The Old Wheelbarrow Redo

Here is the story of my roadside rescue wheelbarrow...

One day (several years ago) I noticed that one of my neighbors

had put this wheelbarrow on the curb so the trash collectors 

could take it away. I went immediately and rescued it and put it

in my back yard. I had such visions of making it into an 

adorable planter.

Upon closer inspection I could see why my neighbor had tossed

it away. One of the handles was completely broken in half.

You can get replacement handles but on this wheelbarrow 

the nuts and bolts were so rusted that they were unable to be

loosened. I am not at all handy with tools of any kind...

only kind of crafty. I have some Gorilla Glue. 

I tried to glue the the two ends of the broken wooden handle

together. That did not last long. Then I actually did try to get 

a metal mending plate and screw it on the outside of the handle

to rejoin the two parts. The wood is so rotten that most of

that screws did not hold. The heavy duty mending black 

tape to hold the mending plate on did not help much. 

After a year or so of doing nothing for the wheelbarrow, I

thought it might be fun to try again to repair it and use it in
 the neighborhood Fourth of July parade. 

Here are a couple more "before" pictures...

My first thought was to fix the handle then paint the metal a 

cute blue and paint the handles a weathered white. I was going 

to put red, white and blue flowers in it and push it in the parade.

I did start the rehab outside but it was just way too hot. I moved 

it into the kitchen to work on it. Using my Gorilla Glue again,

I glued another mending plate on the inside of the broken handle.

The strings are in place to hold the mending plate on to the wood. 

After I had the metal plate tied on to the wood, I squeezed glue

between the wood and metal.

The paper below the handle is to (hopefully) catch any dripping glue. 

I put more glue on the original mending plate with screws also since the screws weren't holding in the rotten wood very well. 

After being up close and personal with the wheelbarrow,

 I realized that to change the color from red to blue would be 

way too much work. I decided to refresh the red color somewhat.

I like to make my own chalk paint because not only does it stick

very well without sanding or priming but I can make small 

amounts in whatever colors I want to. Here are the colors of

acrylic craft paints I used on the wheelbarrow redo...

The browns are to paint the black plastic handle supports and

 make them look more like wood. Also the browns will be used

 on the various materials used to try to mend the broken handle. 

To make a plate of similar colors of chalk paint (that you don't mind if they mix a little) sprinkle out small piles of plaster of

 paris (small containers can be purchased from craft stores) on a  sturdy paper plate. 

Squirt the colors of acrylic paints that you plan to use on

the plaster piles. You are going for a "1 part plaster/3 parts paint"

ratio. I probably got too much plaster but it still works.

 Stir the plaster and paint together. (I use a wooden skewer).

Then add a few drops of water to each color to thin it a little. 

Brush on then overlap the brown colors to try to mimick wood. 

Here is the brown colors on the plastic and repair materials.

The brown is going to topped with thin white paint.

Here is the plate of various colors of red chalk paints going on the metal. I was going for a "refreshed rusty" look. I overlapped colors

 so it did not look too perfect (really, though, no chance of that). 

I didn't like the streaky look that the brush 

(and probably too much plaster) created when it dried. 

I did not paint the entire bed of the wheelbarrow since it will not be seen in the parade. 

To combat the brush strokes and whitish look, I  lightly dabbed on (slightly watered down)  rusty red acrylic paints over the

 first coat with a sea sponge. 

The white colors of chalk paint for the wooden handles

 were watered down (after they were used to dry brush over the 

brown colors already on the wheelbarrow) so they would not

cover the wood completely. I wanted a whitewashed look. 

To protect the white paint, I rubbed clear paste wax over it.
I brushed the red paint with a latex varnish.

If you want to see more photos of how the arrangement in the

wheelbarrow came together click here.

Until the Fourth of July parade, the redone wheelbarrow with

  its load of artificial flowers and greenery will decorate the yard.

You can't really see it in this picture but I did keep the very back of the wheelbarrow

without any new paint so the "True Temper" logo would stay intact. 

(p.s. If I was going to use the wheelbarrow in the 

garden as a planter for fake or real flowers, I would need to 

figure out a way to put holes in the metal for water drainage.)