Landscaping

Old Farm Equipment for Home and Garden Decor

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.

Buried stock tank as a pond.

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.

Old seeder as a flower container.

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.

Old tire rim as a planting container

For more ideas go to our pinterest page:  https://www.pinterest.com/robertmoyer3194/using-old-farm-equipment-for-lawn-garden-design/

DIY Projects

Vintage Kitchens Remake

Kitchens from the late 40s through the 50s, smooth colorful easy-to-clean surfaces reigned supreme.

Retro is a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall post-modern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again. The use of “retro” style generally implies a vintage of at least fifteen or twenty years. For example, furniture from the 1980s or 1990s could be retro today.

Vintage kitchen designs are represented by simply cozy cabinets with elegant or vintage chairs, or modern kitchen cabinets with touches of the retro style. Both options can perfectly fit in every house decor and can cause a really pleasant atmosphere. Vintage decorations, special lighting fixtures and wood kitchen cabinets in retro style are well thought and designed to create the ideal interior for all family members and guests. They look so inviting and warm and everybody love them. Enjoy our collection and get inspiration for your retro dream kitchen.

 

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The kitchens can be very playful, as daring designs are what established the concepts of shape and contrast that would come to bear in the modern design movement. Designers started experimenting with sleeker shapes and lines, smoothing one area of the kitchen into another.

While a mainstay of vintage countertops was tile, laminate, Formica and easy-to-clean synthetics were embraced by homeowners. Vintage and retro kitchen eras were when laminate first started being proudly displayed, metal trim and all. Metal edging isn’t so popular today, but out of the various rounded edges available, a classic and simple corner edge to your countertop can keep that vintage feel.

Cabinets were also smooth, often with slab style doors but Shaker style doors could fit if the colors were kept light and bright. Enameled appliances were available in colors and are a treasure for someone planning a vintage or retro kitchen.  A colored appliance, whether bright or pastel, speaks strongly of days gone by but can be hard to find. Smaller appliances like a bright microwave or toaster might do the trick without breaking the bank.

Once your kitchen is designed, you can buy many vintage appliances and containers online to fit your color scheme. When it comes to kitchen appliances, pros often opt for antiques that are currently being manufactured  like Big Chill, GE, and Northstar for bright, vintage lookalike fridges and stoves. Bonus: Newer also means more energy efficiency.

Container gardening

How to Grow Vegetables and Flowers in a Container

No space? No problem! You can grow flowers, herbs, and even vegetables in containers.

Pots, tubs, and half barrels overflowing with flowers add appeal to any garden, but container gardening can serve a practical purpose too. Container gardening is ideal for those with little or no garden space. In addition to growing flowers, gardeners limited to a small yard or only a patch of sun on their driveway can produce a wide variety of vegetable crops in containers. I grow basil, chives, thyme, rosemary and other herbs also are quite happy growing in pots better than in the garden soil, then I bring them in for the winter and keep them on the porch where it is cool and sunny. 

Container gardening also adds versatility to gardens large and small. Plants lend instant color, provide a focal point in the garden, or tie in the architecture of the house to the garden. Place them on the ground or on a pedestal, mount them on a windowsill, or hang them from your porch. I know a pair of matching containers on either side of the front walk serves as a welcoming decoration, while container gardening on a deck or patio can add color and ambiance to such outdoor sitting areas. You can use single large containers for outdoor decoration, but also consider arranging groups of pots, both small and large, on stairways, terraces, or anywhere in the garden. A cinder block can contain a collection of my favorite plants, cactus and succulents. Houseplants summering outdoors in the shade also make a handsome addition to container gardening. Window boxes and hanging baskets offer even more ways to add instant color and appeal.

Containers planted with a single species—rosemary or a bold variegated ornamental grass, for example—can be stunning garden accents. Containers planted with a mix of plants are fun to create and offer almost unlimited possibilities of combinations. The best combinations depend on plants that feature handsome foliage and flowers produced over a long bloom season. One easy guideline for choosing the plants to combine in a container is to include “a thriller, a spiller, and a filler.” That translates to at least one focal-point plant (the thriller), such as coleus or a geranium with multicolored leaves, for example, combined with several plants that spill over the edge of the pots—such as petunias, bacopa , creeping zinnias, or ornamental sweet potatoes. Finally, add the fillers, which are plants with smaller leaves and flowers that add color and fill in the arrangement all season long. Good fillers include salvias, verbenas, ornamental peppers, and wax begonias, as well as foliage plants like parsley or licorice plants. You may also want to include a plant for height, such as an ornamental grass like purple fountain grass. Add a trellis or pillar to a container and you can use a vine to add height to the composition. You’ll need a total of five or six plants for an 18- or 24-inch container, for example.

Start a bunch of radish seeds early in the spring in a container like an old wash basin and bring indoors or in the garage during a frosty night. Harvest them in less than a month.  Any vegetable can be grown in a container.

Container Sizes

Keep in mind that it’s easier to grow plants in large containers than small ones. That’s because large containers hold more soil, which stays moist longer and is less subject to rapid temperature fluctuations. Small hanging baskets are especially prone to drying out, and during hot, windy summer weather, you may have to water them twice a day to keep plants alive.

It’s also important to decide what plant you want to grow in each container. Several factors help determine how large and deep the container must be. Consider the size and shape of a plant’s root system; whether it is a perennial, annual, or tender shrub; and how rapidly it grows. Rootbound plants, which have filled up every square inch of the soil available, dry out rapidly and won’t grow well. Choose a large pot or tub for a mixed planting, one that will offer enough root space for all the plants you want to grow. Light-colored containers keep the soil cooler than dark containers.

The maximum size (and weight) of a container is limited by how much room you have, what will support it, and whether you plan to move it. If your container garden is located on a balcony or deck, be sure to check how much weight the structure will safely hold.

Container Drainage

Whatever container you choose, drainage holes are essential. Without drainage, soil will become waterlogged and plants may die. The holes need not be large, but there must be enough so that excess water can drain out. If a container has no holes, try drilling some yourself. A container without holes is best used as a cachepot, or cover, to hide a plain pot. Cachepots (with holes and without them) are useful for managing large plants and heavy pots: Grow your plant in an ordinary nursery pot that fits inside a decorative cachepot, so you can move them separately.

Self-watering, double-walled containers, hanging baskets, and window boxes are available. These are a useful option for dealing with smaller plants that need frequent watering.