I am craving a little change up in the garden.  It’s late summer and my garden has some great spots, but at the moment, more than a few lame spots.   I was thinking I need some color and a little bit of a change up — perhaps not of the botanical variety – inspired by my dilemma, I rounded-up this quick collection of fairly cheap, but bright and cheery outdoor furniture and accessories to tie me over until I put some colorful fall plantings in.

Top image Clockwise: Stools from Crate and Barrel. Bend Seating Farmhouse Chair from Design Public. Modern Console Table from Blu Dot.  DLM Side Tables from Shop Horne.  Sparkling Chair from Museum Store.

Hanging chair from Anthropologie.

Turquoise America Chair from Conran USA. Chartreuse Book case (for plants?) from CB2. Brazilian Hammock from uncommon Goods. Havana Woven Stools from Serena and Lily.  Reclaimed Wood Bench from uncommon goods.  Blue Ginger Side Table from CB2.

Acapulco Chair from Innit Designs

Truly artistic garden art is not always so easy to find.  The market is flooded with kitsch and sometimes downright tacky garden “art” so truly beautiful, and unique pieces that are appropriate to grace a beloved garden are often hard to find.   Joy de Rohan Chabot’s furniture and garden accessories are different.  They are unique and interesting expressions in bronze that celebrate the beauty of nature in nature.   The Pansy chair is my favorite — I think I would use it as a focal point in the same way a bench might be a garden destination, but this has so much more color and style to work with.   My head is spinning with what plants would best partner with it for an exciting overall composition.  My first thought is peachy colored irises…..but I am curious what you would plant near it?

This cheap but sophisticated DIY from Lydia at Pudel Design has my head going about what other shapes and items I might be able to make into a fantastic collection of garden art.    (though I have to admit — the buddas are great!)

Lydia was inspired by this …. (a display at anthropologie)

and with the help of these…

and this guy – plus some plaster, paint, dowels and wood.

She created this display….

For the garden I think I would change it up a bit to make the stakes or dowels longer and maybe I might use some driftwood or another piece of interesting wood on which to mount a figure but overall I am inspired by the idea of filling cheap ornaments with plaster in order to create a mount for them, and then painting them in a uniform color.

For a full how to, see Lydia’s post at Pudel Design.

What do you have on hand that would make a great garden ornament like this?

I am so excited to share this with you that I decided to forgo the option to use the before picture (click here if you are interested in what this looked like before Slow Garden took the reins) and featuring it tomorrow.

Isn’t it amazing?  I would never guess that I would love the purple and pink color scheme (these might be my two least favorite colors) and the eclectic garden-y mix of objects on the wall is a feature that is immensely appealing.  It has all the charm and warmth of vintage items but by looking at the mix, I woudl guess that all the little pieces where inexpensive.  Such a cool option for growing cactus and plants that need little water.  There are more images of this garden (this great wall isn’t the only part of the garden) over at Slow Garden.

Say what you will, but if a garden has a giant life-size giraffe head and neck in it….it will instantly have my attention, even my complete respect.   Not just because it takes a certain kind of garden designer to go for the “Giraffe Head look”, but also because I think the giraffe head actually kinda looks cool.  I would love to know the story behind it wouldn’t you?

And lets not forget that there are plenty of other things worth mentioning in this project by Emmanuel Donval of  Green Cherry.  Take for example, the black and white striped deck, the stacked concrete slab bench,the beautiful earthy mauve colored wall, and the overall simple design that is made extraordinary by the quirky artistic touches.  Um, Wow. You Agree?

I love the ingenuity behind this, even if I don’t completely adore the result.  I would use an object with a bit more drama (fatter, bigger, more strange…something) and I think I would have used a different shade of the stone spray, or perhaps even the antique bronze that I used a couple years ago when I repaired a few old door knobs in my house.  But the idea of adding finials to objects with good shape and giving a spray paint makeover is definitely a good one.

Found via Better After, for more details about this project visit Nine is Fine.