How-to-make a Recycled Custom Birdbath

So around Mothers day, I was shopping with my Mom at a really neat local outdoor and oddities store in the Grand Rapids area. She was to pick out her own Mother's day gift, because she wanted 'stuff for her yard,' but didn't specify what she wanted. So I gave her my budget and she shopped quite successfully! Mission accomplished, right? Right, but....

So herein lies the issue;  I'm busy working more than full time hours most of the year so I don't get out to shop much. So unfortunately when I do get out to shop, I am amazed by all the wonderful things that I've been missing! I love to look at all these lovely things, and am amazed by all their glitz and glory! Until one thing happens (suspenseful pause).... when you flip over that price tag! And then all the glory is gone! For a while, anyway. Then some time goes by, and I see something somewhere that makes me think, 'hey, if I can only find a _______, I could use that ________ to make a _________ (like the one I saw in that shop)!

OK, I know I should be shopping local and supporting my local artisans, and I often do. But with my tight school teacher budget, sometimes that gorgeous, ornate $90 birdbath (+ the stand is another $30 on top of that?!) is out of my budget. However, sometimes the bird bath I couldn't afford inspires me to reuse and recycle to make a custom birdbath (or whatever) of my own. And you can do it, too!



So the first step is to find and assemble whatever it is you're going to use to make your birdbath. I bought the glass top from a resale store for $3 (it had a slight hairline crack in the glass). The nice thing about the glass was that since it was originally part of a light fixture, it already had a hole pre-drilled. I bought an old mirror topped table from a garage sale for $10. It was an ugly green flecked finish that I painted with Rustoleum in Oil Rubbed Bronze finish. I like dark furniture; but beauty is, you can paint yours any color you like!

My next step after painting was to disassemble the table to get to a smaller flat topped surface (trust me, I tried just setting the blue bowl on the table top - but that looked way too cheesy). So to remove the overlarge top, I flipped the table over to remove the screws.... (You can see the original color here - ew!)

Then my next step was to pull this square off - in retrospect, I might have pulled the table apart first then painted, and that way I'd only have painted the parts I was using. Well, first time = rookie, next time I'll know better!

P.S. The reason I wanted to remove this square base was the same as for removing the actual table top, the bowl I was using was much (and I mean MUCH) smaller at the base of the bowl than this base of the table, and it just plain looked stupid.

I took a pic of the close up of the square base so you can see the screws. Once I removed them, the 'square' wanted to stay intact with the base, but a rubber mallet (and some help from my super handy and stronger-than-me husband) solved that problem! P.S. Yes, I tried doing it myself, tapping the opposite side from what you see here to release the glue, but I couldn't get it to work. My husband did the exact same thing, just a lot better than I did!

After the square base was removed, we ended up adding an old pot lid I got for free (for another project, so don't be afraid to scavenge your scraps or supplies to use unexpectedly - I like to think that's the real reason I happen to have that object on hand to begin with) to stabilize.

And voila! The glass is not as fancy as the glass I coveted in that cute little shop, but I still think I scored for $3! ($13 total). I've seen plenty of objects I could also have used since then; like the glass from those old lights that might be considered outdated (pictured below). Also, there are gorgeous glass plates at Marshall's that would look very similar to the fancy bowls at the shop, though not quite as deep, for between $7-$15. The only issue I see with using those is that there would be no pre-drilled hole, but you can drill glass (one of my next projects), or I also thought (if you happened to find a table similar to mine) you could skip pulling your table apart and just place the plate on the table top, (if the size worked) or go down to the 'square' and secure with E6000. (I apologize and yes I am aware that the previous was a run on sentence).  ;)

So, like said, lots of possibilities! Good luck!

P.S. I was thinking if you have and use glass like this ^, you could paint it either with spray paint or with more transparent paints then seal with spray shellac, varnish, etc. Just a thought - enjoy!