Check out this little guy my husband uncovered while removing some weeds last night!
Category Archives: Made It Myself
Flower Power
Happy Wednesday! We’re mid-way through the week, heading for a loooong holiday weekend. Oh yeah! (it’s more fun if you say that in Kool-Aid man voice)
This weekend we are hosting a little housewarming party for our friends and family, so we’ve been squeezing in outdoor “decorating” wherever we can. The forecast is 95° and sunny, so we’re expecting to “warm” our outdoor space as much as our indoor space. We’ve spent a lot of time and money lately on “outdoor living” items, including a dining set with umbrella, a grill, and, most importantly, plenty of flowers for our pots and window boxes!
When we lived in our condo, we didn’t have a yard. We did, however, have 2 decks. So I went all-out on container gardens to keep our small outdoor spaces cheery. One of my favorite rites of spring is our annual nursery trip to pick out flowers. I love to mix and match, play with color palettes and different varieties of plants. I could probably stand to be even more adventurous, but I’m still getting my feet wet in the whole “green thumb” area. Just ask my husband about 1) my track record with growing basil (sigh) and 2) the orchid that I’m pretty sure is never going to bloom again but isn’t dead (don’t ask).
This year, we hit up a local nursery to check out their selection. We came home with gerbera daisies, dahlias, and calibrachoa in a range of pinks and orange-y corals, gorgeous hanging baskets, and a couple of things that look like a type of dracaena (they were missing tags).
First, I lay out all of my containers and plants, then try out combinations before committing to a specific pot, much like you might play experiment with a collage of framed photos on the floor before putting nail holes in the wall. But flowers are much easier to re-do if you change your mind 🙂
laying out my flowers before planting
- gerberas waiting their turn
This is the first year I’ve tried gerberas and dahlias. I absolutely love these flowers, but I’ve always been afraid of using them in containers. The plant tags and signage around the nursery claimed they’re great for containers. Plus, if for some reason they don’t work out, I finally have a yard that I can plant them in!
ta-da! window boxes planted & installed on our deck railings
A view of the front:
the front, complete with hanging baskets! can you see the wreath from my earlier post?
And lastly, the containers by our front door:
cheery flowers greet you at the door
The large yellow flowers are asiatic lilies. I think I’ve had this plant for 3 years. When I first bought it, it had about 8 buds/blooms on it. I counted about 35 open blooms last night, with at least 20-30 more buds to go! I think I’m going to need to re-pot it next year! The small container has a few leftover gerbs 🙂
Do you look forward to spring planting? What favorite flower or plant do you rely on to brighten up your yard/patio/deck each spring?
We had a pretty productive weekend that included participating in a charity walk, purchasing, assembling and using our first grill (!), and planting up a few containers to brighten our patio. Oh, we also bought an umbrella for our outdoor dining set plus a lawn mower. Whew!
Here’s a little sneak peek pic:
More to come later this week!
A Welcome Wreath
While we were waiting on some landscaping and grass to fill in our front yard, I thought a springy wreath on the front door would add some cheer to our otherwise brown landscape (brown brick, brown shutters, brown door… you get the picture).
I found this little bit of inspiration via Pinterest:
While I really liked this color combo, I wanted a bit more pop to stand out on our brown door, and be noticeable from the street/driveway. Here’s my finished product:
One of my favorite features of the inspiration wreath was the addition of the house numbers. I made a valiant effort at locating numbers in my local Michael’s Crafts store, but I could only find teeny tiny numbers or monstrosities that would never have fit on one wreath (and I didn’t have enough patience to check out every craft and hardware store in town). I have no skills at bow-making, so I didn’t even attempt that part. Instead, I improvised with the burlap wrap.
Apologies for the lack of step-by-step photos – I made this a number of weeks ago, before I had fully committed to my blog. But I can tell you what steps I took:
– First, decide where you want to hang your wreath, and which part you want to be at the top. I put a twisty-tie around the “top” of mine, so I could center the flowers on the left-hand side while I was working.
– Choose a wreath base. I went with a grapevine wreath for a more natural look and feel. I believe the diameter was 18″, but choose a size that fits the scale of the space you’re filling.
– Select the flowers/accessories. I chose pink & yellow for a fun pop of Spring-inspired color. The yellow flowers are hydrangeas, and I think the pink flowers are peonies, but I’m not 100% sure. (And I don’t feel like hunting down my receipt at this moment).
– Lay out all of your materials to play with before attaching & glueing them down to the wreath form. I decided to wrap the burlap around the wreath to create a sturdier base to hot-glue the flowers to. Then I arranged the flowers so the petals would overlap a bit. I cut holes in the burlap, where needed, coated the flower stem in hot glue, and stuck ’em in! I had floral wire on hand, but ended up not needed to use it.
– The leaves were added last, as they were a great solution for filling in gaps and holes where the petals didn’t overlap as much as I had planned 🙂
And, ta-da! Wreath! All that’s left is to hang it up and enjoy! Have you tried any springy or summery DIY/Crafts projects?
Similar materials can be found online here:
Grapevine wreath via Amazon / Hydrangea stems via Michaels / Peony stems via Michaels / Spool of burlap via Amazon / Wreath hanger via Amazon
Pardon Our Dust
While I have grandiose visions for my home, which I plan to detail here, I also have grandiose visions for this blog. So please, bear with me as I muddle my way through the technical side of things, and as I try on new templates, color-palettes, font styles, etc. Thankfully, I am married to a very savvy web developer, so my visions actually have a chance of coming to fruition. But that also means I’m reliant on my husband to get the ball rolling 😉
In the meantime, let’s get to the good stuff – the house!
I’ll start with a bit of background: in the summer of 2011, my husband and I made a huge leap of faith, signing a contract with a builder for a brand new home (without having sold the condo we were living in – yikes!). In the weeks and months that followed, we busied ourselves with choosing a lot, deciding on a floorplan, and selecting the finishes that would go into our home. And, a week before Christmas in 2011, we moved into our home. There’s something really cool about seeing your home come together, brick by brick (literally!). And when the last box came through the front door, it was not only a huge feeling of relief, but a huge feeling of satisfaction that we were finally here!