Organized Clutter

Welcome to Part One of my 2023 Junk Garden Tour! This year I divided the tour into wider angle photos (part one) and the close ups (part two).  I hope you enjoy the tour!

I found this vintage coffee grinder at our local thrift shop last week for $3.00.  It's vintage, but like 1970's vintage, and I don't like the look. Scroll on down to see the coffee grinder makeover and 8 other makeovers from the Thrift Store Decor Team . This month's projects include a scale, a mannequin head, Halloween Art, botanical print mats, wicker baskets, a key cabinet, and glass bottles.

Back in May, I shared four different planters with succulents, including three mop buckets, on my deck. You can look back at the old blog post for plant information  HERE.

My neighbor informed me that there was a free vintage garden cart and also a free spreader  on the curb close to my house. I checked it out, and of course I snapped it up.   I grabbed a big nail and a hammer from the garage. And I pounded holes in the bottom of the cart for drainage. I then added plastic water bottles to the bottom of the cart. I won't need to add as much soil. Next, I added potting soil. I picked up two white plastic baskets of mixed impatiens at Menards now only $5.61 each. The impatiens should fill in the top of the cart nicely. I placed the vintage garden cart next to the house, With other rustic planters and garden junk. The small buckets on top of the tool box are planted with red seed geraniums.  The rusty folding chair holds a tea kettle with parsley, and the grain bin has a white calliope geranium and two red impatiens bedding plants. More views of the back side wall of my house. Further down the wall, I have a funnel, stuck in a cultivator, plan...

I love picking up old farm tools at thrift shops and garage sales.  This is a vintage potato planter. I hoped that I could make it into a fun flower pot for my junk garden!  Scroll on down to see the process and completed project, along with 8 other projects from my blogging friends with the Thrift Store Decor Team.

Today I'm sharing a the junk decor and container plantings on my deck corners in 2023. Starting with this old red chippy gate and my  barn quilt project  from 2019.

This old stepladder has a new location this season! It has been in my front yard border for many years. See what's in the border this year to take it's place.

In January, I was contacted by email by a Wall Street Journal reporter.  To be honest, at first I thought it could be spam.  I called the phone number he had given me, and he was in fact a Wall Street Journal reporter. I had recently posted a washboard project on my blog, and apparently he had ran across it. He was in the process of writing a story on the last washboard company in America.  The story was posted both online and in the print version in late January. Although the final story did not include the photos I had emailed him, it did contain a couple paragraphs about me. So far, I have completed nine washboard projects for my blog.  Keep scrolling to see all nine here!

One of my bathrooms still has it's original tile, tub, toilet and sink!   It's definitely not for everyone.  At times I want to renovate it myself and replace the coral wall tiles. Over the last 30 some years, I have decorated my 1950's bathroom with vintage decor including lady head vases.

In 2017, I purchased new furniture for my living room, including a  Flexsteel Sofa and Chair and a Half.   At the time I had a white shag area rugs and the floral pillows that came with the sofa. Read on to see how my living room looks today.

The last time I shared this bedroom, it was brown, and decorated with vintage hunting and fishing decor. I just refreshed this room with new paint, and decorated it with my upcycle projects and some vintage items.

My kitchen needed a fresh coat of paint so badly! The old paint color was a little too almond colored, the ceiling was green, and I had painted a section of chalkboard above a corner shelf. I hope you can read on and see my small, farmhouse kitchen get refreshed on a shoestring budget!

One of the rooms that recently received a refresh is my 3/4 bathroom. The bathroom is really small, with barely enough space for a vanity, narrow toilet and a neo-angle shower.  Luckily my youngest daughter painted the room for me in Dover White. She was able to paint above the shower, behind the toilet, and on the ceiling, all difficult places for me!

On November 19th, I purchased my very first waxed Amaryllis bulb at a Littlefork Craft Fair for $25. The vendor had several waxed bulbs displayed in various vintage containers.  Mine was in a wooden salad bowl with Princess Pine tucked in around the edges.

Last weekend I attended the annual Little Falls (Minnesota) Arts & Craft Fair . It was my very first trip to the craft fair. I purchased the botanical butterfly wall art above at the fair from  Salvage Sisters - A Repurposed Store .  The panoramic style frame contained distressed paper with a bee and several different black butterflies, along with plant sprigs on the sides. The design was most likely created with rubber stamps and ink. The perimeter (mat) of the frame was created with distressed book pages, torn into varied and uneven pieces.

  This was the fireplace in my 1950's ranch style house until recently.  I haven't changed a lot about the fireplace since moving in back in 1990.  The mantel was already painted white by previous owners, and I painted the yellow brick surrounding the doors with white paint.   I have contemplated changing out the dated brass fireplace doors for a long time , but recently got a little more serious about it.  I looked online for black replacement fireplace doors.   The doors ran from about $265 to $400 at the big box stores .  I then watched several YouTube videos about painting the fireplace doors and settled on this cheaper route.

As I am preparing for the 2022 Junk Garden Tour, I thought I would share some container garden closeups before (at planting time) and after (late July). Like this chippy red wheelbarrow at planting time with a Heliotrope  and a  Red Calliope Geranium.   Read on for more photos.

In early June, I shared the revamp of my sign/planter and these container plants. I planted just one black eyed Susan vine in the planter/sign.  My plan was that the vine would hang down from the planter box and fill in with blossoms.  After about three weeks, the vine looked wilted all the time.  There just wasn't enough soil in the planter box for the growing vine. Read on below to see the potting bench and sign/planter as well as my previous potting bench photos over the years.

  Let's take a look at the plantings AND junk decor on another corner of my deck from this season and past seasons too!

Today I'm sharing more of my current and past junk garden plantings. This area is just past my deck, towards the back of the house.  Maybe you remember this area that got a makeover just last year   HERE.