your house is just precious! a cross between a cottage and a doll house.
one idea i had was to use the rusted looking iron work brackets. idk if you can buy them or if you have to use a chemical. they look kind of rusty orange. another thought was using some copper flashing as a decorative touch. whatever you do it'll be gorgeous. will you treat the drawer with sealant or something? and what are the the tall gorgeous flowers in your yard?

Hi Caroleena,

Thanks for the ideas & compliments :) I like the idea of something rusted - I'll have to keep my eye out when I go to the dump - they have the metal scrap separated, and I got an old wagon wheel there once.

I'll likely line the drawers with something. I have an indoor project - I'm making a dog shower so I can spray my baby off after we come back from walks. I was told about this product that you paint on the wall that's results in a rubberized membrane onto the wall - if there's leftover, I will use that.

And the flowers are hollyhocks - I love them. They're such an old-fashioned flower :)

cheerio,
Gail

I love your house too!! I went backward to see if 2nd pic of your house & love your Hollyhocks. A few years ago I bought 2 pkgs of lt. pink & dk. pink Hollyhocks, I never got any but I noticed some lovely ones the exact same color on the blvd 2 houses down. I asked it they had planted them & man said no,they just came up! I think the birds ate the seeds & they didn't all "digest" & since there are wires for electric over the spot they are now, they simply "got transplanted" for everyone to enjoy!! Be sure your drawers are all wood, plywood doesn't weather very well & if gets wet separates.I was wondering if you are putting the planters on roof or on low windows on either side of door.I think Linda-sew-in-sew uses a waterproof rubberized stuff in her planters from an automotive store. I think rusty -look white brackets would look very cool! Jan

Your home is lovely! I too think that either white or rusty metal brackets might look the best...you can use plant hangers for brackets or sometimes you can find interesting pieces at the landfill or metal scrap yard. Planters boxes will look beautiful on your house!

i thought of where i saw those rusty brackets- hobby lobby. however a scrap yard's would be not only cheaper but authenically rusty.

Drawers full of dirt are going to be quite heavy. I was thinking you could nail a 2x4 (the length of drawer) to house to hold up the back of the drawer. Then put rusty table legs or stair balusters (metal or wood) to hold up each of the front corners. It could be quite cute!

Hollyhocks are one of my favorite flowers. Yours are beautiful! Good luck with the project. I hope to see the finished result.

also check out the bottom of the drawers to make sure it will hold the weight and isn't just a thin piece of wood slotted into the sides. If you could find the old wash tubs on stands (or just the stands) that would add to the rustic feel

Hello gail_ish.

This is off-topic but I'm wondering if your house has a story. It looks like an original Scandanavian homestead. Perhaps Swedish or Norwegian?

My family and I still own a log home my Grandfather built in the very early 1900s on a section of land in an extremely remote area near International Falls, Minnesota. We have one of the few original homestead properties in the area. I usually only get up there when the wild blueberries are ripe for picking and in the fall for grouse hunting. I love, love, love the wild blueberries from that area! The locations of the patches are a well kept family secret.

I love your house! I want to put wood brackets on each side of the porch posts to hold up the roof. I was thinking of something along the lines of the bracket in the link below except I'd have my DH make it rather than spend all that money on it! I wanted to have something similar on a smaller scale to hold up a window box. I bet you could make something as simple as this.

I also like the idea of the rusty metal brackets. Although I'd probably want something non-rusty that would be strong enough to support a heavy window box. I'd probably spray paint it to look rusty.

Be sure to post pictures of what you end up creating!

Here is a link that might be useful: Wood Brackets

I do not think drawer bottoms are strong enough for window boxes. Most are made of a thin compressed wood and paper. The ones I used to stack up to make raised bed for garden were falling out before I even built them. It rained on them first and mush. But I did take out bottoms of two andstack on one with a better bottom. I just stacked them with front of drawer in front, one with it in the back and last one in the front. Used wood strips to screw them together inside. I will see if they hold up for more than one season...but oh well they were free.

What a charming house! I too wonder about its story. I like the drawer idea for window boxes. Maybe you could use the drawer as a 'front' for a more sturdy window box.
I can't wait to see what you do!
Kathy

Hi all,

sorry for the delay - I've been sick for a week and a half & don't have the internet out in the country :)

The house is an original settlers log house - the original people here being people of Scottish descent. There was a house about where this one sits, but it burnt down in the 60s, so the previous owners took this one, which had been abandoned, apart log by log and reassembled it over the old cistern so that the Mrs could have a basement. The couple have passed (which is how it came to be for sale) but I've chatted with some of the neighbours who helped in the construction 'bee'. On one of the logs in the basement, someone carved 1860, so it's good & old, but in very good shape.

I'm thinking I'm going to go with the simple brackets that Luna suggested - there's an abandoned pile of wood out in the backfield and most of it is pretty solid still, and is weathered to a nice grey to match the house, so I'm going to see it to build the windowboxes and brackets. Even if they breakdown in 2 or 3 years, you can't beat the price! And I had an old wood toolbox that had soil in for years & the bottom just fell off this spring. It was plywood. But the solid wood frame of it is still holding up well, so I think those windowboxes will be good for a bunch of years.

That sounds like a beautiful idea, gail-ish, using natural wood ...that will be cool...we use lots of barnwood for projeccts & that wood is just the best!...holds up for yrs! Love hearing the history of your house...it is beautiful!

Love Hollyhocks, too! I grow some by my garden shed & in various places...they are beautiful! Someone mentioned above "old wash tubs"...I have fun planting and/or decorating w/those also. But here's somebody's that I have saved in my "to do folder" ...it's pretty cool & fits your home/gardens ... I also like to use old wood crates for planters. Have fun w/your project! Jeanne S.

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Old wood crates hold up for many yrs, too...this is back in '08 & it's ready to plant again now in 2011! (left outside all seasons!)

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gorgeous plantings in the wash tub. i think the wood will be great on your window boxes. old timers used what they had and what a great tradition to carry on. pls pst pics when you get the boxes up. my husband made me some once that we couldn't hang b/c they were so heavy! he thinks everything has to be as heavy as possible! lol.