An Umbrella-stand
An umbrella-stand does not occupy much space, and it is a convenient receptacle for umbrellas, canes, ball-bats, and golf-clubs (Fig. 48).
To make one it will require four pieces of clear pine or white-wood thirty inches long, ten inches wide, and half an inch in thickness. There is also a bottom board nine and a half inches square and seven-eighths of an inch thick, to which the lower ends of the boards are to be screwed fast. A high, narrow box is to be formed of the boards, one side of each board being attached to the edge of the next one, as the illustration shows. Shellac or varnish will give the wood-work a pleasing finish, especially if it is white-wood, cypress, or spruce.
A design may be worked out on one side with large oval-headed hobnails painted black. These may be purchased at a shoemakers for a few cents a paper. The design should first be drawn on thin brown paper and held on the wood with pins. The nails are driven along the lines of the ornament, but before they are hammered home, the paper should be torn away so that none of it is caught under the nail-heads.
A zinc tray six inches high, and made to fit in the bottom of the box, will hold the drippings from wet umbrellas. Rings soldered at the top edge of the tray will permit it to be removed for cleaning.
A Plant-box
For growing plants and flowers that always look well around a piazza rail, the plant-box shown in Fig. 49 will be found useful. One or more boxes may be made from pine boards an inch thick and eight inches wide. The boxes should be six inches deep, outside measure, and they may be as long as desired to fill the spaces between the piazza posts.
Straight or box joints are made at the corners and fastened with screws. The inside of the boxes should be treated to several successive coats of asphaltum varnish to render them water-proof. Several small holes must be bored in the bottom of each box to drain off surplus moisture, and the boxes and supports may be painted a color to match the trimmings of the house.
To anchor the boxes, screw a batten to the balustrade, on which the inner edge of the box may rest. The outer edge is supported by means of braces attached firmly to the underside of the box and to the piazza floor, as shown in the illustration. Two small brackets attached to the underside of the box and to the batten will hold the box in place and prevent it from slipping off the top of the batten.