How An Ugly Broken Bird Bath Became A Beautiful New Outdoor Planter

by Time With Thea

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I always wanted a bird bath for the garden and found what I thought was the perfect one about ten years ago. Unfortunately it was not long before it started to deteriorate. In just a few years the finish in the basin started to chip away. Understandably the birds stopped hanging around. At that time I gave the entire bird bath a coating of fresh brown spray paint thinking that would fix the problem. Unfortunately it was just a temporary cosmetic fix. A few years later the new paint chipped away and a quarter size chunk of metal fell out of the middle. The good thing was the stand was in excellent shape. The bad thing the basin was no longer usable as bird bath.

So I gave up on the idea of using it as a bird bath and decided to make it into a beautiful new outdoor planter.

how an ugly broken bird bath became a beautiful new outdoor planter, container gardening, gardening, outdoor living, repurposing upcycling

This is a before photograph of the basin.

But as you can see the stand was still in pretty good shape.

I gave the basin a good cleaning and then a coat of primer.

The next thing I did was give the bird bath a couple of coats of black spray paint. I planned to place my new outdoor planter in a garden bed under a tree in the front yard. I chose the colour black so it would coordinate with the black front door and black double garage doors.

Since I could not use this as a bird bath any longer I decided to add a special detail to the basin.

I glued pretty blue glass gems that I bought at the dollar store. They were attached with a clear silicone.

Since it couldn't hold water any longer I figured I could make it look like it was filled with pretty blue sparkling water.

The blue glass gems are a beautiful contrast to the basic black finish.

Rather than toss out this ugly damaged bird bath I freshened it up and made it into a beautiful new outdoor planter.

My plan is to place an outdoor floral planter in it with trailing plants during the growing season. I know I'll be covering the glass gems during this time. But another purpose for applying a layer of glass gems to the bottom of the basin was to make it more solid. I didn't want any more of the metal to break away.

I have other plans for how I plan to decorate my new outdoor planter. On the blog I share how I decorated it for Halloween and I have plans to make it into a Christmas outdoor planter!

I invite you to visit the blog for more photographs and details!

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3 of 4 questions

Tracy on Dec 02, 2015
I looked all over your blog and couldn't find this birdbath makeover for Halloween and Christmas. What am I doing wrong?

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Tracy on Dec 04, 2015
Where are the Halloween and Christmas ones you mentioned in your post? I looked all over you link.

1
Liliana Wells on May 05, 2016
I have a similar bird bath. It is in good condition, except for some rust spots that I can sand. I would also like to paint with Rust-Oleum paint; but the manufacturer does not recommend subjecting the container to constant water immersion, which the top of the bird bath would have. I would like to glue some faux gems in the middle like you did with E6000 adhesive. But are the paint and adhesive safe for the birds? Or would it better to glue a decorative ceramic or plastic container on the top of the bird bath, put water in it so the feathered friends would be safer? Thanks for your advice.

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Berta Witter on Dec 04, 2015
I had the same problem with the same bird bath. hhmm think I will try this next summer.

1 Reply
- Time With Thea on Dec 04, 2015
  @Berta Witter Hmmm. It appears this bird bath is/was a problem for a lot of us. Enjoy fixing it up!
  
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Cheryl on Aug 16, 2016
Very nice. I would possibly try fishing a copper or plastic tubing up the center with some kind of copper or rubber plug for the hole and making a bubbly fountain.@plates2petals

1 Reply
- Time With Thea on Aug 16, 2016
  Thank you for sharing your wonderful suggestion! I love that idea!
  
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