Garden Furniture: I Pulled Unmatched Pieces Together with DIY Mosaics

Garden furniture has come a long way. Aristotle loved to lecture outdoors at his home. Unfortunately, the weather sometimes left the grounds wet leaving the students no place to sit with comfort. Flocks of his students went to the local marble quarries for a slab of broken marble, plopped it down in Aristotle's garden; and thus, the first garden seat was born. Mosaics is also an ancient craft and combining the two - garden furniture with mosaics - can transform "trash into treasure".

This photo is a photo of a project I did as a layout, commissioned and published by The Underground Shopper, demonstrating how flawed, unmatched pieces, collected from here and there at an incredible discount, were magically married to create a wonderful garden retreat in our backyard.

I remember having such fun with it. My whole family was involved, one perfect spring weekend, in cutting the marble tiles and placing them in vined patterns. We created a table top, seats, trivets and even covered the pots and chimneria. The project was not without learning curve disasters. The first table top was done on a wood table round, donated by Home Depot for the project, and I sealed it only on one side. When it was finished, we were so pleased with it. Then the next day we watched, helplessly, as the moisture permeated the wood top and it bowed until it looked like a taco shell.

Not daring to admit to the Home Depot manager that I ruined their wood round, we bought another. This time, prior to starting the mosaic, BOTH sides were sealed and the grouting was sealed too - problem solved.

In exchange for the advertisement of their products, every single thing in the photo, including the baker's rack, the chimneria, and the plants, was donated and ours to keep and enjoy. I was especially sad to lose the miniature roses nestling on the baker's rack- I lack a green thumb. Roasting marshmellows in a chimneria while little ones chase fireflies is such a memory-making treat; and it was a happy morning spot to start a new day. Over all, not too shabby, heh? Doesn't it make you long for spring?

Click on the photo to see an enlargement that is a burst of color that promises flowers around the corner.

Country Living: Living The Dream

Who hasn't yearned for a home in the country, a farm with a country home,
a garden, maybe a few cows, lots of animals and especially the peace and serenity of another time? An online blog, Life on a Southern Farm, provides a heart-warming glimpse of a family living the life that rivals our most poignant dreams.

The author of the blog, Pam , invites us to " come visit Backwoods Farm way down South, where you can rock on the 4 columned front porch and watch the goats play, cows graze and guineas run around. Sit a spell at the pond and listen to crickets, frogs and maybe an owl in the distant woods. See hawks fly their circles, bass jumping, catfish swimming." She adds, that "I live on a 100 acre farm with my husband, a few cows, a few goats, a big dog, 2 cats, 8 guineas, and a donkey name Jack. Of course there is Annie the goat(don't tell her) she thinks she is a person. We live a back to basics, debt free sort of life with hard work to keep us occupied."

Take advantage of Pam's priceless invitation to join her family as they explore their 100 acres of farmland, once ravaged by Sherman in the Civil War. Thrill with them as they discover artifacts from another era, watch as their barn is raised, chuckle as they patiently teach their goats to be goats, fall in love with the farm mascot, a donkey, named what else, Jack.

Learn how Pam's husband transformed what looked like an old country tavern, with oodles of appeal in its own right, to a dazzling white columned estate farm house. Both are so wonderful that it is difficult to choose your favorite.

I promise you will find the experience so real that you can almost breathe the air as the laundry dries on the line. Pam writes with a charming, down-home wry humor, shares a weekly mouth-licking recipe ever pulling you up-close-and-personal with lots of posts and photographs that fully capture the joys and wonder of life on a working, country farm.

Click Photos to enlarge and enjoy. Then click the following link to Pam's Blog - Life on a Southern Farm.

Thank you, Pam, for sharing.