Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Repurposed BBQ Planter

I found a great blog. It's called Wasteland Rebel by Shia and her husband Hanno. It focuses on zero waste strategies they use to reduce their trash to one mason jar per year. That's amazing, but Shia recommends to start where you are and implement the strategies that you can.

One article that caught my eye was The 5 R's of Zero Waste which are refuse, reduce, reuse (repair), recycle and rot. The article talks about the importance of finding new purposes for items that are broken or worn out. I did just that with an old BBQ at the cabin.

I've been wanting a potting stand and planter to put under my kitchen window. I designed one to build from wood, but when our BBQ was damaged during a winter wind storm (see Flipping Burgers), it gave me a new idea. Rather than throw it away, I decided to clean it up to be my "new" planter.

To make it a look less like a BBQ, I removed the side shelf, burner, knobs and lid. The legs and sides were in pretty good shape, but the bottom self was very rusty. I used some leftover RustOleum paint we had to cover up the labels on the front panel and resurface the shelf.










The back panel proclaiming "Master Chef" became "Master Gardener" with a garden bunny mascot. I wanted plastic trays to fit on the shelf and inside the top to hold my seedlings and plants. I found litter boxes at Canadian Tire for $4 on sale that were the perfect size. That made the total cost of my planter remodel $8.

The planter looks pretty good. Yes, I know, it still looks a bit like a BBQ, but it makes me feel good to know I gave a new purpose to something that would have otherwise taken up space for years to come in the dump.

Have you repurposed anything lately? I'd love to hear what you've done. -- Margy

5 comments:

  1. This redo is awesome, really! I've seen old bbq's made into planters but this beats those by a mile. It looks great against the cabin walls, Margy, how creative of you!

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  2. Wow - very clever. Repurposed around here are Volkswagon type hubcaps - the type called baby moons - I hang them in trees or on the fence around the garden area. They look similar to a gazing ball - those large glass orbs you can purchase that are like upside down xmas ornaments that are so popular. We tried those - the first one got broken and the second one lost all it's shine inside. The hub caps can be polished up with chrome cleaner and they have a mirror like quality but aren't breakable.

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  3. Thanks Marion and 2 Tramps for the nice comments about my BBQ redo.

    One of the good thing about leaving the wheels on is I can move it away from the hot side of the cabin to a cooler spot when I'm not there.

    2 Tramps - Do you use your gazing balls just for the beauty of them, or do they help with birds in sensitive garden areas?

    Margy

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  4. Hi Margy, I love what you have done with the bbq.I really enjoyed our coffee time in Fairhaven.
    I am so far behind in comments i don't think I will ever catch up,but I am going to try.
    Love Hugs and Good Thoughts ♥♥♥

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  5. It looks great, good idea.

    Margaret

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We welcome your comments and questions. - Wayne and Margy