Don't Throw Away Old Hoses: Use Them To Craft Adorable Garden Art

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If you've been gardening for a few years, it's likely that you have an old hose gathering dust in the corner of your shed. Garden hoses do have a limited lifespan because they're usually left out in the elements and can develop holes or splits. Or sometimes it's just nice to upgrade what you have by investing in a much better version. If you come across that old hose while cleaning up your shed or garage, don't be tempted to just throw it away. While there are a few unexpected ways to repurpose a garden hose, like turning it into a decorative wreath, you can easily use it to create adorable garden art to adorn your fence, just like a creator from DIY with Hometalk did on Facebook.

The DIYer took lengths of old hose and spray-painted them. She then used nails to attach the hose pieces onto the fence to resemble a whimsical snail. By following a few simple steps, you can do the same thing to spruce up a boring stretch of fence in your own yard, especially if you don't want to cover it with a fast-growing climbing perennial like leatherflower. Besides the old hose, you'll need a few cans of spray paint in different colors, nails, and a hammer. While you could use any leftover paint from a recent project, if you need to restock, you might like Krylon Colormaxx Gloss Spray Paint and Primer, which adheres to a multitude of surfaces and comes in a wide range of colors.

Completing this project just requires you to spray-paint hose pieces in various lengths for the different parts of the snail. You want a longer piece for the shell, a medium piece for the foot, and three shorter pieces for the head and antennas. The creator painted the long piece purple, the medium one green, and the shorter pieces in gold, but you can use any colors that you want. Lay your hose pieces on a tarp outside and spray paint them, making sure you cover every section fully.

While you wait for the paint to dry, move over to the fence and use a carpenter's pencil or some chalk to outline your snail. You can even sketch the design out on a piece of paper first, so that you have an idea of how you want it to look. Then, take your long piece of hose and hammer it to the fence in a spiral pattern, using the nails at short intervals to get the shape you want. Add the medium piece to form the foot. Shape one of the shorter pieces into a triangle and attach it as the head. Finally, take the other two short pieces and attach them for the antennas. 

You could even take this DIY a bit further and create other creatures, like butterflies or caterpillars, for adjoining fence panels if you have plenty of hose leftover. If you're having trouble finding inspiration, look at children's coloring books for design ideas. Or you could repurpose some of that hose to brighten up garden paths by using it to support pretty string lights. This completes your garden art project! Time to take a seat with a cool drink and appreciate the artistic talent you didn't know you had.