A special early birthday present

As I said earlier, my parents were recently here for a two week visit.  On one of the nicer, only non rainy days, my mom headed out with me to the dairy in Temple where I get my week's supply of raw milk.  Afterward, we went down the road a bit to Petterborough for a little poking in some of the quaint shops and a nice lunch at Twelve Pines, an upscale cafe.  On the way home, I made a quick stop at the nursery for some heirloom tomato plants and that left just the right amount of time for a quick poke around White Home Collections in Wilton, NH.  This is one of my favorite antique/vintage haunts.  They had just had their garden extravaganza the weekend prior, so the outside was all decked out with vintage and shabby chic gardenware.  Oh how happy it was!  I really liked a potting bench that had been made by merging two pieces:  a shabby metal legged table and a crate with many sections.  It would look so nice on my front porch.  I wasn't in the position to buy it for myself as I had recently treated myself to a new pocket book with some of my antique sale profits and the rest was to be saved.  I couldn't justify spending the money on it anyhow as I didn't really need it, just really, really liked it.  My mom surprised me by suggesting it could be an early birthday present.  We had done a similar scenario with a shelf I liked here a couple years back.  I thought it over and came back the next day to get it, and am so happy I did.  It is mostly impractical, but makes for fantastic eye candy.  Both coming in and going out my front door is so happy.  So here it is....and happy birthday to me a few months early!  Thank you again Mommy!!

I added the lower shelf using two old bead board barn boards for authenticity to the shabby look.  I also added the number tags I had been saving to do something fun with.

I had so much fun filling the cubbies with salvaged, unoccupied bird's nests, weathered terracotta and vintage garden tools I've picked up here and there.

The new lower shelf holds a great yellow dairy crate and some red impatiens, some of which have been planted in a repurposed coffee percolator.

The new "potting bench" shares the porch with an old stool, turned plant stand; galvanized concrete mixing bucket turned into a planter; picket fence turned wall "art" and an old half-crate turned wall planter with an old lunchbox planted with red ivy geraniums.  It all comes together in a great big smile to welcome me home each day and send me out into the world with a smile.