Hello and welcome to my new venture - teaching and inspiring others to live better for less. Over the past few years I have learned how to turn what most would consider trash into useful household items. Not only will you save $$ but you will also be keeping a considerable amount of trash out of our already too full landfills. As you will see, in most cases, it takes considerable less time and effort than you may think.
Our first project is a birdbath. My husband accidentally broke the top of our ceramic birdbath and we were unable to find a replacement that we actually liked. So, we decided to come up with a temporary solution until we could find one we liked. The base was solid so we just needed a new top piece. We found a 16 inch plastic saucer for a planter that was adequate in size and depth to be a temporary top for our birdbath. So we brought it home, set it on top of the base and filled with water. Seemed to work okay but was very easily knocked off and it had to constantly be picked up and refilled. After a couple days of this (it's his job to keep it clean and filled), hubby had an ingenious idea. How about gluing something to the bottom of the saucer to help keep it upright on the base? The base is hollow and has a generous opening. Great idea. Only it didn't work quite so well with a piece of wood or with rocks. We needed something with a deeper profile to be effective. Next came the plastic Mayfield ice cream bowl (I happen to have a collection of plastic bowls, bottles and various other containers waiting to be re-purposed). It was a perfect fit over the base so he attached it to the bottom of the planter saucer with some waterproof adhesive and set it aside to dry for 24 hours. Voila'. No more picking it up and refilling. It stayed perfectly. Only it looked like the Frankenstein of birdbaths. Definitely an eyesore. Thank goodness for spray paint. Specifically the newer formulas that will adhere to most any surfaces, including plastic and ceramic. So after a quick trip to the neighborhood hardware store, we had our solution. I chose a hammered bronze finish and it now looks more like a high end piece than the hodge podge that it was. And the temporary solution has become a permanent fixture in our backyard.
