Garden Architecture

 For the last few weeks I've been re-posting some of my most pinned posts while on my "August recess".  Enjoy this one from 2013.


You know I love my garden, but I like something even more than the blooms----vintage planters, building fragments, spheres, and statuary to embellish my garden design.   These additions add dimension, texture, interest and most of all uniqueness to my landscape.

Have you ever come across old cement planters?  They never rot like wooden planters and when they're in a shady spot they weather with patches of moss and develop a fabulous patina.  I have three matching planters in front of my garage doors.  I usually fill them with flowers, but this year I added some metal topiaries and planted some climbing hydrangeas among the flowers.  They'll need some time to climb to the top, but the support is there for them.

Cement Planters and Metal Topiaries

To the side of the garage, my gargoyle frowns.

My Gargoyle

I have more cement planters in a grouping at the base of my side walkway.  The tall planters are actually chimney pots.  They originally were on roof tops, but they are perfect as tall garden containers.  They're indestructible.  Check out how they're weathering.  My husband wanted to power wash them.  Oh no!!!

Cement Planters and Chimney Pots

I consider my pergola garden architecture too.   I hung a wrought iron candelabra from one of the supports and covered the chain with burlap.

My Pergola Framing the Walkway

I have another chimney pot near the porch.  It's perfect with a fern.

Chimney Pot with Fern

I painted a sphere yellow and suspended it in the tulip magnolia tree.  I have a fern in an urn beside the other side walkway--one of a pair flanking the path.  The garden bench with scrolly iron sides has traveled with me from house to house. 

Sphere, Urn, and Garden Bench

You've already seen my huge iron sphere that is supported by a tall planter in front of the other garage.

 I found this lady statuary and the pagoda at an estate sale near my home.  She was the center of a broken fountain.  They both are cement and very heavy.  I had to be very sure about their location because I was afraid to ask any of my helpers to move them a second time.  My Home Goods sphere is in the foreground.

Lady Statuary, Pagoda, Sphere

This photo is from last year, but I wanted to share the perennials that bloom around my statue.

You've also seen this building fragment before but it's one of my favorite architectural pieces.

Building Fragment in My Garden

This weathered iron bird bath is now a planter.  The architectural piece in the lower right corner is a broken fragment from the lady's fountain.  I scattered the broken fountain base pieces into the garden.

Bird Bath as Planter

We received a sundial as a wedding gift.  I found a cement base to support it.  It's probably part of a bird bath.

My Sundial

Near my screened porch entrance I have a tall lattice obelisk.

Lattice Obelisk

This little squirrel can confuse the real ones in the yard.  He's next to another bird bath.  Have you noticed that I like to scatter rocks in my garden so plants can crop up in their crevices.

Squirrel and Bird Bath

My Buddha bounces around the yard.  Currently he's resting against the pear tree surrounded by a field of liriope.

Buddha

This rusty metal cupola is another favorite.  It's next to a chippy garden chair.  A section of iron fencing is a back drop.

Cupola, Bench, Iron Fence

Hydrangeas are blooming in front of a planter.  To the left is a textured cement orb.

Hydrangea, Orb, Planter

I have a garden arch at the entrance to the walkway to the back yard.  I lost one of the finials and replaced it with an iron bird.  He seems very happy among the trumpet vines.

Iron Bird and Trumpet Vine on My Garden Arch

So, do you decorate your outdoor spaces?   How do you embellish?

How I Re-purposed and Styled Vintage Post Offices Boxes

My husband and my son are vintage car enthusiasts.   They also love all  kinds of "guy" stuff.  Old oil cans, automotive and gas station related signs, car parts, and even the top to an old gas pump have found their way home with them.  So, on one of our joint flea market shopping trips it didn't surprise me at all when I opened the van and saw a section of boxes from a post office. 

Vintage Post Office Boxes

They came with all their keys and were outlined in a fabulous greek key design.

Our garage is the holding zone for treasures waiting for a spot in our home.  They stayed there for a while until we realized that they could be our new wine storage cabinet.  We were thrilled when they fit perfectly between the bookcases in the family room.  It was a win win--wine within reach and another find out of the garage.

Post Office Boxes in Their New Home

Perfect Fit

Our wine bottle opener set fits into the bottom drawer.

Of course you've noticed that I couldn't let a flat surface unstyled.  I added a tray to the top then filled it with accessories from other spaces in my home.

The sphere and the Hermes boxes came over from the mantel.

The horse head decided to leave a bookshelf and stay here.

Lately I've been loving anything with arrows.

Marble Sphere on Arrow Pedestal

 I liked my Trina Turk fabric so much that when I had a remnant of it from my ottoman project,
 I framed it as modern art.

Framed Trina Turk Fabric as Modern Art

I wanted to share one of the bookcase shelves.Notice the other marble orb on a pedestal.
It repeats the greek key pattern on the post office boxes.

One of the shelves on my bookcases.

We're ready for a party.

Versace, Draper, and Hermes

Versace, Draper, and Hermes.  Yes, I combined all of them and it worked.

My search was over when I purchased many Hermes scarf boxes from a fellow vendor.  

Here's how I pulled it all together.

I've had this framed Versace poster for many years.
  And, like all the accessories in my home it traveled from the living room, to the kitchen where it spent many years, and now to my family room.  One thing that always makes traveling possible is that I have the color black in most rooms in my home.

The poster may have found its forever home above my "Dorothy Draper" dresser.
(If there ever is a forever home around here.)

To the top of the dresser I added a  bejeweled demijohn that traveled here from the screened porch.

And now my latest favorite find, the Hermes scarf box.

And of course I purchased more than one so I stacked them and used them as risers.

To top them off, a spikey sphere.

I think that the orange boxes add just the right pop of color to so much black.

When I get a minute to take more photos I'll share where I put the rest of the boxes.

Kathy

Re-Visiting Urns and Trophies

I've been blogging for a little over two years.  With some trepidation I decided to go back and look at some of my really early blog posts.  As I went back I'll have to say that I was approaching them with what a relative describes as using my "long teeth".  Part of me wanted to see what I'd been up to then and part of me was leery of what I might see.  What I found was that they weren't that bad.  It was actually an eye opener to how many changes I had made to my home in that short time.  And, how many pieces had moved around the house.  I have to say that the photos taken with my point and shoot camera and without the benefit of a photo editing program in place weren't that bad.  Whew!!!!!!


One of the many change-ups was my step back cupboard in my kitchen.  Today it looks like this. 

Styled Bookcase

In the earlier post it had a red background and was filled with my collection of trophies and urns.  Looking back, that red was sooooo harsh.  To see how I transformed and re-styled it go here.

To see the original post about the trophies --cringe--go here.


Even though the trophies and urns don't fill my cabinet any more, I still use urns and trophies in my home. 

During the holidays I use them to hold flatware for a buffet.

They support some globes on my bedroom dresser.

I love using feathers in containers. This is one of my larger trophies.
It's dated 1926 and is for the President's Club, Washington County, PA.

I even converted a coffee urn into a lamp.  It's in my laundry room on my pantry shelf now but used to be in the kitchen.

I found these super fun flatware with leopard print handles.
 I store them in urns on my kitchen counter within easy reach.   In front of the pewter plate is a Pairpoint urn filled with pears.
 If you missed my post about my faux snakeskin back splash with nail head trim, go here. 

These urns are also in my kitchen.  They're new and have a flat back, almost like a wall pocket.  They're from one of my wholesale suppliers, Go Home Ltd.  I filled the tops with moss.

This small urn displays the hornet's nest I found.

I also have a large urn in my laundry/pantry.  I sometimes put a silver sphere in it or as in this image my freeze-dried boxwood orb rests in it.

I think I may be taking a peek at some of my other early posts.  Who knows what I'll find.
Have any of my blogger readers gone back to the very beginning?  What have you found?


Kathy