Chandelier Bird Feeder (Cat Toy)

I had seen so many bird feeders on line and just knew I had to have one.  The next week a local auction had a chandelier that just wasn't very exciting so I was able to pick it up for only $5.00.  I had a hard time deciding what to use for the seed bowls and finally decided on these clear one.  I have an entire set of these vintage dishes that weren't selling so I decided snagging five of the small bowls wouldn't hurt anything.  I was going to paint it but decided keeping it the original silver was just fine.

We live in Phoenix and the only trees in the front yard were Palm Trees and we had just them all taken out.  YEA!!  Personally I think Palm Trees are about the most useless tree on the planet.  But this left the front yard completely bare so I had nothing in the yard to hang the feeder on.  We realized the simplest, least expensive solution would be to go to Home Depot and buy a tube of metal conduit.  A neighbor had the right size tube bender so it was easy to shape it in a shepherds hook and drill a hole in the end for a hanger.

I wanted to put some flowers on the pole and finally came up with the idea to use a simple hanging metal basket used for vegetables in the kitchen.  I cut this apart and had to make the bottom opening big enough to fit around the pole.  I just used some thin wire to to put the bottom circles back together. We drilled some very small holes in the pole to add tiny eye hooks to hang the chains.

I had some plastic flowerpot inserts that I cut down then just stuffed Spanish moss from the craft room between that and the wire.  A little potting soil and a couple small plants and we were set to go.

The next questions was where to hang it?  We have three cats who are always getting into something.  One morning I was sitting in the living room and Taz, our little black one who is appropriately named, was looking out the window and going crazy over the birds on the fence.  The light bulb went off, I'd put the feeder outside the window just to drive Taz crazy :)  A friend tried to tell me that would be mean and like if he stood outside the window with a can of Miller Lite orange soda and would not let me have any.  But I still couldn't resist and she gives us a great show to start every day.  I have been trying to get a video of this but of course a cat is worse than a child when it comes to getting a good one.  I'll keep trying and add it once she cooperates.

She's not this mean, just couldn't even get a good picture :)

At first I didn't have any birds coming and was getting depressed.  So I added a bird bath and started putting bread on the ground.  After just a couple days the yard was full.  Guess the saying "If you build it they will come" is true but you just need to add a little patience.  Please don't look too closely at the rest of the yard.  Remember we just had all those ugly tree's taken out so it's a real work in progress.  See that disguising brown spot to the right of the planter, that's the base of one of the trees.  I have a great plan for that next fall and can't wait to share it with you then.

I hope you enjoy this post, if so please leave a comment.  I am still trying to figure out just how this blog thing works and have to admit after the first two post I had major butterflies in my stomach and almost chickened out on continuing.  But I am going to keep stepping out of my comfort zone, what's the worst that could happen?

Gran's Antique Rocker

When I bought this chair I just thought "that's interesting".  But, when I started refinishing it I absolutely fell in love!!  My husband swore I would not sell it because I just kept going on and on about it.  I know, when you look at the picture you think, what's the big deal?  While I was sanding the original finish (below) I started realizing this was a hand carved piece and my mind went into overdrive.

Can you see that someone painted it with the Spackle technique.  While that's great for some pieces, it just wasn't right for this one so I had to get rid of it.

This is the picture when I finished hand sanding it.  I am so glad I didn't try to use an electric sander because I think I would have missed the history of this piece.  If you look closely you can see that nothing is the same.  All I could think of while working on this was the proud groom making this for his bride to be.  Or it could have been after they were married and awaiting their first child so she could rock the baby sitting on their front porch.  This is one reason I love old furniture, trying to figure out what the story is behind the piece.  Can you imagine the hours it took to finish this and the love that went into it.  It's obvious from the workmanship that he was not a professional but built it because he loved her.  Much better than now days when they just run to the store.

My husband Rob is the one that realized the rockers were made from old wagon wheels.  You can see where the wheel rungs used to be and were just cut off.  Too bad people today don't reuse what they have just laying around instead of (again) running to the store to buy something.

This picture also shows the first stain I tried putting on it.  WRONG, it was way too dark so I started sanding again.  It was well worth the effort.

Here is the finished piece with just a clear varnish on it.  Rob tried to get me to re-cane the seat but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  It is still plenty sturdy and I believe the old cane just adds to the charm.

I hope you appreciate this piece as much as I do.  Wish I had better pictures to show the real character but you'll just have to trust me.  Feel free to use your own imagination to come up with your story.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you again soon.  Please check out the "Items for Sale" page for information on buying this piece.

Welcome to R and M Junkers new blog and thanks for stopping by.

Actually R and M Junkers happened by accident. My husband and I started going to antique stores and realized we loved what we were seeing.  Next thing we knew we were at every second hand store and yard sale we could find looking for that special treasure.  We soon realized of all the items we thought were treasures many were not.  We wasted a lot of money in the beginning but learned many valuable lessons.  Luckily it didn't take very long to know we had to hit the books, internet and anywhere else we could find to learn about the items we were falling in love with.  I so glad that when you have a passion about something that also comes with a desire to learn about it.  So for me this was all very exciting.

Eventually we had to figure out how to sell some of our finds just so we could go buy more.  We now sell at the Brass Armadillo Antique Mall in Phoenix Arizona, E-Bay, CraigsList and out of our home.  We are constantly being asked for a web site, people want to see all our items in one place so that's what I am trying to do here.

This is very difficult for me because I am a self-proclaimed computer idiot.  Posting on other sites is one thing, starting my own blog/web was a foreign language to me.  I kept trying but every time I did I would see a word that just made me freeze and I would give up again.  Thankfully my wonderful step-daughter Sally offered to help me, there is no way I could do this without her.  So please be patient with me as I stumble my way through this.  Feel free to laugh at any of the stupid mistakes you see me make, as I am sure there will be many.

Just about everything you will see on this site will be available for sale. We even have a sign outside our front door that says:

 "This Ain't No Museum! This Junks is For Sale"

I hope you'll stop back by and let me know what you think.  Have a great day and see you soon!!!

Welcome to R and M Junkers!

Please excuse the mess! We are still under construction!