Root Cellar

We've been busy getting the outside ready for Summer, and for the coming harvest in the fall!  One of the BIGGIES was getting the Root Cellar ready.

I won't show you the inside, because honestly the pictures look horrible.  Suffice it to say there are shelves that are ready for the boxes of empty canning jars.  Perhaps one day I will take out some sort of light source to help you see the inside.  You know, after I have 50 jars of salsa inside!

But here is the outside! Its freshly painted with Porter Paints Acrylic white.  Honestly I cannot say enough about getting GOOD quality paint.  One rolling stroke took care of the outside.  I had cheap Walmart paint for the door which took 5 coats!!!  Next time, and every time thereafter, I will pay the extra and get the good stuff.

The cinder blocks are not perfect as the earth has shifted over the last 50 years.  But it only effects the aesthetics of the building not the safety or weatherproof quality.  The inside is dry as a bone.  in fact I have a cupboard of quilts and pillows in there for use in the backyard when we have "Pennington Movie Night".  We have a projector, a screen and a kick-butt sound system.  And I have it completely wireless out there so I can take my Roku to watch things on Netflix or movies housed on my computer.  Thus is the perks of having a computer/hardware degree!

On my door is my pretty little 'outside' wreath made from things lying around my garage. I'm gonna add some pretty little terra cotta pots, but as purchasing things involves me going into town, that will have to wait until Friday.


We made a little something special for the outside of my root cellar, too!  What started as a wooden twin bed head and foot board is now a garden bench!  I found several examples on Pinterest and knew I wanted to make it, but never really had the time nor the inclination to make that first cut into the pretty wood.  I bought the twin bed at Goodwill, using it in my smallish guest room in my old city house.  After we moved to our smaller farm house we had no use for it... we have no guest room!!  So it had been sitting in the garage, unused and unloved..

I do not have any 'in process' pictures to show you.  Honestly if you google DIY Headboard to Bench you'll find tutorial after tutorial on how to make them.  Each headboard/footboard combination is gonna be different, so you'll have to adjust on the fly.  I only knew I wanted slats that went side to side so that the front would be smooth on the back of my knees.  I will tell you we used furniture dowels to connect the foot board to the headboard making the arms and we used L-brackets to attach the seat slats.  Like I mentioned, each bed will result in different 'needs', so research a bit if you are wanting to make one of these glorious benches.

Here is a picture before the sanding and painting.... You can see the parts of the head and foot boards and what we had to add to make the bench.  It is a little low, but all in all it is a fantastic piece which adds a lot of color to my root cellar area!

Living on a farm is a work in progress... but its awfully fun :)