Not unlike my toy box, this epic project started as a cleaning exercise. It was a nice day and I was looking out on the carcass of some pallets the long planks removed for planters. I really hate wheely bins, and our sizeable front drive was a horrible car park. I really wanted some sleepers to make a large raised bed, where the weeds thrived, but couldn’t afford.
I began balancing the carcass pallets beside each other into a structure that could house four wheelie bins and screwed together. Then removed, from good pallets, the long planks. Using a nail gun a stapled these into place. The top was finished with scaffolding plank. This was the easy bit. I didn’t really know what to do for doors our lids. It had to be light, the door couldn’t be rigid as we parked a car in front.
After much googling, I decided a picket fence was strong, cheap and looked good. I bought a 10m role and two doors and two lids by cutting to size. Simply screwed in, they didn’t even need hinges. Although I later fitted some on the lid. The lid was attached to the bin lid by rope and hooks, so when you opened the outer lid it opened the bin.
Perfect! Or so I thought. This was all good, until my wife realised she was too short to lift the lid. Faced with the serious concern, I would be forced to always empty the bins, I created a pully system, which now also had a lock holding the lids up, which was useful. You pulled a cord, lids went up, and then released.
Back to the raised beds. A basic scaffolding plank all the way around worked a treat. I lined with some plastic sheet I had and filled with compost. Against the house I left a gap with some old roof tiles to avoid damp.
I asked my retired neighbours, colourful or traditional, the husband went traditional, the wife went colourful. So, I went with colourful and painted it all bright blue! It has made the front drive much neater.
I also used the left over picket fence to train wisteria.
Cool Upcycled 