succulents in vintage glassware

A simple project for centerpieces, gifts, or window gardening.

Vintage highball glasses, punch cups, and candle bowls are filled with pebbles (for drainage), potting soil, and a little hens-and-chicks succulent varietal each.

They need to be kept out of all-day sunlight and watered once in awhile, but succulents aren't too hard to keep alive.

These look awesome clustered as wedding centerpieces, and equally nice in a kitchen window. Which makes them perfect (upcycled, green) wedding favors, if you think about it.

Thanks for reading!

Linking up to:

The Cottage Market

My Repurposed Life

The Vintage Farmhouse

out in the yard

We've been planting up a bunch of succulents in a collection of random planters out back. I like their drought tolerance, although the no-rain season here in the Northwest always comes kinda late. When it hits, I always lose plants, especially when I plant in planters. Hopefully, planting these guys will cure that problem.

The grass is a little long here; I photographed this area before the first mow of the season (I don't like to mow when the grass is wet because it dulls the blade more quickly and clogs the underside of the mower). Also, a lot of the grass isn't grass anymore; we seeded a bunch of clover and, as happens every year, the dandelions just volunteer.

You can spy a little of our next planting project in this one; the little nursery pots in the background are seeded with grey stripe sunflower seeds and rouge vif d'etampes pumpkins (the Cinderella-looking ones found here).

And, because we've had a spate of decent weather lately, we actually got out and resumed our siding project on the studio walls. I doubt you'll remember this entry from 2008, when we did the cedar shingles at the peak. Yeah, so the studio's just been sitting there in all its tar-papered glory, looking more and more stupid as we've sided and painted the house, and put in the patio, and built the garden beds . . .  I'm super-excited to have gotten this side, plus the entire back and most of the other side done in one weekend. Since this time, we've also finished more than half of the front. Just a little more work to do, and it'll finally match the house and the shed! I'm pretty happy to be able to get this crossed off our list. It's been a long time coming.

Again, the lawn hadn't been mowed yet, and the raised beds hadn't been weeded, but I'm going to wait to show you those updates when I show you more of this in a couple of days . . . 

Because by some luck, I built the whole thing in a couple of afternoons in the backyard, just in time for the spring Pinterest Challenge over at Young House Love and Bower Power. And I'm looking forward to sharing it with you.

This spring is a strange one. Outside, so many things are just beginning, springing to new life. Yesterday, though, a friend and adviser passed away suddenly. It feels out of sync, and unreal in such a green season. He's already so missed from this world.

Thanks for reading. 

hometown tourist: salvage works / solabee / boys' fort

We took the kiddo up north to Stumptown last weekend to visit OMSI, and when he'd tired of watching paper cups fly and making little foam balls hover in mid-air, we packed him back into the car and shuffled him off to my little dreamland of the day.

When you see Paul Bunyan, you know you're getting close. 

Yes, my idea of a good time was visiting Salvage Works, which now shares its space with Boys' Fort Furniture  and Solabee Flowers and Botanicals (they do weddings!). You can see your intrepid blogger reflected in the window below . . . and now I'm gonna link this post to Amy over at While Wearing Heels, whose photo challenge of the month was to photograph your reflection. Bam! Two with one blow.

You can probably guess as to the nature of Salvage Works. They sell architectural salvage, house parts, and assorted oddities. And they dress it up so that the place looks and smells (and costs) boutique. Boys' Fort and Solabee help with that, though it's at times difficult to determine where one venture ends and the next begins, they're all so integrated. 

For example, we have here a gorgeous cabinet with drawers full of hardware and . . . succulents.

A wall built with reclaimed timber sports a vertical wall planter made of old coffee cans; more barnwood planters fill the desk.

Because all three businesses operate so symbiotically in the front area of the store, I think it'd be better for you if I just show you some vintage + green eye-candy and give you a scavenger hunt list.

To Find:

*antique green house/plant stand full of plants

*stump used as a low stool/table

*whiskey barrel

*vertical wall planter made of reclaimed wood

To Find:

*vintage mail slot

*1970s lamp

*oleo margarine trough . . . er, bucket

*old trophy

*painting of Vincent, called Vincent, by a local artist

*really old trunk

*tupperware canisters

To Find:

*an arrow made of reclaimed wood

*an old stool

*a stained concrete floor

To Find:

in this wall installation

*grape crate from the Coachella Valley

*Anglo roast beef crate

*a shout out to San Francisco

*a Scotch Whisky crate

*yardsticks

To Find:

*a yardstick photo frame

*turquoise dishware

*fake fruit

*old yearbook photos

To Find:

*doorknobs

*drawer pulls

*face plates

*a well-loved glass display cabinet

As usual, I missed taking snaps of some of my favorite things inside, like the labelled cabinet full of drawer hardware, a leaning pile of huge reclaimed timbers,  and a rolling stool made with a stump and some casters. Some day I'll get the hang of this blogging thing, readers, and you can say you knew me back when I sometimes still resorted to phone camera pictures and sometimes neglected to document the good parts.

Oh heck, let's do a little scavenger hunt outside, too, shall we?

To Find:

*really BIG chain

*creepy head watching your every move

*fabulous cabinet full of tools (?)

*stack full of singleton drawers and wooden crates

To Find:

*a "staff only" sign I totally missed

*a "detour" sign that someone else hit . . . possibly with a truck

*dart board

*coal buckets

To Find:

*oil can

*$1 license plates

*sign that either reads "she said" or "shed sale" (I'll never know, and it's killing me, Smalls)

*more wooden crates

To Find:

*old red orchard ladder

*army green lockers

*two cast iron bathtubs

*vintage bikes

*spoked metal wheel 

To Find:

*a good reminder

*old shovels

*assorted grates

*the word "schmick's"

They also have a decent-sized reclaimed lumber yard which the weather (and lack of flat bed truck) kept us from exploring, but we mean to take a closer look should we visit again.

So let me tell you the best thing about this place: the really sweet ladies running it for the day. I can't imagine better spokespeople for their businesses. 

The woman from Solabee was headed out on a quick delivery, but paused at the door as we were entering to see if she could answer any questions or offer any help on her way out. She swore she'd be back in a snap before pointing the guys toward a pile of vintage Fisher-Price for the kiddo to paw while I wandered around.

I think Terry was the name of the knowledgable, helpful, and friendly woman at the Salvage Works counter, who directed me to all and sundry and helped the mister pick out a surprise t-shirt for me. When I came back through with a fistful of purchases (two little succulents, two old coat hooks, and a letterpress card with Paul Bunyan on it) she told me all about the fabulous Hidden Portland project Carye Bye (the card's artist) runs. Carye also runs a bathtub museum. (You can file that little bit o' knowledge in your "Weird Portland" drawer.)

Summary: Put it on your bucket list of places to visit in Portland if you're interested in really lovely modern botanicals, vintage finds repurposed and reused, or the raw materials to DIY. It's not as big a heaping heap of supplies as you'll find at my perennial favorite stomp (Bring), but more a carefully curated collection of treasures big and small, and a really enjoyable place to spend some time exploring and imagining possibilities.

Thanks for reading!

p.s. you can make these photos bigger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that, clever you.

Linking up to:

Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl

Junkin Joe Vintage and Thrifty Finds

pinterest challenge: vertical hanging planter (upcycle!)

Pinterest, I've said it before and I'll say it again: you'll be the death of me.

On the other hand, I'm lucky enough to get to participate in the Young House Love/Bower Power Blog completely unauthorized Pinterest Challenge because of you, so maybe it's a draw?

Okay, fine. I love Pinterest. I've found it an endless source of inspiration and ideas. The only trouble I have is in distilling the content; I want to do everything. Like vertical gardening, for example. Wall pockets, hanging planters, cinder blocks, you name it, I want to make it.

original pin here

inspiration board dedicated to vertical and hanging planters and gardens here

Distill! Distill!

I took all those inspirational images and tutorials and made this: an upcycled wall planter homage to wall gardens. It wasn't exactly free, but it was pretty inexpensive, and mostly used materials (and plants) I already had on hand.

Materials:

Old iron planter basket (sans chains)

burlap coffee sack remnants

soil

pine shavings

hardware cloth or chicken wire remnant

awning remnant

hens & chicks

wire

thyme

heavy coat hook 

Get an old iron planter basket (mine cost $2 at Bring). You'll need to acquire this first, as you'll use it to determine how large to cut your burlap and hardware cloth. You could also use an old bicycle wheel; one of the pins above makes a spinning planter with one. (Note: Bring marks prices with a paint pen; I've had good luck removing their prices with a Magic Eraser.)

After testing placement, replace your chintzy picture hanging hook with a nice, sturdy coat hook.

Sew a "pillow" from old coffee sack burlap, using twine pulled from the sack to sew it up. Turn it inside out and fill with a mixture of potting mix and pine shavings (to make it more lightweight).

Stitch the pillow closed and stuff it into your planter basket.

Cut some hardware cloth to the approximate size and shape of your container's back using tin snips. I had a large piece leftover from an old playhouse we tore down awhile back; chicken wire would work well, too. Cutting it down to an approximate size first makes it easier to work with when you're ready to do more exact cuts later.

Set aside your hardware cloth for the next step.

If you'll be hanging your vertical wall planter on a surface you want to protect marginally, you should add a waterproof layer so that the dirt and water don't soak through the burlap, causing stains and rot. You can use an old piece of tarp, or one of those poly pet food bags, or (like me) a piece of an awning destroyed in a windstorm. Cut it out and place it on top of your dirt pillow.

Trim down the hardware cloth to fit, then tuck it in place over the waterproof layer and use wire and some needle nose pliers to attach it to the basket.

Turn the pod over and lay it flat to begin filling in your plants. 

                               

I trimmed some of my hens & chicks plants down, and also added a divided thyme seedling and a whole lotta moss. (We'll see what survives!)

Poke or cut holes in the burlap and thread roots or runners into the holes.

 Fill in around plants with moss.

I hung mine up right away for photos, but pretty much universally, it's agreed you should water it and leave it flat for a couple of weeks to allow the plants to take root. So after taking some pictures, I took the planter down again and laid it flat to do exactly that.

Patience is a virtue.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to Sherry and Katie for issuing the Pinterest Challenge! It's always good to have the chance to mark a project off my list . . . especially one that first caught my attention over a year ago. 

Linking up to:

Young House Love

Decor and the Dog

Bower Power Blog

The ReModeled Life

Ginger Snap Crafts



The CSI Project