Free Fridays - Garden Accent

I decided to start dedicating certain days for certain projects to help keep things moving along. I have designated Friday as Free Fridays! Basically this means I have to do a project completely for free - I am not allowed to buy anything for this particular project. I almost snagged a vintage victorian door from someones trash pile yesterday for this project, but by the time I had gotten off work it was gone! Snooze ya lose.

SO instead I opted to work with stuff I already have and fix a long anticipated problem in my garden.

This….

Such an eye sore in my pretty, little (and only) garden out front. 

I was given this beauty a couple years ago by a good friend who found it in a trash pile. So this absolutely counts as free!

Never really had much use for it, nor did I ever take the time to spruce it up. It was a headboard for a little while, then a kitchen decoration….

First I wiped it down pretty good and spray painted the middle panels with a white gloss. This white gloss was actually left here by the previous owner. Free!

I only went over the surface about twice. I like that the spray paint bled through. It makes it look way more vintage which is what I always go for. Then I decided to stain the frame. The bottom picture shows one stained side and one original side. The wood stain was also left here by the previous owner -  you know it….free!

There are three random hooks hanging on my fence which, you guessed it, were put up by the previous owner. I have never used them honestly so I took them off the fence and gave them a good cleaning. Then I attached them to my panels for a little extra flare! Flare is free in this house. 

Next I finally took my box of lanterns out of my car trunk. Now I did technically buy these lanterns for some of my wedding decor BUT I was reimbursed by my father. So I am counting this as free :)

Viola! A little covering up goes a long way. The decor matches my palette perfectly. It has vintage cabin written all over it. The beautiful white antique spray paint job on an otherwise vintage piece speaks to me. Then the nice rich stain on wood with cute little lanterns makes this go cabin. 

The meter and box now sits peacefully behind my garden screen. You can still poke your head around to read the meter!

Overall I am very pleased with this project and the best part is, it was all free! I think it really perks up my garden (even if I was not trying to hide something). I am really glad I added the hooks because I love the hanging lanterns. I also realized that I can switch different things out depending on the season. During fall I might hang corn or mason jars and during Christmas I can hang wreaths or ribbons.

Join me in Free Friday! Post your creations here! And look forward to Sunny Sundays (posts on outdoor decorating) and Twenty Dollar Tuesday (doing a fabulous project for $20).