For my 15 minutes in the sun and shade today, I took a break from digging in dirt and deadheading and jazzed up my rugged, outdoor, vintage garden doors instead.

There are three of them holding court in an awkward corner of my narrow Secret Garden that’s filled with Arborvitae that reach toward Heaven. Few things grow well under their commanding, stately branches.

The doors do not care about sun and wind and rain and snow. They just are. Roughed up exactly as I rescued them. Saved from old houses and destined for junk piles.

Until I saved them.

I love the architectural details often found in old homes. Too often, in their desire to modernize these beauties, humans remove those details that once made the lodging great. I’m always on the lookout for adding such design pieces from vintage shops that focus on restoration not destruction, helping to preserve a piece of the housing past.

And that’s how I got these three doors, made of wood and as heavy as can be.

I had no other space for them, except in my unused garden corner.

They stand there proudly, day after day, week after week, month after month and now, year after year times ten. Feisty, simple Hosta poke their heads out from behind easy shelter, adding their own sweet garden design. The lovely green against the rugged door wood adds a little more garden pizzazz.

I‘m okay with that.

I have also added my own finishing touches to the doors, evident in the photos with this post.

Just want to give them a little more seasonal personality and another reason to still exist there, while also indulging my ever-changing creative garden whims. Which makes my cherished garden visits just a little more fun.

It all makes me smile big.

What non-living things do you use to jazz up your garden spaces?