Sharing all the details of the awesome antique bell we placed on a post along our front garden walkway including mounting ideas and pictures.
Our antique schoolhouse or farm bell adds so much character and personality to the front of our farmhouse.
DIY Beautiful Antique Bell for our Farmhouse Walkway
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I have been on the hunt for an antique bell to add to the front of our farmhouse for years now.
Supplies & Tools Needed to Add an Antique Bell to a Garden
- 1 Antique Schoolhouse or Dinner Bell & Post Mounting Frame
- Galvanized Bolts to Mount the Antique Bell
- Post Hole Digger
- 4 by 6 by 8 Foot Pressure Treated Post
- Semi Gloss White Exterior Paint for the Post & a Paint Roller
- Cement to Secure the Post in the Ground
I have had an antique schoolhouse/ dinner bell on my thrift shop and auction wish list for what seemed like FOREVER.
Jason’s parents surprised us with one they found at an auction and I could not wait to add it to the garden walkway in the front of our home!
Antique Bell Similar to Ours
Found on Amazon,
Large Cast Iron Farmhouse Dinner Bell
Mounting the Antique Bell to a Pressure Treated Post
We dug a large hole down a little more than 2 feet deep with our post hole digger and added a pressure treated post to the hole.
Our antique farm bell’s post height is about 7 1/2 feet off the ground with 6 feet of pressure treated post and another foot and a half for our antique bell.
We bought a 4 by 6 by 8 foot pressure treated post at Lowes for around $13 & I painted it white.
I painted our pressure treated post white with semi gloss exterior paint to really make our antique bell and post pop against the siding, green plants & shrubs along our farmhouse
Our antique bell did not come with a post mount so my VERY handy father in law build one for us out of wood & personalized it with our last name, LEHMAN so we could mount outside in the garden walkway.
Jason attached our antique bell to the newly painted post with some serious galvanized bolts.
He pre-drilled the holes for the bolts before hammering them in.
A few years ago we updated the curb appeal of our farmhouse and unfortunately one of our new shrubs, a glossy privet did not make it.
Most of the leaves had turned brown & what had originally been a tall pretty green focal point had turned into a sad brown mostly dead shrub.
We wanted to replace it with something tall & pretty that would be a focal point at the top of our stone steps & most importantly look pretty all year long.
Jason needed some convincing the antique bell was exactly what our front landscaping needed but he eventually got on board!
We still need to add a string to the bell so we can ring the kids in for dinner.
Without a string, the bell is too high up for most of us to ring.
The bell is pretty loud so I am a little worried the kids might get a little excited about ringing it & scare the chickens….or Moose.
It’s just eye candy for our garden now, ha!
Even if we never ring it I could not be happier with how it turned out. I hope this inspires you to add an antique bell to a garden at your home!
by Tara Lehman
Don’t forget to Pin our DIY antique farm bell and save it to your favorite Outdoor DIY Projects and Farmhouse Pinterest Board!
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