Tag Archives: upcycle

Had a good morning in the garden this morning helping Julia out. The group put up a shade shelter yesterday using the existing posts and a bit of camo netting. They will now be able to eat their lunch without the fear of sunburn or aerial reconnaissance.

A few final touches were required, and that’s where I came in. It’s good to feel useful, even if it was my height rather than my design skills that were needed – as you can see from the photos, it’s a bit of a stretch for one of us.

Julia did some painting and other bits while I took photos and swept the tearoom floor. That’s my place in this marriage.

One of the ongoing jobs is to make the entrance to the garden a bit more colourful and inviting. There was a decrepit barbecue in one of the sheds, with lots of rust and a selection of holes in the bottom. With a bit of vision (think “drainage” holes) and some surplus paint it is now a bright and cheerful herb planter.

The morning was, apart from the company, a bit dull. This was an impression that was further reinforced when I drove past Trent Bridge at 12.15 – they had the lights on for the Test Match. I’d hate to think of the bill for that lot.

A Bench Made From Pallets

If you search the internet for details of garden benches made from pallets you will find far more information than you need. They are even advertised for sale, so if you want to pay £795 for some pallets with cushions on, this is your chance. What is the world coming to?

It will come as no surprise for regular readers to find that I have never spent £795 on a piece of furniture in my life. I came close once – £700 for a Victorian iron bedstead – but it’s an antique so is hopefully an investment rather than just furniture. That was actually advice a dealer once gave me – buy old furniture because it’s already knocked about and you can probably get your money back if you need to sell it.

Anyway – back to pallet benches. The Joe Swift video shows how to make a simple, functional garden bench. He used a single pallet with nine slats, we had to use two pallets because we only had 8 slats, and one of them was broken. However, it worked, and we have a solid garden bench.

We left it with a number of pre-drilled holes and marks so the group could finish it and sand it, which they duly did yesterday. Unfortunately I couldn’t be there to see it, and we can’t use Julia’s photos due to safeguarding restrictions. You will have to put up with photos of Julia instead.