Hanging Flowers Decoration

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My dear friend Janna is getting married and I am SO happy for her. [I know you are reading my friend so congrats!]

As you know, organizing a wedding can be overwhelming. There are so many possibilities! That is why Pinterest is such perfect place to get started. Are you getting married? Well, create a board and pin your way to a perfect wedding, I would say.

There are so many gorgeous images in there that make me wish I was the one getting married, but I am sure George won’t be up for it. Maybe vow renewal? No, that is not going to happen, so my best bet is to live my dreams through friends, in this case, Janna. (Btw, I have a board with images for wedding inspiration, in case you want to see click here)

The weekend before last we spent a lot of time looking for photo inspirations and I realized, once again, that I am attracted to photos that have a LOT of flowers, specially hanging flowers. Weddings are beautiful! I could spend hours pinning wedding photos! There is so much cute stuff out there!

After hours of pinning and drooling (yes, very productive, I know), I decided to create a statement piece of my own that uses flowers and is cheap and easy to do. Something that could be used at a wedding or when entertaining, this is how the hanging flower decoration was born.

Humans! This decoration is simple, budget friendly, and it looks so good. Here is how you do it!

Hanging Flowers Decoration

Difficulty (1-5): 2  Time: 2 hrs Cost: $70

Materials

  • Plywood – I used size 2ft x 4ft
  • 42 1/2 “ Brass Cup Hooks
  • 4 1 3/4″ Eye Screws
  • Rubber bands
  • White paint – I used a Behr sample from Home Depot.
  • Flowers
  • Rope
  • Drill
  • Measuring tape
  • Pruning scissors
  • Pencil

Instructions

1) Paint the plywood with white paint on all sides. Let it dry. Paint it again.

2) Mark with your pencil the places where you want to drill holes. I marked 42 holes with 6in. in between and 4in between rows. I alternated rows of 4 and 3 holes.

3) Drill the holes

4) Screw the hooks into the drill holes

Also, a little tip from my handy man… when opening packages with hooks or other small pieces, it helps to cut a door in the back of the box instead of fully opening the package. This way, you can keep the package for storage.

5) Drill and screw 4 hooks to the other side of the plywood. One on each corner. Attach a rope to the hooks. You will use this rope to hang the decoration (see full photos below).

6) Start hanging your flowers with rubber bands. Choose the length and colors of your flowers and hang them one by one. I used bundles of 2-3 flowers at a time. You can use anything that is in season on your local grocery store. Roses and tulips are good options.

And, here is the result. Let’s take a look at some beautiful photos:

The result was better than I expected. The flowers looked so good, especially from down below. The project was done in just a couple of hours. It was easy to make.

WARNING: Some flowers don’t last long without water. I would say that you have around 5-6 hours of beauty before you they start withering but the “withering” look could also be beautiful.

Hope you liked this project!

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Wes Anderson Inspired Cement Planters

To my new beautiful cement planters: thank you for coming into my house to make it more appealing and for saving me hundreds of dollars in new planters! Also, thank you for being so easy to make and for looking good no matter what!

To my readers: I found the perfect project for you! It is easy, cheap, simple, fast and cute! Seriously, it is a no brainer. You need to try it!

In case you are wondering why I decided to venture out into the cement world of crafts and DIY projects, I will give you the answer: I was invited to participate in a challenge with other bloggers called “Inspired by DIY.” The challenge is simple. We come up a DIY project inspired by somebody’s work. This month, we chose Wes Anderson.

(Thanks, Jess from Domicile37 for hosting this challenge!)

I have wanted to make cement planters for a while, so I decided this was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. I am happy with the result and how easy the project turned out to be.

Let me walk you through the steps so you can make them, too.

To begin with, I want to share the image that inspired this project:

This is an image from Wes Anderson’s movie Hotel Budapest. I love the colors and decided to use similar tones for the planters.

Difficulty (1-5): 2  Time: 1 hour + 24 hrs for cement to dry  Cost: $12

Materials

  • Cement or Mortar. I used this mortar mix.
  • Water
  • Plastic containers – Any containers will do.  I used yogurt, milk, sour cream, among others.
  • Brush
  • Paint –  I used leftovers from samples of BEHR interior flat paint.
  • Cooking Oil
  • Plastic gloves
  • Stick (to mix cement)
  • Blue tape

1) Prepare your containers. Decide how many planters you want to make. For each one of them you will need an exterior container to pour the cement mix in. You will also need an interior container to create the inside hole to place your plants. Make sure there is enough space between your exterior and interior container, this space will be the thickness of your planter walls.

2) Oil the interior of outside containers and the exterior of your inside containers. This will help releasing containers after the cement dries.

3) Prepare your cement mix. You will need approx. 1 measure of water per 4 measures of cement. Mix with your stick. You can also put your gloves on and mix with your hands. You need to achieve a peanut butter consistency. It is no problem if you make the cement a little bit runnier than peanut butter. This will help to create an even surface on the upper rim of the planter.

4) After you pour the cement into the container, you need to bang them down on a hard surface to settle the mix. Press the interior container into the mix to create the interior hole.

5) Add weights to keep interior containers down and wait 24 hrs for the cement to dry.


6) If you can’t pull the planters out of the containers, just cut the container off. You might need a tweezer to help you take out the interior containers.

7) Paint! Choose your colors and a design and paint your containers. For some of the planters I used blue tape to create a straight line. I have a lot of extra paint from previous projects so I reused that. I used samples of flat wall paint.  Spray would also work.

Let’s take a look at the results:

Here are the links to other DIY projects that my fellow bloggers came up with for this challenge. Lots of fun posts:

Domicile 37 | Up to Date Interiors | PMQ for Two | The Gathered Home | The Rath Project | 58 Water Street | Semi Gloss Design | The Home I Create

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Valentine’s Day Fabric Heart

Happy Valentine’s Day! I have a special gift for you today. You might not think much of it but I spent a lot of hours doing it so, could you at least pretend you like it? (This is starting to seem more like a conversation with George than a post for this blog). Cuek.

Here is the deal, dear cyber friend, a long, long time ago I saw a photo on Pinterest that sparked my imagination.

Pinterest can be a wonderful place for inspiration, but it can also big a place for HUGE disappointment once you realize your life, home, and crafts look nothing like your Pinterest news feed, but I WON’T BE DISCOURAGED! And I will shout this until you believe me…

Well, looking for Valentine’s related crafts, I saw a heart made of fabric and thought to myself: “I have to do that for Valentine’s!!!” so I did. Little did I know that it was going to take twice the amount of time I expected originally.

After four hours of working on it I thought: “I am spending too much valuable time making this heart instead of watching The Vikings. Is this really worth it?” But then I realized I could watch The Vikings while making the heart and the whole endeavor didn’t seem like a super waste of time anymore, plus, I could soon see that the project was going to turn out very c-u-t-e! And it did.

I will pretend it is Valentine’s Day all year long so I don’t have to put this heart down ever! You will see.

Now, the moment you all have been waiting for, the detailed instructions of this art installation – this is how I am calling it because I like to be pretentious sometimes. (Warning: Max decided he wanted to pose for this post, so I let him do it. Prepare yourself for serious cuteness.)

3×3 ft Valentine’s Day Fabric Heart Art Installation

Difficulty (1-5): 1  Time: 6 hours  Cost: $80

Materials:

  • 20 ft Tulle fabric
  • 5 ft cotton fabric
  • 10 ft – 1in, 20 gauge chicken wire
  • Heavy-duty wire cutter
  • Scissors
  • Floral wire or another wire that is easy to manipulate.

1) Cut the chicken wire into a heart shape. You might need to make two halves depending on the heart size you want, as the chicken wire is not wide enough to accommodate a whole 3 ft wide heart shape.

2) Cut all your fabric pieces before you get started. This will make the project faster (Ford Model T, anyone?). The cotton pieces should be cut in triangles, so they are easy to tie down.

3) Start tying the fabric to the wire. I tied one piece of fabric per wire space. I also did one row of cotton and one of tulle. You need a big quantity of tulle for this heart to look organic and fuller, so I added the tulle on the rows that needed more fabric. The tulle is too transparent if you use it by itself. You need the cotton to fill in the translucent nature of the tulle.

4) Turn on a movie or play a podcast and BREATH! Finishing this project will take time but it will be worth it.

5) You want your last row to be made of tulle. Also, you can bend down any wires that stick out from the fabric, so you can’t see them in the final result.

6) Attach the two heart halves with floral wire.

There you go, my friends. I hope you have an excellent Valentine’s Day.

Today is a little sad for us because it used to be my father-in-law’s birthday and he passed away last year. Two days from now it is my dad’s birthday, who also passed away last year… very emotional week, indeed.

I hope you like this heart because I worked very hard to make you happy with it today.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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5 Creative (And Easy) Ways Of Decorating Your Home With Plants

 5 Creative (And Easy) Ways Of Decorating Your Home With PlantsI am a plant lover because they are a sure (and easy) way of decorating a room and making it look gorgeous. You can’t go wrong with plants, not matter how many, which kind, or where from, unless you steal one from the Botanic Gardens, which I wouldn’t recommend anyway for obvious reasons.

(If you call yourself a plant killer, I want to assure you, you are not. You are simply a careless person that would rather hang out with friends or watch GOT instead of watering an alive being. I totally get it because I used to be that way, so I have one and only advice for you: water that plant once a week. No matter which kind, let’s start with small steps and water that plant every Sunday… not too much water, not too little. Set the alarm. See how it goes – it is a miracle- the plant will survive. You can worry about over or under watering it later, after you have developed feelings for the plant and decide you want to keep it in spite of friends and GOT).

Ok, enough rambling.

5 Creative (And Easy) Ways Of Decorating Your Home With Plants

Here are 5 tips to decorate your home with plants.

1) The first one (and a no brainer) is to buy plants that are easy to care for. Which ones are those, you might ask. Well, a short list of very easy to care plants include: ZZ plants, english ivy, snake plants, spider plants, fiddle leaf figs etc, etc.

For more on fiddle leaf figs, go here!

For this post, I used: wire vine, succulents (duh!), philodendron silver, and kangaroo paw fern. Here they are:

wire vinesucculentsphilodendron silverkangaroo paw fernThe wire vine has an unusual look that I am attracted to. A certain messiness and magic. The succulents are an obvious choice. They are easy to care for because they will survive a long time with no water, but they won’t thrive if they are dry. Make sure to follow the advice I gave you two paragraphs ago and water them every week no matter what.  The philodendron silver has been a wonderful discovery. It refuses to die. I have one in a small container in my kitchen and it keeps on growing even when I over water it. Finally, the Kangaroo Paw Fern is elegant and durable, like a lot of ferns. I would recommend any of the plants above for a nice new friend.

2) Be creative when choosing containers.

Anything that could fit a plant can be considered a potential vessel. I found this bird cage (see photo below) at a flea market. I also had an orange hanging lamp that was perfect for a plant but George broke it right before taking the photos for this post, so there you go, something didn’t want you to see that awesome lamp, but you get the idea. Cool containers can make a big difference for your plant set-up.

For inspiration, look at these cute pottery from Frances Palmer!

5 Creative (And Easy) Ways Of Decorating Your Home With Plants
3) Mismatch your containers.

Something else I like to do is using different type of containers that don’t necessarily go together 100%. This white and blue modern container is not the obvious choice for that boho hanger, but I thought, “what the heck,” I am going to be wild and unpredictable today so I will mesh together an hexagonal white planter, with a boho hanger, and a vintage bird cage like they were born from the same mother. I am 37 years old and I can cry if I want to. 5 Creative (And Easy) Ways Of Decorating Your Home With Plants4) Paint the pot. 

I didn’t like how the small white ceramic pot looked inside the bird cage so I painted it purple (see below). I like colorful pots but I couldn’t find the right color and size for the cage, so I painted a small ceramic pot purple. I like it. 5 Creative (And Easy) Ways Of Decorating Your Home With Plants5 Creative (And Easy) Ways Of Decorating Your Home With Plants

5) Use beautiful hangers.

Macrame hangers are in style now. You can find them just about everywhere. The one in the photo below was a flea market find before macrame was the new “it” thing. Well, now, 10 years later, the hanger has been put to good use. I like how it adds color to the mix and a little bit of a boho accent.

5 Creative (And Easy) Ways Of Decorating Your Home With PlantsTo recap:

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Let me know if this post was useful. Thanks for stopping by!

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An Outdoor Painting For Our Garden

It has been raining a lot in LA. A big difference from last year’s winter that was dry and hot even though it was El Niño. I don’t get it! What is going on “weather” people? Can you get it right? I need to know how the weather is going to be for the next 5 weeks to the hour to be able to pull off this outdoor project I have in the works. (Good news: the grass and plants are having a water makeover.)

What is this outdoor project you might ask? Let me explain.

The wall of our garage is a very, very sad place right now. Want to see?

Just looking at this boring wall depresses me and I am saying NO to depression this year – one of those unwritten resolutions I have– so I had to come up with a plan. Luckily, I was reading the Interior Design Magazine a couple of months ago and found this photo:

Do you see what I see? That wonderful and colorful outdoor painting? It is the Big wheel by Kat Murphy. Designer Peter Carlson creatively placed it on the outside of his barn house. VOILA! What a simple and perfect idea.

Finally, a solution in sight. I have decided to do an outdoor painting that brightens up that garage wall and my heart. Genius!

I know what you are thinking: “but you are a talentless painter!” You are right, you are right, but this wheel requires minimal talent (I think)! Nothing a blue tape (or 10) can’t handle, plus, remember, I have George who always comes to the rescue.

Here is the Big Wheel by Kat Murphy from up close:

Doesn’t seem that hard to make, does it? I decided to create a big square painting instead of a round one because I don’t want to spend the money on getting a big customized piece of wood, plus, I don’t want to be a copycat 100%.

The next decision to make was colors. Have you seen the mural that Oh Joy painted for the Souther California Children’s museum? Here is a portion of it:

I really like the palette, although I need to add darker colors to embrace the adult that lives inside me.

After playing around with colors in Photoshop A LOT, I came up with the following image:

It is a little crazy, I know, but it is also very unexpected and possibly very, very cool. I am into color this year. I want to take risks and be more original. This is a great way to jump start my 2017 and put my projects into gear.

I am planning to start the painting this week and hopefully have it hanging on the wall by the end of next weekend. UPDATE: HERE IS THE LINK TO THE POST WITH FINAL PAINTING.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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