Trash to Treasure

How was your weekend?  Mine was busy, but very productive.  The weather was completely gorgeous and so my efforts this weekend were directed outdoors.

For at least the past three years, we have had this rusted chiminea in our shed.  We used to have this on our old patio years ago.  Then it rusted and got sent to the shed.  I almost got rid of it last year, but never got around to it.  This year, I decided it was time to clean it up and repurpose it.

Using a wire brush, my son and I took turns sanding off all of the rust.  It took us a while, but in the end it was ready to be spray painted.

I used a bronze colored hammered spray paint to transform the piece.

While we were working on this, the sprinklers kept going off.  We had to move several times to avoid getting soaked.  Then my son had to go to his baseball game, so my son and my husband left for the game and I finished alone.  The chiminea weighs a ton. I could barely move it on my own.  I ultimately pushed it on it's side and rolled it across the backyard.  Not easy.   But if you have read this blog for any length of time you know that patience is not one of my virtues and so I wasn't going to wait until they got home to move it.

I added my restored chiminea to the side bed in my backyard.  I added a plant inside the chiminea, although I'm not sure it's going to thrive in there, so I might plant it elsewhere.  I left it in the pot for now.  The only issue at this point was that the chiminea is so heavy that it sunk into the mulch.

When my parents came over for Mother's Day yesterday, my father saw the situation, and built me a little platform for the chiminea.  He made it using left over pavers from our new patio.

Now it's perfect.  I'm so glad I didn't get rid of it last year.  What do you think of it's new look and function?

-Judy