One Man's Trash is Another Person's Garden Ornaments

I've been doing a little bit of alley shopping this last week or so, and picked up a few "treasures" for the yard.

I found an old end table that is, admittedly, not worthy of repurposing for use inside the house.

But cleaned, primed, and painted the exact same green as our plastic lawn chairs (we have about six of them floating about), it makes a neat little accent table to rest your cocktail on. I used spray paint suited for outdoor wood, but even if this only lasts a year or so, it's worth it. I just hope the red-green combo doesn't look too Christmas-y.

I thought this was super cute, a child's rocking chair. Makes a nifty plant stand.

Okay, the bench in this picture wasn't found in the alley; it came from Mom's other house and we were going to throw it away because it's kinda wonky, but I nabbed it as an accent piece for one side of the house facing the street. The corner garden here is still a work-in-progress, but you should have seen it last May. There was nothing growing here. With the exception of the Japanese maple at the far left, the plants here are mostly hand me downs from my godmother's garden, grown from seed, or perennials that were divided from the back yard. An almost-free garden.

If I do decide to prime and paint the bench, what color should I go with?

Finally, there's this. The sun was two minutes away from setting, so it's not all sparkly like I wanted it to be for the picture, but I'm so excited about it. I had spotted similar bird baths at an art fair last week, made from old glass.

The clear glass platter and bowl were left behind by the previous owners. The amber goblet is one I picked up a few years ago. The whole thing stands about a foot and a half high, and I can add to it later, I suppose. I was using the bowl as an outdoor water dish for our dog Maggie, and the birds were already bathing in it, so they should love this. Poor Maggie gets a plain blue glass bowl now.