DIY: Succulent Babies and Fake Mushrooms

I have had one succulent plant from last summer that sprouted three babies that started to hang over the pot on our patio, so I trimmed them off. I just made sure to keep the stems long on the succulent babies cause the stems will be what gets planted under the dirt. I originally wanted to put them in these speckled planters (the white round ones) from West Elm but I didn't have $89 to spend on a pot that was going to get filled with dirt.

So I just used an old thrifted fruit bowl I spruced up a few years ago by painting the rim a metallic golden bronze. It's almost the same mixture of paint I used on the top of the fake mushrooms I made a while back also. Here's what you'll need for those:

• wire 
• oven-bake clay and an oven, unless you are Daenerys Targaryen and have fire breathing dragon babies
• craft paint and a brush

Cut your wire to the length desired for your mushrooms. I did lengths between two and three inches. Make the stem of your mushrooms by creating rolls of clay (wiener style) around the wire. The point of the wire is to give this stem structure and to help it stand up in the ground. I left a little wire at the bottoms to stick further into the dirt later. Now created tiny saucers out of clay and attach them to your stems. Bake in the oven as stated on your specific clay product. When cool, paint! Wit and Whistle has a way better tutorial with full on pictures if needed which is where I first saw it ever. 

Now that you have trimmed succulent babies and fake mushrooms, fill your spruced up trash to treasure bowl with some rocks at the bottom for drainage, then dirt, then plants and mushrooms.

Here is the finished product which was completely free thanks to using what I already had. 

Clearly these are iPhone pics... since... you can see the reflection... 

Curtain Call

When I moved in, there were no curtains anywhere and on a time crunch and limited funds, I got these for $3.74. I know, cheapest curtain rods ever. Of course, when the curtains went up it was only a matter of time before the weight of the fabric was too much and the whole thing bent and I had saggy curtains. Last week we headed back to Target after some time researching on the internet for the best option.

Umbra Loft Drapery Rod. 

It's clean, simple, modern and comes in an ORB finish and looks way more expensive than what I paid for. Plus, it holds up to 25 pounds! I can hang a hollow core door off this thing. Seriously. That's all we have in this house, crappy hollow core doors with holes in them from previous tenants. Anyway, up they went. 

They match the patio door frame finish and the middle piece totally helps with the no-bending-rod thing that was going on before. Sorry for the lame photo, it's from the phone and it was oddly bright here in Seattle last week. Happy Tuesday! 

Patio Dreaming

My patio has blue floors. Like a dirty, murky," I was once sky blue but now I'm a sad piece of crap" kinda floor. I'm on the third floor and right in front is a giant oak tree that creates such beautiful leafy canopies for us in the summer. It currently holds old spray cans of paint and a strawberry plant that I have loved for years and is still thriving, despite the odds - I have a notorious black thumb. Hand. Soul? Somehow that strawberry and the succulent next to it are still alive though! With the warm weather and summer rolling in, I'm itching to get the patio finished although in reality it'll probably be "finished" next summer. In the meantime I whipped up a mood board of the direction I want our little outside oasis to go in, on a small budget of course. We really love clean, simple lines and little clutter and I wanted to extend that to the outside. I do want to go all out on the greenery but aside from that, very simple. Here it is:

Clockwise from top left: via Canadian House and Home, FALSTER Bistro Set, Fly By Bird Feeder, LILLON Grill, Edison String Lights, Himalayan Plants, Ficus/Fig