Rustic Arbor # 2

Rustic indeed…I love the look! Nice project, John!

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

ooooooooooh John… I love it.
Now, take that second picture and put some lighting around it to highlight it and voila – an entry in our Garden of Lights competition!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Beautiful, just beautiful. Where are you getting the wood from?

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Thank you everyone . Ms Debbie i usually light them up with Christmas lights and they look very beautiful at night. I didn,t do it this year.

Grandma T
A farmer down the road from me cut a bunch of trees down so he could put a landing strip in for his airplanes so i went and asked him if i could have all the branches.
I think he thought i was nuts because he didn,t think anyone could build anything from them. I gave him $ 10.00 for all the wood.
I just found another farm just down the road from me now where they just clear cut everything and left all the branches behind so i will be busy for a while now .
I also make birdhouses out of old barnwood. I am pretty well known for them. http://www.extremebirdhouse.com

-- John in Cranbrook , http://www.extremebirdhouse.com http://community.webshots.com/user/cranbrook2

Holy architecture!! I’m beginning to think that the arbors you built are just starter frames for your birdhouses!

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

Thank you Damocles
I build all sorts of things but my birdhouses seem to steal most of the attention for some reason. lol

-- John in Cranbrook , http://www.extremebirdhouse.com http://community.webshots.com/user/cranbrook2

Well I can certainly see why you are known for your bird houses. They are magnificient … I mean WOW!!

I have always loved “old” items. It’s too bad we can’t really talk to the item or pieces of wood to hear their life story and all the living they witnessed. If you can get beyond the corny-ness of that statement. It’s like when you buy an old house … all the memories that are stored within those walls … a piece of history. In my mind you are saving a bit of “history” with each aged piece of wood you use.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

In the last e-Mag for LumberJocks, I wrote about that, Grandma T, in the feature article about passing on the legacy—not only the “how to build” but the history behind the tools used as well as the history of the items made with the tools..

I look at my heirloom table in my dining room and think about the people who have eaten at it – the laughter, the angry words, the delicious food, the not so delicious food, the family connectedness, the missing family members… yah, lots of history.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I have always been fascinated with the past and i enjoy collecting antiques. I think it is a real shame to see people throw away old barns or burn the wood because they think there is no further use for them. It is like they are burning the past.
If it wasn’t for recycled wood i wouldn’t be able to afford to build very much. I have also been a big fan of the Victorian era. Thats when a house looked like a house.

-- John in Cranbrook , http://www.extremebirdhouse.com http://community.webshots.com/user/cranbrook2

ha.. as opposed to the “clean” lines of the modern decor…

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I built houses for more then 20 years and most of them were pretty boxy looking with very little style.
Then there is the trim , years ago it was about 12” – 16” high now its about 2 1/2” high and made of sawdust.
The only thing i like about new houses is they are more efficient then the old ones.
I would love to build a old Victorian style house now but with some of the new technologies used today such as insulation. lol

-- John in Cranbrook , http://www.extremebirdhouse.com http://community.webshots.com/user/cranbrook2

oh yes.. the trim!!! I love those really high baseboards.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Old and charming is what attracted us to our little home. “She” was built in 1923 with the wonderful “high” trim around the floor and windows and doorways. We found out from our neighbor that our home (and the one’s around us) is actually a Sears and Roebuck house … Been fun finding out more about these houses; pricing, how folks purchased a house, shipping of the “HOUSE”!!, all the boards numbered so layman could build them, etc. We also found an old steamer trunk in our attic from the early 1900’s … would love to restore it.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

oh how exciting!

I’d love to see a picture of the trunk.
I have a couple old trunks.. one was my grandfathers. It is what he carried his things in when he came from England. He was a “Bernardo Boy”... very interesting history there. Each of the young children were given a trunk (such as the one I now have) a Bible and I think they got one set of clothes but I might be stretching it on that.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Oh Wow … that is really interesting about your grandfather. I’ll have to drag the trunk out and take a picture. We have a HUGE barrel (outside now filled with dirt and flowers) that my husband’s grandfather filled with clothing and items when he came over on the boat from Poland … my father in law has had it in his garage all these years and finally gave it to me cuz he knows I love “old” things; especially when they have a very cool story associated with them.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Here is a couple of pictures of the trunk mentioned above … poor thing, first in the attic now in the basement …

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

the trunk is magnificent… such history… ooooh I love it.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

That trunk looks like it could go another 100 years . It looks very solid still. Maybe i will build a few of them and leave them for my grandchildren.

-- John in Cranbrook , http://www.extremebirdhouse.com http://community.webshots.com/user/cranbrook2

Well the steamer trunk is still pretty sturdy for it’s age … and my husband corrected me on it’s age … it’s from the mid to late 1800’s. Man, I wish this trunk could talk especially cuz it is not from our family.

John, leaving trunks for the grandchildren would be very cool … if you do end up making them; I would love to see pictures!!

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

I love how this thread is meandering all over!

We’ve got a quilt chest in my family that my great-grandfather made from wood he milled from logs himself. We had some sawyers in the family back then, who were also accomplished woodworkers. This chest is HUGE; probably 5’x3’x4’. My Mom promises that when she goes toes-up (sorry…my family is very open about death), I have to find a place for this chest…which means we’d definitely need a bigger house!

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

That sounds like quite a QUILT CHEST!!!! Next time you head over to your mom’s you will have to snap a picture of that …as I would love to see it!!!

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b