No Money DIY Air Conditioner Screen

In my last post I told you about finding a saw that I had been wanting at a garage sale for $2.00 last weekend. I can't even tell you how freeing it has been this week just to be able to cut a piece of wood!!
Really. It has been so frustrating to have projects and ideas that I could not make happen without that tool. I'm sure my kids think I'm totally nuts when I run in to the house after cutting a board just to say how giddy I am : )

Recently I showed you the beginnings of trying to reclaim (or just claim) some of our outdoor space over here. 
The patio area isn't completely finished, but I want to share an easy, useful and totally free project I did this afternoon. Hey, it's been awhile since I showed you a "no money" project : )

A couple of months ago my daughter called to ask me if I wanted some fence boards her neighbor had put out for the trash. Well, you know what my answer was. I new they would be reject boards from their fence project, but I figured I could do something with them, so she picked them up for me. 

Today, armed with my "new" saw, I set out to make those 6 trashed boards into something I really wanted for the patio area-

  
Something to camouflage this eyesore! 


 Here's what I did:

All of the boards started out the size of the tall one pictured here.
I took one of the boards down to the air conditioner and simply stood it in front of the unit and made a pencil mark across the board at the length I wanted to cut. I layed the first board on top of each of the other four and made a pencil mark across each one where I would cut it. I cut each board with the jigsaw. This project would be "rustic" by the very condition of the fence boards, and I wasn't at all concerned with perfection, but the jigsaw makes a very easy straight cut.

I took a section of board I had cut off the bottom and cut it lengthwise giving me two narrow boards for the cross pieces that would hold the five fence boards together.

I layed the 5 cut fence boards on the ground, lining them up as evenly as I could, and screwed the two narrow pieces across the boards creating sort of a gate-looking panel. Now I needed to figure out a way to make the panel free standing, in front of the A/C unit. 

I decided to make a stand using the bottom half of the last fence board (the long one in the first photo) because the top half of the board was badly split. The bottom half of the board was still good, so why not? I used some four small 2x4 chunks as braces.

I screwed the 2x4 pieces into the board "feet" from underneath, using two long screws in each. 
I offset them so the front 2x4 pieces could be offset to the opposite side, allowing me to screw through the fence boards to the block from each side.

 

Now I stood the panel up with the 2x4 brace up against the back side of the panel and screwed from the front of the boards through to the 2x4 blocks.

I repeated the same thing on the front side of the panel, screwing the 2x4 blocks into the base from the underside with two long screws. Then screwed through the backside of the panel into the front 2x4 blocks with two screws each. 
I hope all that makes sense! I know you real builders will be giggling at my method, but sometimes you just have to wing it with what's in front of you, right? It does stand firmly, and that was my main goal : )

I did one quick coat of white paint and sanded and distressed it a bit. 

I hung a primitive twig wreath on it, placed my son's rarely used wagon, some flowers and my "new" free patio chair (tell you about that soon) in front, and I'm loving it!
 

If I had had more fence boards I probably would have made two panels, either hinged together or screwed together at a right angle to wrap around the other side of the A/C unit also. But this side is our lounging area and the area behind the unit is mostly where the kids play with their water toys etc, so "looks" wasn't as much a priority on that side.

I also considered leaving the boards their original length and creating a tall panel, but it gets quite windy most every day here, and I worried that it would blow over.

 

One more look at the before and after. 

I still have a few more unsightly things to figure out how to camouflage around the patio area, like the power lines and breaker boxes. 

6 free roadside boards, screws and white paint I already had, total money spent = zero. You know how I love that : )
Thanks so much for coming over to see what I've been working on today. I'll be showing you the rest of our spruced up patio area soon!

Jeanette

I'm excited to be sharing this week over at:

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style
Creative Inspirations at Embracing Change 
Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable 
Treasure Hunt Thursday at From My Front Porch to Yours
Be Inspired at Common Ground 
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home 
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage 
Catch as Catch Can at My RePurposed Life 
Party Junk at Funky Junk Interiors 
Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill 
Creative Bloggers Party at Homemaker on a Dime 
Budget Decorating Party at Creative Cain Cabin 
Pretty Things at twelveOeight 
The Scoop 
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life 
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm 
Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House 
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch 
Home {work} Wednesday at Marty's Musings