It might take a few glances but this bike hasn’t been left at the front gate by a welcome visitor. No, it’s a revolutionised garden ornament that fits in so well with its surroundings that it is almost impossible to tell the difference.
And, it doesn’t take much to re-create it. All you need is a rusty old bike, a can of spray paint and a few spare hours on a Saturday afternoon.
There have been many times when grandiose ideas of renovating rusty used bicycles have crossed my mind. But, when you consider the cost of new parts it’s far less expensive discarding the old one and buying a whole brand new bike. Then you’re left with a piece of junk that invariably ends up in the local wastage facility.
A better idea is to turn it into a very novel garden ornament. For the highly creative, you could add flower baskets to the front or weld on a life-size metal rider or even consider an abstract positioning.
As bicycles have been a part of the world’s transport systems for eons you would be hard-pressed not to fit one of these into any landscape style. You could retain a rusty look for a xeriscape garden, paint it rainbow or pastel colours to fit a cottage style or even spray it fire-engine red for a Japanese feel.
So many options – so many bikes…