Trash To Treasure: Old Picket Fence Given New Life
How I created a DIY Garden Art Easel from old picket fence pieces.
You all know by now that I stop for junk!
Yup, I love nothing better than when someone leaves their junk by the side of the road! Another chance for me to repurpose something no longer wanted and turn it into a masterpiece.
I went for a walk and noticed a neighbor a few doors down was taking down a wooden picket fence in their yard.
So, I ran home, hopped in my car, and headed back to the neighbor’s house. Then I started loading my trunk with fence pieces that were someone elses trash.
The best part was about ten people were standing in another neighbor’s yard, watching me. I am sure they thought I was crazy!
You can only imagine my husband’s excitement when I came home, LOL!
I said, “don’t worry, it will come to me!”
It was time to put on my creative thinking cap on.
How I gave this old picket fence new life.
Because a white picket fence belongs in the garden, right?
I wanted to create an art easel with a frame out of the pickets and somehow manufacture a shelf to hold a window box to display plants in the garden. I had all the answers in my head, but now we had to think it through and put it into action.
Sometimes these ideas in my head get me into trouble!
We started by deconstructing the fence and trying our best to save each picket.
DIY Garden Art Project
The pickets were actually in good shape. It was only the runner boards that were in such bad shape. I have seen several styles of pickets, but I think this shape and style is my favorite.
We took a quick trip to Home Depot and quickly loaded up the cart with what we needed to purchase to complete this DIY garden art project. A hinge to attach the back leg, a few L brackets, some chains to keep the legs together, and a few flat bar pieces to allow us to connect a few of the boards.
Constructing the Legs for my garden easel
Next, we needed to construct the two front legs of the garden art easel.
We did this by connecting two pickets in the opposite direction and screwing them together in the middle to form each leg. We wanted the point of the picket to be on the top and the bottom of each post.
Next, we needed to give these two legs some support so they could handle the weight of the shelf we wanted to add to the frame of the garden art easel to hold a flower box.
I cut a piece of the end of a picket approximately 8″ wide, and we angled the edges so we could attach it to the back side of the legs. We would also be securing the third leg to this board using a hinge.
Next, we made a shorter leg to attach to the support piece on the front with a hinge.
Creating a Frame
Next, we were going to create a frame to attach to the front. Hubby wanted mitered corners, me, not so much!
I wanted there to be the point of a picket on each corner, so we cut off the ends of the two pickets going east and west and attached them to the other end of the pickets going north and south.
Adding a Shelf and Flower Box
Now we needed to create a shelf for the flower box.
We cut two pickets to 22″ long, cut off the point, and attached them with these metal straps.
Finally, we added a simple flower box to the shelf, just begging for some colorful and summery flowers to be planted!
The Final Product: A Beautiful Garden Art Easel
Here it is, the final product! I just love how this idea came together all from finding an old picket fence on the side of the road.
My new garden art found the perfect home near the She Shed. Then, I added beautiful flowers and vining greenery to decorate.
I love that this piece is literally a blank canvas; I can change up the flowers and plants seasonally to create a new masterpiece for every season.
What do you think of my latest trash to treasure DIY?
Maybe you will stop the next time you see a treasure on the side of the road.
If you loved this post, check out my guide All About DIY and Crafts for more ideas!
Wendy, what a beautiful and clever project! It’s so striking in your garden with the colorful petunias! Thanks so much for the inspiration! Just lovely! I’d love to share this in my weekly roundup post this weekend!
This is so pretty and clever! I’m featuring this on the Sundays on Silverado link party tomorrow! Thanks for sharing.
Niky @ The House on Silverado
Thank you NIky, I am honored to be featured on your LInk party.
This is such a fun idea, Wendy. I love old picket fences and have a section I found years ago at a junk yard/dump. I love them, and actually this fencing is still in good shape. Love your creativity to turn this into an adorable easel. Great job. Thanks so much for sharing this at All About Home, I’ll be sharing this at the Link Party on Monday evening!
Hi Debra, I am glad you enjoyed my post about the old fence. I hope you can find some time to create one for yourself. I am honored to be shared on your Monday’s link party. I will be sure to link up again tomorrow.
This project pretty much blew my mind! So creative, Wendy!
You crack me up, girl. I can’t wait to hang out with you in two weeks!
Thank you so much, Diane. You are always such a supportive friend! I appreciate you.
This is the cutest thing since the color pink! I love it and can hardly wait to make it. Thank you for linking up on Farmhouse Friday. I’ll be featuring this tomorrow. Hope you link up again soon. pinned
Thank you so much Cindy, I love your comment, you are so cute. Such a pleasure to post for your link party. I will be back.
Woo hoo! I am so excited to feature this post on the Fabulous Friday Link Party this week. I love this idea. Hugs to you.
Thank you Renae, I am so excited. Love your link party!!!!
Wendy, this is such an adorable planter! You are so creative. I need one of these for my garden. Thanks for sharing the tutorial.
Thank you Mary! I hope you find an old fence to whip one up real soon. If not, you could always use new posts.
Thank you so much for the share. Happy Fourth of July.
Wow Wendy – that’s a great idea, and it turned out so darling! Thanks for the detailed tutorial, and hope you have a lovely long weekend!
Thank you so much, Barbara. I am excited to join your beautiful blog. Your friend’s birthday party was truly unique—what a lucky friend.
I hope you have a wonderful long weekend—happy 4th of July.
Omgoodness, be still my picket lovin’ heart!! We have made many picket fence projects over the last few years because I just love them! In fact, just today a new picket fence project post is going live! Your idea is so unique Wendy – I have enough pickets to make one for our yard! Thanks so much for the idea!😊
You are so cute! I cannot wait to see your picket fence project. I am headed over to your blog right now.
I assume you are going to Haven. I cant wait to see you!
Wendy, you are amazing! This is so cute! I love seeing all of your beautiful projects!
Thank you so much, Elizabeth, same here. I love reading your blog posts.
I love this Wendy. You are so clever. I’d like to share on my Sunday post.
Hi Rachel, thank you so much. I would appreciate the share. I am so close to 10K. I can taste it. However, it seems to be moving very slowly lately.
I was going to reach out to you as well as I would like to share your easy 4th of July decorations on Saturday. I know I am late, but I have had a rough month, happy to be feeling better and back in the swing of things.
Love this idea, Wendy! Very creative. ♥️
Thank you, Kathy, it was good trash to treasure for sure!
Wendy, this project is so adorable. You can do so much with it. I love how you have a flower box on the shelf. Darling!
Thank you so much, Tammy. It is a fun project that I can do a lot with. There is just something about upcycling that I love.