I’ve spent the last few days making a patio garden/seating area. I recently discovered that the end of my house is a real sun-trap and after my friend Helen gave me a couple of chairs, I thought it really needed ‘beautifying’. Eventually, I bought a couple of rolls of fence material and then wondered where I could get some wood from. In the end, I discovered the perfect solution. All the wood is reclaimed and was given to me by my farmer friend Rob and another friend, Lynette. When I drove home after my wood collecting, the Jeep was crammed to the roof – I actually wondered if I’d ended up with too much!
After removing nails and sawing off rough edges, I had to buy some screws (since I couldn’t remember where I’d put the ones I had from a few years back). Once I had screws and tools sorted out, I started by making a few planters. They had to be free-standing and durable enough to take the weight of soil and plants… and not get blown over on windy days. A further complication was the multidirectional sloping of the paving. All the legs had to be cut to different lengths for everything to appear level.
I wanted to have different levels to add interest and an arrangement that would give a cosy, private and enclosed feel. Another friend donated a little ‘Turkey Oak’ tree (shown left).
With the last of the wood, I decided to make a personal chair…
The shaped back spars were originally used to keep clay drainage pipes apart when stacked. After doing a sketch to show my friend George, he said it reminded him of an Adirondack chair design. (I’d never heard of them, but a web search brings up loads). Here’s another view of the layout:
Amazingly, I ended up with exactly the right amount of wood for the whole project. All I had left at the end was one small bin bag of sawn-off rough bits – which my neighbour said he would take for kindling to light a steam traction engine’s boiler.
So… Time to think about the next phase…
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