Thursday, January 22, 2015

Upcycled Greenhouse From Old Windows and Doors.

I don't even know where to begin, my excitement over this project is out of control. Winter has had me itching for spring planting. The days of picking vegetables in the winter are few and far between, at least in my first little winter garden. I ordered my seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, and I'm counting down to when it's warm enough to start my seeds!
 I needed a "greenhouse" of sorts, and there was pretty much nothing that was going to stop my determination. 
Husband at work?
Oh well. 
Drill batteries dead? 
Charge those suckers up.
 Case in point, the photo above, that I thought to stop and snap while the battery was charging on the saw. This door has been in our storage trailer for years. It's solid wood, and I knew I'd use it someday for something. I decided the height I wanted, and the angle for the top, and cut my two side pieces out of this door. 
Next, I used an old french door (glass still in tact, holllllaaa!) as my front, and screwed them together with long wood screws. This seemed a heck of a lot easier than framing up the entire thing out of wood, then covering the front with individual wood slats. Plus, it's super cute and adds more sunlight! 

Next, I just measured, cut, and screwed in the four framing pieces you see around the top edges. This gave me something to rest and hinge the windows on.

I'm still debating on what to do on the inside, because I know the grass will grow. I am leaning toward pinning down thick black plastic, and topping with tiny gravel, like in our garden.
 All I had to buy were four hinges, a couple of hooks, and a small length of chain. 

The hooks are on the fence, and the chain loops are screwed to the center of each window. Simply lift the window, and hook the chain to the fence to work inside. Ahh! You can tell I'm super proud of this one! Now I have to figure out what to put on the walls of my house, where I removed those decorative windows.