Fall Garden Table Decor with a Toolbox Makeover

Hello all, it’s me again, with some heather flowers to show you. Our Sunday morning walk in some beautiful fields of heather totally inspired my fall garden table decoration this year. I loved all those hues of purple and pink so much that I wanted to surround myself with them. And so I did.

My table under the patio roof is now ready for fall.

Do you recognize that big old toolbox I used as the main centerpiece? No? Don’t blame you. It got a little makeover. 

It was a dirty old brown box when I found it years ago in my in-law’s basement. Clearly handmade by my father-in-law from leftover bits of wood and meant to be useful, much more than beautiful.

I kept it like that for quite some time, never really using it because it was so boring and bland (hence no pictures in the before state). Then I painted a big old hutch with milk paint, and after finishing painting the hutch, I had some leftover milk paint in my cup, so I looked around for something to paint, and my eye fell on that old toolbox. I slapped rounds and rounds of milk paint on it, never even waiting for a layer to truly dry until my cup with paint was empty.

And then, I started using her as a planter box on my garden table. You can see her shine and pretty in pink in this post about decorating with crates. Painted white, she was looking a lot better but still pretty boring.

Well, no more. After this latest makeover, I truly love her.

She got a natural wood, “let’s slap some white bark” on her treatment. It was so easy and quick that I wonder why I didn’t think of this earlier.

I found these strips of painted bark in a home decor store in the summer. I chopped them up with the chop saw, nailed them to the container, and for a bit of added interest, I wound some heavy twine around the handle.

To make her fit for planting, I first put a slab of styrofoam in there, this fills her up a bit, so I don’t need to use so much soil when I fill her up with plants. And then, I covered the inside with heavy-duty plastic from a large garbage bag. So it is totally waterproof now.

She is all finished, and so much fun to decorate now!

Love the rusticness of the bark (and yes, I know that is not a word). And that it is white.

I had some pieces of bark left, so I used those to decorate a little white-painted mason jar. First, I used some elastic bands to keep the pieces in place and then replaced that with twine.

This is totally removable, if and when I want my white-painted mason jar back, I can just remove the decoration. Not gonna happen anytime soon, though, since I really love the rustic look.

Those little pink roses are very dear to me. I call them my father’s roses since I took them with me from his garden. It was his garden by then because my mother had passed away, and he had the roses planted. I also have my mom’s roses elsewhere in the garden. And my mother in laws roses too. I love that plants can become such vivid and wonderful carriers of memories.

But back to my heather-inspired fall garden table decoration.

Isn’t it a beauty?

Happy to have my fall outdoor decorating done. I guess now it is time for fall gardening jobs like collecting seeds from flowers and protecting fragile plants.

Ah, I love it when a plan comes together…

Love it even more when fall decorating is this easy…

I am so happy with the fact that it just looks so good outside now, especially since this Indian summer seems to be lingering, giving me lots of opportunities to sit outside and enjoy my little fall garden table decoration.

CU!

PS I don’t know if a toolbox is a he or a she, and my rustic bark-covered toolbox definitely has a masculine vibe now. And yet I think of her as a she must be the pink flowers. Anyway, just thought I’d share this random thought. Carry on!

plan it