Tuesday, July 17, 2012

CREATIVE REUSE: WHAT WAS IT?

image from brookegiannetti.typepad.com
Many years ago my hubby and I stumbled across a galvanized barrel similar to the one above, at a flea market, and brought it home. The lady who sold it to us had lots of them, and believed they were originally for bathing one's kids in. I wasn't so sure about that.
We have always used ours as a planter. When we lived near the gulf coast, and were going with a tropical theme, it got drizzled with ocean shades of aqua and cobalt blue.
When we moved here, it took on the violet and tangerine hues of a Hill Country sunrise.
image from miswesternmalaise.blogspot.com
They became quite popular when this version appeared in Smith & Hawken catalogs a while back, where they were called "antique planters". I've heard others refer to them as "vintage wash tubs" and even watering troughs for animals. I suspect people have used them for all these purposes over the years, but it wasn't until I stumbled across this photo on Pinterest recently, that my gut finally said "Yes! Now that makes perfect sense!"
In fact, it's got me on the look out for a second one, and if I ever do find one (for a reasonable price, of course), we just might be adding a little bit of rain gutter to that pump house of ours, which sits right next to my new raised beds. My only dilemma is how to keep it from becoming a breeding ground for mosquitos. Any suggestions?

4 comments:

Teri H said...

We had a screen and a lid on our rain barrels... kept all the mosquitoes away!

Hill Country Hippie said...

Yeah, that's what we had on the small barrels we ordered from Smith & Hawkens a few houses ago, but those were manufactured that way. We'd have to make our own lid for a galvanized barrel like this, and the odds of us getting a good enough seal around the gutter pipe, which would have to go down through the lid, to keep itty bitty skeeters out? Slim to none! We're not very handy that way.

Teri H said...

Ours wasn't "sealed" but then we didn't have any mosquitoes that we noticed the entire time we lived there... We started out with just the netting on top... but the water kept turning green... so we added the lid. And that took care of the green!

Hill Country Hippie said...

It's funny, but when we first bought this place, I used to go on and on about how wonderful it was not to have any mosquitos, after living in muggy Houston for so long. But somewhere along the way that all changed, and I'm forever getting eaten alive. Of course, they don't touch my husband!