The previous owner of my home left my husband and me a lovely gift in the back yard…a large pile of deck wood. Covered in a tarp and home to bugs, stray cats and squirrels this large pile of wood sat welcoming us. At first it looked like a pile of work. It is hard to imagine a dumpy bunch of old wood as anything but work, but after some thought my husband and I thought of some great outdoor projects that the wood would be wonderful for:

A fence- We have a large garden area that we want to keep the dog and small children from and the best way to do this is by erecting a fence. Well, it would cost too much money to buy new wood so we decided that a rugged, country looking fence would do the job. With a bit of cutting and nailing the old wood was put to good use guarding our garden.

Garden Boxes- My husband, a fan of raised garden beds, wanted to create individual wooden garden boxes for his various plants. For this project he never even considered new wood, he was quite excited to use the large pile left by the previous owners.

Fire wood- Some of the wood in the pile was too rotten to use for building, but not for fuel. Though it didn’t burn for too long, the rotten wood did contribute to heating our home.

Outdoor table- Because we’d lived in apartments up until recently we had no outdoor furniture and while garden chairs don’t cost much, nice sturdy tables do, so here was yet another project for the old wood. Although it took more time to get the old wood smooth and looking good, it was worth the work of having a homemade, unique table