By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer
Sometimes all you have to do is change your perspective and a familiar material looks new again. Take dog-eared redwood fencing, for instance. Saw off the ears, stack it horizontally instead of vertically and with the seams lined up neatly instead of staggered, and the lumber takes on a whole new look.
Here's how landscape designer Steve Siegrist used the material, which he'd rescued from another project, in the Venice, California garden of Josh Crosby and Amy Swift.
As you can see, Siegrist used the material to extend the height of the pre-existing block wall so his clients could have more privacy. He also used it to form the seat and back of a cement sectional.
Siegrist used more of the lumber to build a dining table, enclose an outdoor shower, and form a bartop over a "bump" in the wall that hides the gas meter.
His clients love the way the weathered look of the old wood softens their outdoor space. Amy, in particular. "I definitely wanted something wabi-sabi in the garden," she says. "All new is just too precious and perfect." Besides the weathered wood makes her beloved red school benches, seen closer up below, look more at home. Amy bought the benches when she lived in New York and has been toting them around the country ever since.
In fact, Amy loved the weathered lumber so much, she asked Siegrist to create a Parsons table for indoors with the few remaining pieces. "I love it because psychologically it pulls a bit of the outdoors in," she says.
To see another example of clever recycling from Siegrist, click here.
