This week’s DIY Star, George Dobrzynski, likes talking trash. Who wouldn’t with a handmade recycling center? George decided to build the trash organizer to make trash management easier. “The bins take up space and every time it rains, the stuff gets wet or blows around the yard,” George says.

George drew up the plans and built the wood lattice structure in a weekend. “It was kind of a welcome home surprise for my wife and boys, who were in Chicago,” George says. The result is an aesthetically pleasing, well-organized recycling center. It’s also encouraged Georges’ boys, Matthew and Steven, to recycle. “They learn about recycling in school, so they have fun with it,” George says.

The copper finials are a design element picked up from an arbor George built in the yard, another present for his wife. A potted plant with lantana (yellow flowers) and zerbena (purple flowers) dress up the corner. 

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