Anything can create inspiration. I remember sitting with my Dad on the Patio in Aurora New York at Mackenzie Childs home base. With Peacocks pecking at our elbows I looked up & saw a window box supported by a pair of corbels. I fell in love & immediately thought they would be perfect for a serving shelf I wanted to create on the deck. This was back in 1999 when my wood working skills were very new. I brought my dads attention to them and asked him if we could make them and he said of course.

Two weeks later I was covered in sawdust and layered in Gorilla Glue but I had my corbels. The down side to this adventure is that Dad didn’t inform me that I needed to wear gloves while applying the glue. For 3 weeks I had to give design presentations with gross brown glue on my hands. There is nothing that will remove that stuff! But 20 years later those corbels are still as tight as the day I glued them. Each corbel is made from 4 boards.

I then added 3 2×6 Cedar boards to create the top and for years that was fine. Several years ago I got motivated and decided to Stencil a runner on the shelf so I painted the entire shelf with house paint, taped off the border, stenciled the check and then worked on the center with acrylic paint. I was trying to create a bleeding damask pattern that was only partially successful.

Then last year when I lost my mom I grabbed the piece of marble that they had used on top of a serving cabinet on their patio. Dad had salvaged it from a local church. Now my shelf is home to that same piece of marble. Is the marble stained and etched… does it have some chips on the edges, you bet. Do I care? Absolutely not!

On the siding above the shelf I had tried everything from wall decor to half baskets full of flowers. That looked lovely until the baskets started shedding into the food!

Visiting a friend one day out in the country I took a wander thru her vast gardens. I was so enchanted and I came upon an old mirror hanging on the fence. It was placed low so it reflected the flowers in front of it. I realized that was the perfect solution to my dilemma above the serving shelf. Now I was on the hunt. I knew the mirrors would get trashed in the weather so I didn’t want to pay a fortune… After a few weeks I was able to come up with a few. I have had to change some of them out over the years but what better way to bring the garden back in to the deck. I have my Trumpeting Gabriel that I carved years ago hanging in front of the biggest mirror. She resides between the deck in the summer and the front window in the winter. She is such a great element of surprise and I just like looking at her. Once again I am on the hunt for a larger mirror but you know Covid-19! This wall always seems to be a work in progress but isn’t that half the fun.

When we sold my parents home I had to have the ship weathervane with it’s copper sails that my dad made for the top of the Cupola that sat on their house. I could not bring the Cupola which was a huge piece of fancy that he also created with a copper roof and wonderful patina. I brought an old porch post from their home that will eventually hold the ship in my garden. For now it is anchored to our round dining table on the deck. The husband & I were talking one evening and I glanced up and saw the ships sails reflected in the mirror and it looked like it was sailing away. Just my dad saying hello.

Get out there and enjoy the hunt. Think outside the box and you will be amazed at all the wonderful things you can find to enhance your gardening experience. Why buy new when you can buy old and have a great story to tell.

Thanks for stopping

Shelley