Project: trashcan makeover

I completed a couple of refurbishing or "makeover" projects this weekend. The first was unique for me for two reasons: it was not for my own garden, and it was a trashcan!

My neighbor is the principal at a small private school, and since he had already seen my patio chair refurb projects he wondered if I might help them make a donated outdoor trash container better looking.

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The can was a sturdy stainless steel thing, with a modern look that didn't fit the personality of the school:

Plus as my neighbor said, they're "not a zoo!"

Seeing how this thing was fabricated I really only had one plan for it: clad it in wood!

I don't have a step-by-step for you, but the trickiest part of this was determining the right width for the slats and the best angle at which to cut the edge.

Oh, and the sanding. So much sanding. 

The end result is really quite beautiful, simple as the design is.

Even before it had been stained/sealed my client was very happy with the results, saying "this is exactly who we are!"

During staining you can see the transformation better:

This is one of my favorite things about working with wood: staining it to bring out the richness. So satisfying! (If you followed me on Instagram - "inwig" -- you would have seen the above image as it happened over the weekend. Just saying...)

The stain is darker when wet, and dries a bit lighter:

I'm wondering now where in my garden I could put a trash container like this...

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