Fences make good neighbors, in more ways than one.

I’ve had a cookbook shelf in my kitchen for years and I’ve always thought it needed something above it.  Something long and skinny.  Hobby and craft stores have tons of neat signs with pithy sayings but I wanted something organic and imperfect looking, to contrast with the smooth, flat, and straight angles of the cabinets, counters, appliances, etc.

Looking out my back window one day, I was thinking that my one-house-over neighbor really ought to do something with that junk next to his garage that’s been stacked there since he repaired his fence a couple years ago.  Repaired his fence?  Yes!  That little pile had some of the old boards.  Old boards…long…skinny…weathered…organic… free – yes. I asked him if I could have one for a project and he was glad to give.

I considered cutting a point on one end like an arrow or cutting both ends at angles but any kind of neat cut just didn’t seem to look right with this old board.  It needed something natural. So, I put my foot on one end, pulled up the other end, and broke it.  Did the same to the other side too.  Perfect!

I knew the message I wanted to put on it and considered painting or stenciling it but in the end, I decided to just write it on with a marker and give the letters some dimension with chalk.  Simple.  It looks great over the cookbooks.

Good ideas often get resurrected, sometimes in duplicate, sometimes morphed a bit.

On another wall in the kitchen I’d had an assortment of pictures and plaques, a framed puzzle even, all related to giving thanks.  I loved it for many years, occasionally changing out a thing or two here or there.  I still like the concept but wanted a fresh take on it altogether.

A couple years earlier, a friend was redecorating and had a metal shelf with hooks left over, so I took it. For a while I had it hanging it over my cookbooks with potholders on the hooks but I always thought it looked a mite too big.  Since I had my new fence post sign there now, I decided to use in on the thankfulness wall. 

To spell out ‘thanks’ I layered metal letters (that play off our new stainless steel appliances) on top of photocopied hymns about being thankful, on top of corrugated cardboard pieces, and hung them with string. Then I chose just a few of the plaques I had and put those up. 

Nice. But, the top of the rack could hold a narrow shelf.  Coincidentally, as narrow as a fence post. So, back to the neighbor.  I lopped off the end with the point and it fit perfectly. Now, what could I put on top?

I’m not a huge tchotchke fan, but I do love metal sculpture. Through the years, I had picked up  two cute little birds and just had them sitting on the window ledges.  The red one is called Mary because it reminds me of the Raffi song Mary Wore Her Red Dress that my kids liked when they were little.  The other one we call Cherry because she’s round and it rhymes with Mary. 

I put them on the shelf together and it looked like maybe they were chatting it up.  Chatting…fence…another idea.  I took the piece of fence post that I had chopped off and stood it between the birds so it looks like Mary and Cherry are neighbors chatting over the fence, maybe talking about things they’re thankful for.  Okay, okay, I know that’s very corny, but it makes me smile.

So that’s how a gaze out my back window, across two fences, inspired some neighborliness at our house, and a dash of cute too.  Keep your eyes open to the possibilities around your neighborhood.