landscape fabric
- a staple gun w/ staples
- sand paper
I fully plan on asking Brad to help me construct this environmentally-friendly-and-folksy project which I heard about from a friend and found instructions for online at Life on the Balcony. I imagine this project taking off in the next month or so, so stay tuned as I will most certainly be posting photos!
Now what pallet garden would be complete without an upcycled pallet bench upon which to sit and admire my plants?
This project looks a bit trickier. But thanks to Brad’s affinity for woodworking and our love of pallet makeovers, I think we’ve got what it takes to figure this one out. There are no directions at the Garden Daddy website, but with the photos he posted, I’m betting Brad can figure the design out.
That’s all I’ve got for now as we haven’t started these projects yet. Be ready for a new cork mat, a paper mobile, and (probably) more pallet creations in the coming weeks!
Happy spring, everyone. And here’s hoping that my Idaho friends get to enjoy this weather nice and early this year, too!
0 comments:
Post a Comment