SHL Ep.4: Tips For Using Reclaimed Wood

In this episode of Simple Homemade Life we’re sharing what we’ve learned about harvesting and reusing old wood from our 1900s farmhouse. Reclaimed wood has a few drawbacks, but these are more than made up for by how cool it looks, the reduction in waste, and how much money you can save. Then we go out to the garden to talk about what we planted in the beds outside the garden and our new garden gate arbor that cost less than $100 and amps up the curb appeal by a lot.

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In The Farmhouse Bathroom

Using Reclaimed Wood

We talked about the pros and cons of using reclaimed wood in remodel projects. Even though it seemed the cons were more than the pros, I’d always try to reuse wood for the look, sense of history, and cost savings (if you didn’t have to buy it).

The biggest thing we’ve learned in many years of updating old homes is what I called “the cottage mentality:” EMBRACE IMPERFECTIONS. It smoothes over a lot of bumps, lol.

And that character can never be purchased, right?

Useful tools that make harvesting and using reclaimed wood the easier:

At The Garden Gate

The garden arbor Brian made for the gate is the just the finishing touch the vegetable garden needed! It’s a simple DIY, but makes a big statement, especially in an area like ours that can be seen from the driveway and street.

What to make your own arbor?

Watch our How to Make a Garden Gate video on this page or here on YouTube.

I also talked about what I planted to grow over the arbor and the things growing in the rock-wall beds outside of the fenced area. These are things that the deer (supposedly) won’t eat and so I planned for them to be in this area.

Here are the varieties I talked about:

Himrod green table grape – growing over the arbor (inside the fence)
Victoria rhubarb (poison leaves deter deer)
Green Globe artichokes (spiky leaves deter deer)
Bunching green onions (onion scent deter deer)
Marigolds – ‘Lemon Gem’ and ‘French White’
Asparagus (um, they’ve eaten one…)
Bulb onions

I’ll keep you posted on how this area does vs. the deer!

What’s Next

We’re getting detailed with how to customize soaker hoses to fit lots of different bed sizes. In other words – cut them up!

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