Making Your Home a Pleasant Place to Be: Project Birdbath
My lovely lady and I love to nest. That is, we are always looking for ways to make our home our favorite place to be. Lately, (since we south Texans are privileged to an early onset of GORGEOUS weather), our attention has been on the backyard. We have several projects in the works, all of them on a shoestring budget, so I thought I'd share one with you all in the hope that it will inspire you, too; a little bit of effort goes a long way to making your little piece of the world an enjoyable, relaxing place to be.
Okay, so I already had a bird feeder on the back porch hanging on a plant hanger. The other day I saw our first visitor in a long time: a male house finch (looks like a sparrow, but his head and chest are red). "Well, if I'm feeding him", I said to myself, "I ought to be watering him, too", so I set myself on getting a birdbath. Unfortunately, I also have a strong frugality about me, and could NOT bring myself to pay the price for any of those offered by home depot. Instead, my lady and I made our own! It was simple, cheap, and turned out better than those we saw for sale. Here's what you do:
Go to Walmart and head toward the garden center. You're looking for sets of cheap, plastic pots with matching designs and varying in diameter. Grab one of each size, and then grab the largest matching pan they have. Next, head over to the hardware section and grab a tube of some sort of glue (Gorilla Glue, Rhino Glue...anything that looks like it'll be strong and withstand the elements). Here's what we bought:
I'll just show you the finished product...I think assembly instructions will be self-explanatory. :)
There you have it, a gorgeous, ECONOMICAL, and perfectly functional bird bath. Oh, and since it's hollow, I think I may put some sort of nice looking rock in the very center on top to help hold it down. In addition, I'm going to dig a hole at the base of the bottom pot once I have it out in the yard so that the toads can find a safe haven there. You want toads in your yard as they do consume a LOT of unwanted pests at night.
Happy nesting!
Doug :0)
Okay, so I already had a bird feeder on the back porch hanging on a plant hanger. The other day I saw our first visitor in a long time: a male house finch (looks like a sparrow, but his head and chest are red). "Well, if I'm feeding him", I said to myself, "I ought to be watering him, too", so I set myself on getting a birdbath. Unfortunately, I also have a strong frugality about me, and could NOT bring myself to pay the price for any of those offered by home depot. Instead, my lady and I made our own! It was simple, cheap, and turned out better than those we saw for sale. Here's what you do:
Go to Walmart and head toward the garden center. You're looking for sets of cheap, plastic pots with matching designs and varying in diameter. Grab one of each size, and then grab the largest matching pan they have. Next, head over to the hardware section and grab a tube of some sort of glue (Gorilla Glue, Rhino Glue...anything that looks like it'll be strong and withstand the elements). Here's what we bought:
I'll just show you the finished product...I think assembly instructions will be self-explanatory. :)
There you have it, a gorgeous, ECONOMICAL, and perfectly functional bird bath. Oh, and since it's hollow, I think I may put some sort of nice looking rock in the very center on top to help hold it down. In addition, I'm going to dig a hole at the base of the bottom pot once I have it out in the yard so that the toads can find a safe haven there. You want toads in your yard as they do consume a LOT of unwanted pests at night.
Happy nesting!
Doug :0)
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Re: Making Your Home a Pleasant Place to Be: Project Birdbath
It's a great idea! The birds would love your place - they'd be very thankful.
Thanks for participating in MIFS.
Thanks for participating in MIFS.
Posted by tips and tricks on March 1, 2008 at 3:14 AM
Re: Making Your Home a Pleasant Place to Be: Project Birdbath
Thanks for participating in this week's Carnival of Family Life, hosted at Discussing Autism. The Carnival will be live tomorrow, so stop by and enjoy some of the other many articles contributed this week!
Interesting in hosting? Check out the schedule at Colloquium and let me know which week interests you!
JHS
Colloquium
Interesting in hosting? Check out the schedule at Colloquium and let me know which week interests you!
JHS
Colloquium
Posted by JHS on March 2, 2008 at 5:21 PM
Re: Making Your Home a Pleasant Place to Be: Project Birdbath
I like this idea! But is the rock in the top going to be enough to hold it down in strong winds? I would like to make one, but definitely need to make sure it doesn't go flying into the neighbor's yard.
Posted by Pearl on April 15, 2008 at 5:07 PM