DIY Projects

Farm Equipment for the Rustic Touch

Old farm equipment adds a rustic touch to decor for the backyard, garden, front porch — or even inside, in moderation. Everything from wagon wheels to a wooden wheelbarrow may be repurposed into decor around the garden; in some cases, the old pieces can even do double duty, housing plant pots or serving as a chandelier, for instance.

From Garden to Garage
Antique farm equipment tends to be made of wood and metal, rusted and aged to display-worthy perfection over the years. An old two-person tree saw — the type with gnarly teeth, a long blade and a handle on each end — creates an interesting piece of wall art above the door on a garden shed or a garage, out of reach of children. An old pitchfork, shovel or sickle serve as rustic decor for the outside walls of the shed or garage; add large farm tools as you come across them for an eclectic, ever-changing display. Mount them with old spurs or rusted chain-link fence clasps attached to boards for added visual interest; the tool handles hang from the spurs or clasps.

Large-Scale Looks
If you live on a large property with plenty of yard space, large-scale farm equipment provides a stunning sight, even from afar. Place a large antique tractor complete with metal wheels in a place visible from the road; leave it in rusty, rustic condition, or paint it bright red or a color true to its origins. Search the make and model of the tractor online, if known, to find out its probable original color if all the paint is gone. There is a beautiful example of this west of Winner, A wagon near the driveway provides a playful space for additional decor another example of that is on the way home tucked on a side road– in the autumn, stack bales of hay and a few pumpkins atop it; in the spring, jazz it up with an assortment of crocks or flowerpots filled with colorful plants and flowers.

Complete Circles
Circular wooden wagon wheels, huge metal tractor wheels and old grinding and sharpening stones add a soft touch to rustic decor with their round shapes. Lean a wagon wheel against a picket fence in a flowerbed, or against a lamppost or mailbox post. Use a huge metal tractor wheel as a centerpiece for a small flowerbed, allowing vines or roses to climb on it. Large grinding stones and sharpening stones add an organic look to an outdoor display — lean them against posts, like the wagon wheels, or use an assortment as unusual stepping stones for a path to the garden or backyard. I have an old stone mallet head I have on the garden path.

Close to Home
While you may not have space for large farm equipment indoors or on the porch, small- to medium-sized bits of farm gear add a rustic touch to your home. A wooden wagon wheel, fitted with a series of chains and small, open-topped tins, becomes an unusual chandelier for battery-operated tealight candles, or tealights dropped into deep glass votive holders. Punch holes in the tins in a pattern such as a star or crescent moon to allow the candlelight to shine through. Attach the chandelier to a beam on the ceiling of a tall porch, or from a sturdy beam indoors. A butter churn becomes a planter for ivy on the front porch; a wooden wheelbarrow holds seasonal potted plants for an ever-changing display of greenery, flowers or herbs.

I have seen old stock tanks lined with plastic and used for beautiful fountains and ponds.

Garden Pests

Deer-proof Garden

Readers have asked for advice on planting a deer-proof garden. In a word: plastic.

However, when it comes to real, living plants, “deer-proof” is not a realizable goal. The best we can hope for is to come up with a list of deer-resistant plants. In general, these are plants that deer don’t like well enough to eat all of, or plants that grow faster than the deer can eat them.
Over the years, I’ve seen lists of plants that deer love and plants that deer hate, and I have been fascinated to notice some of the same plants on both sides. It seems that deer in one area eat things that deer elsewhere don’t.

They also can change their habits. For many years, deer in my yard ignored my garden, but last year ate tomatoes and cucumbers down to the ground. I now have deer that browse the new growth on ivy, which I’ve never seen before. On one notable occasion, a deer ate the better part of a large, extremely toxic angel trumpet, yet I found no dead Bambi in the driveway.

Voracious and charming, greedy and beautiful, deer can be the bane or the grace of the garden. Although young deer will eat pretty much anything, mature deer are more discriminating.

Though there really is no such thing as a deer-proof plant, there definitely are deer-resistant ones. Often these are plants with hairy, smelly, waxy, dense or highly textured foliage. I have quite a lot of experience with deer, having been blessed with many of them in each of my gardens. At present, my yard hosts a clutch of young bucks in the lower back yard which are mainly cattails.
They come out of the cattails and go to the alfalfa across my driveway and occasionally come up to the yard of the house. They seem to be not afraid of the dogs at all.

Here are some of the more resistant plants:

Bulbs
Allium (ornamental onions), Begonia (tuberous begonia), Crocosmia, dahlia, Endymion (Spanish bluebells), freesia, Galanthus (snowdrops), gladiolus, hyacinths, daffodils, Scilla (squill), Polianthes (tuberose).

Shrubs and sub-shrubs
Abelia, Berberis (barberry), Brugmansia (angels trumpet), Buxus (boxwood), cotoneaster, daphne, Datura, Hypericum (St. John’s wort), juniper, lavender, spruce, Pieris (lily-of-the-valley shrub), pine, Potentilla (cinquefoil), laurel, Rhus (sumac), Ribes (flowering currant), rosemary, sage, spirea, lilac, viburnum, and ironwood.
Perennials
Aconitum (monkshood), yarrow, Agastache (hummingbird plant), Alyssum (basket-of-gold), Artemisia, aster, Aubrieta (rockcress), Bergenia (leatherleaf), chrysanthemum, Crambe (sea kale), Digitalis (foxglove), Echinacea (coneflower), Erigeron (fleabane), Eryngium (sea holly), Euphorbia (spurge), fennel, ferns (all), Gaillardia (blanket flower), geranium, hellebore, iris, Kniphofia (poker plant), Lavatera (mallow), lupine, Meconopsis (Welsh poppy), Monarda (bee balm), Nepeta (catmint), Oenothera (evening primrose), Papaver (poppies), Penstemon (beardtongue), Perovskia (Russian sage), Phlomis, Phormium (New Zealand flax), Pulmonaria (lungwort), rhubarb, Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan), Santolina (lavender cotton), Scabiosa (pincushion flower), Stachys (lamb’s ear), thyme, Verbascum (mullein), verbena.
Annuals
Alyssum (sweet alyssum), Calendula (port marigold), Clarkia (farewell to spring), Cleome (spider flower), Eschscholzia (California poppy), heliotrope, lobelia, forget-me-not, nasturtium, Nicotiana (flowering tobacco), Papaver (poppies), Pelargonium (geranium), petunia, Ricinus (castor bean), marigold, verbena, zinnia.

Vegetables
Asparagus, rhubarb, potato, and lima beans.

DIY Projects

Unfinished Basement to a Living Space

An unfinished basement, with its concrete floor and exposed joists, may seem dreary and cold. But in reality, it is an enormous blank canvas just waiting for your inspired ideas and artistic vision. The fact is, you don’t really need niceties like drywall and …

Lay Down Foam Mats

Most unfinished basements have a poured concrete floor. Soften it up for playtime or workout time with square foam floor mats. They come in assorted sizes and colors and join like a puzzle—and they’re easy to pick up and move elsewhere or stack away and store when your needs change.

String Some Lighting

Most unfinished basements have very few electrical outlets and just a couple of naked bulb fixtures mounted in the ceiling. Bring more light to the space and create a playful ambience by hanging some industrial string lights. With just one outlet, you can illuminate a large area with several strings of lights.

Throw Down Area Rugs

Area rugs can warm up a cold basement floor quickly. Depending on the size of your space, you could use one large rug or several smaller ones. You could even go for carpeting remnants—a low-cost, effective option that can both cozy up a basement and help define different functional areas in the space. 

Install Storage

Having an extra floor below grade means you have a lot of potential storage space underfoot. Make the most of your unfinished basement by putting up shelving to store off-season clothing, sporting gear, tools, and more.

Paint Your Cinder Block

Basement walls of cinder block, brick, or even poured concrete can be transformed pretty quickly and simply with a coat of paint. Go for a solid color or get wild and design a mural to brighten up that subterranean space of yours.

 

Hang Curtains

No walls? No problem! Put up a simple and inexpensive curtain system to divide space and add dimension to an unfinished basement. If you can’t install a track on the ceiling, try stretching picture wire taut across the room, then attach café hooks to flat sheets for an easy no-sew DIY project perfect for a beginner.

 Craft a Canopy for Your Ceiling

If the rafter ceiling in your unfinished basement feels too cold and industrial for your taste, soften it by hanging swaths of fabric to create a beautiful canopy ceiling. In this billowy basement, a whimsical pendant light complements the canopy perfectly—but even on its own, the fabric makes a soothing impact.

Build a Workshop

Every do-it-yourselfer needs a place to make the magic happen. What better spot for a workshop than an unfinished basement? A sturdy concrete floor makes cleanup easier, and open studs and rafters provide excellent organization and storage space with the simple addition of pegboard and shelving.

Paint the Rafters

Painting the exposed beams of your basement ceiling can make the entire space feel more finished without heavy renovation. As a bonus, all your utilities will remain completely accessible, in case you need to make repairs to your ceiling in the future.

 

Create a Partition

Installing a small, temporary wall can help to delineate space without requiring permits and major planning. Once the curtain is drawn in front of the washer/dryer, this basement laundry room essentially disappears, letting the wet bar take center stage.

Brighten Up the Floor

Your unfinished basement’s concrete floor is a blank canvas, and a coat of paint can make a huge difference. This straightforward DIY project will give you a big bang for your buck.