June Thrifty Style Team, Rebar Barbed Wire & Junk

Fathers day is right around the corner and here to celebrate the men is the June edition of the Thrifty Style Team.

This month the team is counting on the males for something thrifty - be it dads, husbands, sons or brothers - and the "style" could be just about anything.  

It's gonna be Junk Style at the Ranch.

I'm not sure if the man of this house considered it celebrating his father-ness when he had to add something else to his to-do list, but he did it anyway because he's always a good sport, so he combined weekend tasks for the end product.

Before I go any further, because even as I write this I am quite sure I will be poking a little fun at the male I selected to spend my whole life with, I have to temper the pending jokes with the truth.

The truth is that I don't know a better husband or father. I think he's that one in a million, the whole enchilada, all rolled up into the father of our six children who puts up with me. All that DIY'n that's done around here doesn't happen without his help.  

You can often find him posing for blog photos..... usually without a head or as a hand model only.

And fortunately he also has a sense of humor. 

When I told him for the June Thrifty Style Team I was taking him shopping to a thrift store to find something he could repurpose cheaply all on his own, his eyes rolled back in the sockets, he foamed at the mouth, and his head started to spin around.

I believe I lost him after the word shopping.

If I recall correctly my next words were something like fine then, no shopping, but whatever you do, you have to come up with this all on your own, I can't help you decide.

Then I totally lied to him.....“It needs to be done in a week.”

There were actually two weeks before you would be reading this.  One week for him to accomplish what I needed, which would leave me all the time in the world during my one week to write it up. 

It’s not like doing this was on his agenda, to-do list, or even a twinkle in his eye. His calendar and list is full and adding one more thing to it would only work if he thought there was a deadline to complete it.  Telling that fib helped me not to nag him asking if it was done.  So he multi-tasked with his other weekend projects and finished it the day before I needed him to have it done.  He never mentioned missing his deadline, and possibly missing it was the reason I wanted him to think he only had a week when he really had two, but telling him that did assure me it would be done by my deadline.

What started his project path was a pile of rusty junk he pulled out of the woods that he needed to dispose of, so he combined that job with the chore of being thrifty, I mean what's more thrifty that using stuff headed to the trash?

Here is the first of the photos he took with his phone.  What is it you ask?  Well it's part of the pile of metal junk from the woods, this picture would be barbed wire in case you were having trouble identifying it.

I was impressed he remembered to take photos along the way, so I will cut him a little slack on that first one.

The man with the tools can make just about anything.  But there was one thing he never tried, and a tool he didn't own.  

A welder.

A couple weeks prior to my request for a thrifty project, he purchased one, then left it in the box waiting for the opportunity to experiment with it.

Apparently the time he chose for welding experimentation was now.  

I would kind of like to know how he took that photo above without a third hand.

He's a humble man and it didn't matter to him one bit that this was an opportunity where he could showcase his talents.  He didn't care if anyone knew he has abilities almost as vast as moving mountains, that he is able to create anything you could imagine.  

Nope, he just wanted to try out this new welder, get rid of a pile of metal junk, and move on down his to-do list never giving Thrifty Style Team another thought.  

And that's pretty much what he did. 

I'm calling this creation his metal sculpture re-rod, barbed wire, bird house holder.

To be more exact, fence post, re-rod, barbed wire, wood scrap, license plate metal sculpture bird house. And he got points for picking up the junk on the side of the driveway that he hauled out of the woods before I had a chance to run it over with the lawnmower.

I am pretty sure rather than bring anything else home from a thrift store he would much rather put to use stuff that is already literally laying around here.

The wood started out as whatever was on his garage floor.

Coupled with a license plate off a car that last had tabs in 2010, and it all became a birdhouse that he placed into his metal junk concoction made from experimenting with his welder.

I had no idea what he was up too, and it wasn't anything I could have predicted.

He didn't even tell me it was done, just checked it off his list and moved on.

I discovered the metal design in a remote spot in the backyard, stuck in the ground close to the area where the dog does his business and the mosquito's thrive as they lust for my blood.

I toted a camera outside, carefully surveyed the ground to avoid dog stuff, and took a couple pictures while the Minnesota state bird feasted on my exposed skin.

He told me it didn't really turn out like he imagined, which is hard for someone who usually nails it on anything he dreams up.  And when I first saw it I was a bit underwhelmed as well.

But then I looked at it out in the yard in a previously ho hum spot, and I realized it gave that area a bit of life, and decided it was a nice repurpose of metal junk that otherwise would have been given to the junk man.

And two days later some chickadees have moved in, happy as can be to have a place to call home while sitting on the barbed wire.

 It stands pretty tall six feet or more, and bonus there is left over barbed wire that I can use if I ever need any.

Oh and I think it's tornado proof, at least the metal part.

At this point he's not giving up his day job to weld metal into yard art, but the birds have sturdy barbed wire branches to perch upon, and my thousand mosquito bites will eventually heal.

I'll put a little bird seed on the front of that house because as I found out, if you build it they will come!

Stop over at the links below to see what the other menfolk are doing for their blogging women.....

• BIRD HOUSE MAKEOVER by Redhead Can Decorate
• HOW TO MAKE A COLD FRAME by Hearth & Vine
• DIY BARN DOORS by DIY Beautify
• OUR NEW HEADBOARD by 2 Bees in a Pod
• DIY HANGING LAMP FROM THRIFTY FINDS by Chatfield Court
• AFFORDABLE DIY SHIPLAP WALLS by The Creek Line House
• HOW TO BUILD A WALL MOUNTED PLATE RACK by I Should Be Mopping the Floor
• THE MAN BEHIND THE NAIL GUN by Duke Manor Farm
• THRIFTY DIY LADDER CHANDELIER by What Meegan Makes
• THRIFTY REBAR BARBED BIRD HOUSE by Bliss Ranch
• REFURBISHED WOODEN STOOL by Cottage at the Crossroads
• WOOD AMERICAN FLAG by The DIY Village
• INDUSTRIAL FARMHOUSE TOILET PAPER HOLDER by Salvaged Sister & Mister

Visit other Bliss Ranch Thrifty Style Team projects ....

Two Sided Rail Way Sign

 Easy Spray Etched Metal Door Makeover

First Aid Cabinet
Giant Mixer Beater
Maple Syrup Tote

The Barber Shop

Updated Lamps 

Blue to Orange Stool Makeover 

Vintage Wood Tool Turned Shelf 

Trash To Treasure Sliding Wood Barn Doors 

Glass Light Globes 

Wood Bow Ties

Thrifting Places & People 

Updated Door Mat 

Vintage Table Top Lap Desk 

End Table Bottom Shelf Updates 

Route 66 Beer Tote 

Painted Little Cedar Wood Box