Remember my Vintage Bar Stools score?

Time for the re-do!  I decided on Rust-Oleum’s “Heritage Red” spray paint in a satin finish.

I used a sanding block to remove all the loose paint.  Some places went down to the actual metal.  Then wiped them down with a damp cloth.

My saw horses were the perfect holder!  And the only shady spot to spray paint was in my garden.

The feet on the stools had nothing in them and I didn’t want the metal scraping up my deck or concrete.  I found these cup inserts at Home Depot!!

They went in really easy, just a few hits with the mallet.

Voila!!  Love the red!

Here’s a close up – “Heritage Red”.  Now just waiting for my cushions to arrive.

First let me say that I love Behr’s Barn & Fence paint.  It only come in red or white and is not sold in all Home Depot stores.  I used the white last year on my pumpkin patch fence and my potting bench.  It goes on thick and has great coverage, even on this old wood.  And it’s only $15 gal.

I had a left over 2x6x10 from my deck and I’ve been wanting to put a board across the top of the garden entrance to define it more and to hang a sign.  So I cut it to size, painted and my neighbor helped me lift it into place.  Yes, that is “iced coffee”!! YUM

I love the overhead board and the fresh paint.  I didn’t, however, love that my sign was too dark and kind of disappeared into the landscape.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned in the past that spray paint is my best friend, soooooo I had some high gloss white spray paint.  I painted it, let it dry and then took some sandpaper and ran it over some of the high points – just to knock off some of the shine.

Wayyyyyy better!

One of my friends/coworkers (Mamma Mia) found this sign for me over a year ago at an antique shop.  It’s been hanging in my house and my intentions were always to have it hang over the garden entrance.  Yahoo!!!

I took this picture on June 13th.  Make notice of my little cherry tomato plant in the center, right in front of the bee bath.

Wholly molly, right!?! I took this picture this past Sunday, July 16th – just about a month’s worth of growing.  That cherry tomato plant has like quadrupled in size.  It’s the one in the middle in the yellow cage!  You can’t even see the bee bath any more.  I cannot wait to harvest these babies.  A good amount of green cherry tomatoes as well as regular tomatoes.

They’re twin boys!!!!  Remember . . .

3 Bumps = Male Bell Pepper: Less seeds and better to cook with.

4 Bumps = Female Bell Pepper: Best for eating raw, they’re sweeter & have more seeds

To be honest – I feel like I’ve dropped the ball this year on my gardening!  I was either out of town or the weather was bad so things didn’t get into the ground as soon as I’d hoped.  I did get this bed going though.  The two larger tomato plants on either side of the bee bath already had like 3 months of growth on them when I bought them. My four bell pepper plants in the front row are doing well and actually the cherry tomato plant in front of the bee bath isn’t doing so bad either.  Those were the 4 for $12 and the bigger tomato plants were $15 each, all from Home Depot.

Woohoo – one bell pepper so far!  I need some bees to help my flower buds along.

When I strung my outdoor lights last year they hung a bit on the low side.  I decided this summer it was time to shore them up!  I bought a 4x4x8′ pressure treated post.  I already had an extra planter (plastic barrel from Costco) and I have left over cinderblocks from the original back porch.  I also had some left over concrete bags from the pumpkin patch fence Jason put in for me.  I set the 4×4 post inside one of the left over cinderblocks and per Jason’s instruction, I poured the bag of concrete inside the block and the planter, added the water, stirred it a bit and that was that!

You can see in this pic how low the lights hung.  I was able to raise them about a foot.

I predrilled the hole and then screwed in an eye bolt.  I used zip ties to attach the cable wire and light strands.

I’ve had this cute cow hanger for a couple of years, lol.  I knew it would come in handy some day!  Added a hanging plant to the opposite side of the 4×4 to help counterbalance the weight of the lights.  Those industrial light strands are pretty heavy – hence using the cable wire to string them.

Added some dirt and some plants over the top of the concrete in my barrel.  Now I just need to remember to drill a few drainage holes. Love!

I found this cute little bird bath at Home Goods.  I’ve been wanting something to put in my garden to attract butterflies/bees and I already had all those marble vase fillers.  The problem is keeping water in it – it evaporates pretty darn quick.  I love how colorful it is but think I may need more marble fillers.