My husband made this "thing" for me and I would like a few jaundiced eyes to look at it.

Four rebars welded together, the ends of the curves are about 6 ft from the ground. Questions would be, sand blast and paint or leave it in it's "rust"ic glory? Lower, higher? Our house is on pylons so it's elevated too, do I need that much height? Tentatively he will drill holes through the ends of the curves and we will thread electric fencing wire through to hold up ... what? We have tossed around ideas such as hummingbird feeder, potted plant, wind chimes, macrame hanger with gazing ball, whirligig that will spin with the wind. Any and all ideas welcome!

I love it! I'd leave it in it's rustic glory. I'd probably want a couple of plants, a hummingbird feeder and a wind chime!

I love all the ideas suggested and can't add a thing - that is so cool - Love it

I love things like that. So special that your DH made it for you. I think I'd go with planting a ring of flowers at the base of it.

Great idea Carole - flowers around the base, whimsicals hanging off the top. The best of both worlds

I would paint it your favorite bright color which IMHO would make it stand out more and hang maybe two plants and other garden objects that are your favorites. You can have lots of fun making it a focal point people will notice.

I always admire what Walkabout gardens did with an old tree in their garden. http://www.walkaboutgardens.co...

I love it. I like the idea or rust for upkeep, but I'd hang potted plants from each arm, all the same size, but different colors of blooms and types.

How about painting it palm tree green and placing a pink, plastic flamingo or two or three under it! Just a thought...

It does need color, but I would leave the metal as is, and add color through the additions. Since you have movement in the windmill item nearby, I would add movement in the new additions. I keep trying to see in my mind a way to add thinner wire with colorful glass beads on the wire. In my mind's eye, I see the wire bending, twisting, twirling, etc.
I like the hanging flower pot idea, but only if I had a close water source.
I would also consider adding colorful birdhouses,

It's great that you have a hubby who creates things for you. What did he have in mind?

I'm ashamed to say that he first made this for me about 15 yrs ago I was not impressed. All I could see was dirty rust. He wanted to hang gazing balls from each limb. As time went on I asked him to offer it to our neighbor as I just couldn't envision putting it up in our yard.
Recently I was looking down the road towards the neighbors house and it was just laying in his yard. I asked DH if he could ask Larry for it back and Larry said yes. So I thought of the wind chimes, hummingbird feeder, and a gazing ball in a macrame hanger. The fourth option was open so DH voted for a potted plant. I also bought a macrame hanger for the pot. I haven't figured out what I'm going to put in the pot, something trailing but what?
I LOVE the idea of plants at the base of the candlelabra. I can't call it a thing anymore!

I'm glad it came back to you.

Sometimes it takes a while for things to grow on you. When I was young, my MIL gave me a lot of her vintage things. At the time I hated them, and secretly gave them to the thrift shops. Now the thought of that kills me, and I wish I had the items back. I gave away a set of 12 place settings of very old Franciscan Desert Rose dishes.

You could also use solar lights if you ever want to change things. I have some very attractive individual solar lights than you can put on a stake, set on a table or hang. I have some hanging on double shepherds hooks mine are color changing.
They have a finial that you can add to the top to hang them, not sure if my pasted item will show up. Not sure if you like solar lights in your garden, but it is another thought.

http://www.hsn.com/products/hg...

I love that the rust color is perfect for me I would hang plants from it and some around the base

@plantmanager my MIL had the Franciscan Desert Rose dishes too! Fortunately, my SIL, kept them and we use them at family dinners sometimes. My mom had Franciscan Apple. By the time they got to me, most pieces were chipped. Wish I had the nerve to do some mosaic with them! Thanks for the memories, Karen.

@daylilydreams love your idea of solar lights They would look great on Kabby's candelabra. Have been looking around for solar lights to use in our back yard. Haven't quite found what I want yet.

[quote="Azgarden"]@plantmanager my MIL had the Franciscan Desert Rose dishes too! Fortunately, my SIL, kept them and we use them at family dinners sometimes. My mom had Franciscan Apple. By the time they got to me, most pieces were chipped. Wish I had the nerve to do some mosaic with them! Thanks for the memories, Karen.
My MIL also had the apple ones. Those dishes did chip easily. I once saw a beautiful mosaicked mirror made with the Desert Rose pattern.

I have one set of dishes that I'm thinking of smashing. It's Persimmon by Dorothy thorpe. It's got 22K gold on it. I tried selling it on ebay, and it didn't sell well.
http://www.replacements.com/we...

Karen, I bet the mirror was beautiful. Oh the Persimmon is gorgeous! You will do something very unique with them, I'm sure.

It is very pretty, but the gold design is hand painted on top of the glazed dish, so anyone who scrapes or cuts on it ruins the plate. It's gorgeous, but not at all practical. It's also hand wash only. It'd never last in a dishwasher.

That "thing" is superb, painted or not. I'd take it off your hands in a hot second !
All the suggestions made above would work.
My initial thought was: Train a climbing rose on it, or a vine of some sort.
The possibilities are endless.

@Azgarden the website I posted is actually the solar lights I have outside. I have lots of different solar lights and these are the best with all the different options for using them. They are made of glass and metal they stay out year round here and have been in place at least three or four years and still work perfectly.

Kabby said:My husband made this "thing" for me and I would like a few jaundiced eyes to look at it.


Four rebars welded together, the ends of the curves are about 6 ft from the ground. Questions would be, sand blast and paint or leave it in it's "rust"ic glory? Lower, higher? Our house is on pylons so it's elevated too, do I need that much height? Tentatively he will drill holes through the ends of the curves and we will thread electric fencing wire through to hold up ... what? We have tossed around ideas such as hummingbird feeder, potted plant, wind chimes, macrame hanger with gazing ball, whirligig that will spin with the wind. Any and all ideas welcome!

I would leave it rusty. ..would place underneath a raised planter ..just one brick high enough to hold some extra dirt.... Shaped round...mostly for safety so no 6 plus foot person walks under those spikes from rebar. ( I would quik-set cement that pole in a footer form too )

Plant it with something spike-y....like iris or grasses (muhly? ) to repeat the shape of the center pole and to send the eye up...or ask hubby to cut rebar at different heights and randomly "plant " colored bottles over each... Just one color -- brown would look great to repeat the rust .. or green....Last, ask him to make you a tall 18-20 inches?? (You would need to figure that out tomake it rise well above the curves) skinny diamond form from more rebar or copper pipe -- a plain open centered diamond ( like the deck of cards diamond ) and from the diamond uppermost point ..use a thin metal wire to suspend a double sided mirror... Round or repeat the diamond shape ( but really can be any shape ) .... That mirror is for twinkle..catch the sun..glitter in contrast to the rust..... Once the mirror is installed on the diamond and you know it is hanging straight and moving well, he will weld or affix the diamond to the center where the 4 curves arise causing it to rise above the curves. Dependingon how he has to do it..he may need a rebar 'stick' coming out bottom of the diamond to fasten it or to give it good height. The mirror will move with the wind. You can cut the mirror(s) and use e6000 to seal together with the thin beading wire wedged between. Don't be tempted to use fishing line..it will harden and rot and break.

That's my thought!!!!! 😊 You got a real nice vertical piece of art there.