Apologies! My laptop had a milk related toddler incident so I haven't been able to post...it does mean I have several projects that are ready and waiting for me to get them on here though :) #silverlinings
It seems like I keep seeing little glass terrariums with succulents in them all over the internet at the moment, and it's one of those situations where I don't know if I just started noticing them because I decided I loved them and wanted one, or if it really is a new trend and I'm finally getting in at the start of something! I know which is more likely.... :)
So having seen these all over, and most particularly on one of my favorite blogs, Vintage Revivals I decided that I was going to make one when I got the chance.
*if you've never visited you need to head over there as soon as you finish reading this because Mandi's style is amazing. Like out of this world, I want to rub myself all over her furniture amazing.......aaaand that just got weird....
Now, succulents not being in abundant supply here in Limerick I had to content myself with checking every garden center in town every time I passed them, and last week I got lucky (wait for it) in a place called "Lucky Lane" on Catherine st.
It's really cute in there, kind of a craft collective where people sell home baking, up-cycled furniture etc, and there's also a garden section that has lovely plants, and there I found my succulents. I got 3 for €10, so I was fairly happy with myself.
Then all I needed was a glass globe to plant them in, and I figured the easiest (and cheapest!) thing to get was a fish bowl. So off I trotted to the pet shop to get one...only to be faced with nothing but rows of hideous plastic bowls, not the look I was going for!
I was so annoyed, thinking I was going to have to trek out to the bigger Petmania outside town, but then I called in for my usual look in the Limerick Animal Welfare charity shop (they often have great furniture for ridiculously low prices, like the solid wood mid-century sideboard I picked up for €50....though I did nearly have to fight someone for it) and lo and behold, sitting in the middle of the shelf full of glassware, is a fricking perfect glass fishbowl!!
Seriously, I couldn't believe it, how lucky was that! And the next great thing was I technically got it for free, cos I bought a little copper sugar bowl at the same time, and the lady in the shop thought it was priced a little high (€3!!) so she just charged me that for the two (?!!). I love it when things work out like that! :D
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| You can just see my little helper in the reflection, as well as me in my pyjamas....glamorous. |
So I hauled it home, filled the bottom with gravel and compost, planted my succulents and put in some marble pebbles I gathered when I was walking in the Glen of Aherlow last week. The only thing that went wrong with this is that I'm a novice when it comes to planting so at first I out the compost in and then tried to plant, but I quickly realised that that meant I had way too much soil in there so I had to start over, placing the plants first and then adding the compost around them. I could have avoided a serious mess if I'd realised that beforehand!
So there you have it, I love it! It's now sitting in the middle of my dining table, where I try to always have a plant or flowers, and I think the whole thing looks really modern, but in a retro way which works really well with the Eames inspired chairs and the Ikea lighting in there.
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| Apologies for this terrible picture, my excuse is that I have two small kids who try to "help" if I try to do anything while they are awake, so I had about five seconds to take daytime photos! |
So what do you think? I think all I need is a couple of plastic dinosaurs to stick in there and it'll be perfect.......and I'm not even joking :)
I have a couple of really great projects (great in that they weren't difficult, didn't take forever and saved me a butt load of money) completed for the kids rooms that I'll be sharing in the next free days.
Until then, I'd love you to say hi in the comments!
Linda XXX
