So, like 5 years ago, I got the idea that I was going to cobble together a canopy bed for the Girl, so I bought some old staircase balusters and did nothing with them. Ideas are sometimes like that- you buy the materials, and then…the materials have to marinate a while.
Time passed, and a canopy bed no longer seemed like a good idea, but I had these 4 turned posts, so I painted them blue and put them by the apple tree, propped up in the holes of cinder blocks. When people asked me if I was going to do anything with them I couldn’t really give them the answer, “I did- look, there they are!” I would mutter something about birdhouses…
3 birdhouses and a finial. Guess which ones I painted?
So I kept thinking. We had painted some birdhouses a couple of years ago, what if these posts were supports for birdhouses? These aren’t the kind of birdhouses that birds really want to live in- you can’t open them and clean them, they aren’t really “habitat” they are more “decoration.” And I could plant something at the base that could climb them, so they would add some color and some structure. Then the question was how to stand them upright without putting them in cinder blocks. I also didn’t want to bury the bottoms in the ground, because that would make the posts really short.
This spring, I came up with a solution. In the grand family tradition of not spending any money on anything, I used some PVC pipe pieces, some blue duct tape and some rebar (okay, I did buy the rebar, but it was for a different project, so it doesn’t count. I just didn’t want you to think I was going around stealing rebar.) I taped the PVC to the bases of the posts, hammered the rebar into the ground and slid the pipes onto the rebar.
There's a can of blue spray paint in the garage, I may spray the PVC...
I planted them asymetrically. If I I have learnedanything from making bulletin boards, it is that if something is supposed to be straight, and it’s just a little bit crooked, it drives you crazy. However, if it is supposed to be off-center, then no problem. Unless you are already crazy.
Now, they next step will be attaching the birdhouses on top. The Girl has suggested super glue. Any thoughts?
Strawberry Fields for Breakfast 
Jun 07, 2011 @ 02:18:58
you might have to buy it, but I recommend something other than superglue…super glue and wood and the elements are no bueno. I’d try E6000 or some other kind of super duper all purpose adhesive…
Jun 08, 2011 @ 09:05:07
aaah, the E6000 was what I was looking for- I knew there would be something perfect out there, but I didn’t want to stand around in the glue aisle comparing labels.