Vertical Pallet Garden Update

Well hello my long lost blogging buddies! 

 I've been on a long hiatus from blogging and I don't have any earth shattering reason why?  

I hope you have been enjoying 2013 and that Spring is just around the corner for my friends living in cold climates.  

We are enjoying beautiful, mild Spring Break temperatures here in San Diego.

I thought I'd give you a little update of my vertical pallet garden.

It's filled in nicely since I last blogged about it.

I originally posted back in November 2011 about how to construct a vertical pallet garden.  

It was an experiment that went horribly wrong and you can read all about it in this post, Plan B.

This is the original from 2011

Here is my back up Plan B

faux succulents.

                               The live succulent vertical garden turned into one big gnat farm in my house.  

Totally gross! 

                       

  I went with a faux succulents for the indoors and remade my original one to hang outside.

Here is the Plan B option for indoors.

Here is the outside pallet redone after getting rid of all the old plantings and gnat farm.

I started with small cuttings and laid the pallet flat for two weeks.

After two weeks I hung it up.  

Bad idea, to soon!

2 weeks laying horizontal wasn't enough time for the cuttings to root.  

Better to wait more like a month.
Some of the little cuttings fell out to their death before they could take root.
I'm so impatient sometimes.

I screwed large hooks into my eaves to hang the pallet.

Don't hang something this heavy from your eaves unless you know they can support the weight.  

This thing is incredible heavy when it's wet.

Mine has been hanging for about eight months and it's doing fine.

This is a north east facing wall that gets great morning sun.

Before

After

Here's how it looks today.

I have since removed the candle sconce.  It was getting to rusty outside.    

The cuttings are filling in nicely and ready for me to trim off some of the babies to grow more succulents.

I'm off to weed my vegetable beds and get them ready to plant.  

More work to be done.  

Hope your spring garden is bringing you happiness.

To see more detailed instruction on how to construct your own vertical pallet garden click here.

Thanks for checking it out.

Winter Mantle - Deer Booty Decor

Christmas has been fully decked out in our house for the past few weeks.  

I just haven't made time to post about it.  

It's an Ugg boot day around here so I'm staying home catching up on stuff around the house.

My DIY Sharpie and ballpoint pen deer on painter's drop cloth is making it's second Christmas appearance.  

We call him...

Deer Booty 

To see how I made him last year click here.

I styled my Deer Booty mantle with a small forest and some pine cones.  

The only new piece I added is this deer head wreath on a stick from Home Goods.

Deer Shish Kabob to go with Deer Booty.

I made the stockings last year out of some old sweaters taking up space in my closet.

Now if I could just get them to all face the same direction for a picture.  

I swear Christmas stockings are harder to take pictures of then pets and babies. 

I winterized my firewood basket.

To the right of the fireplace is my Great, Grandfather's chair.  

He was a doctor and it sat in his office waiting room.  

I draped the chair with a Flokati coat and a little tree.  

I've had this coat for over 20 years and never wear it.  Believe me I've tried.

My parents got it for me on a trip to Greece when they lived in Italy.

It's way too big and I look like the Abominable Snow Man when I wear it, really I do.  

Instead of me wearing it, the chair gets too.

I like trying to use things I already have in new and different ways.

To see how I decorated for Christmas last year go here.

Stay warm and cozy and happy Christmas decorating.

Thanks for checking it out.

Fall Mantle 2012

I decorated for Halloween and Fall a couple of weeks ago,

but I just haven't had a chance to post the pictures.

The flock is back with a new favorite nesting place.

They're keeping my DIY owl art company.

The skeletons are blinged out.

 

I changed out the finials on the curtain rod holding my owl art.  I added some faux branches by drilling a hole in the branch and screwing it in to a double sided screw.

 

 

 

After removing the existing finial I attached the branch for the flock to perch on.

 

 

A little costume jewelry stuck to my foam pumpkin's eye sockets adds some sparkle to inexpensive  skulls.

Dripped red candle wax adds a little gore.

Every skeleton needs a pet crow

and a sparkly head band.

Or a vintage cameo for an eye?

Big lots skulls in a cloche with added pearl necklaces help complete the look.

I also used faux books and pedestals I already had.

I've got my eye on you.

How's your Halloween decorating going?

Thanks for checking it out.

 

DIY Show Off

Man Cave Reveal

I'm finally finished with Henry's room. 

 It's been six months since I started the man cave makeover.  

Most of the room has been done for quite awhile, I was just waiting on the couch.  

I ordered a love seat/chaise combo couch about a month ago.  

I picked up the couch a week ago, but only half of it made it home with me.

I'll tell you more details of the couch saga when we get to the reveal pictures.

The room used to look like this.

I did many DIY projects along the way of completing this room.
Just click on the hi-lighted words to see the post for more details on how I did each one.
I painted the walls
Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray HC 170 and
the ceiling Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray HC 168.

My brother helped did the crown molding.  

I made a Restoration Hardware knock off light. 

I added jute rope to the existing entry light.  

I made this leather studded stump for a side table.

I added industrial wheels to this thrift store steamer trunk. 

I originally planned on using it as a media console, but I think the scale works better switching to the dresser.

I painted my entryway mirror a more masculine black.

Here is the finished room reveal.

I did it on a tight budget spread over several months.

The green velvet drapes and the cowhide rug are from Ikea.

The silver floor lamp is a family hand me down that I painted silver and distressed.

The media dresser has been in my family for years.
The white chair is a thrift store find that I had reupholstered years ago.

I changed out the white blinds for woven ones from Lowe's.

So, let's get back to the story of the couch.
 I searched and searched for the perfect couch for many months.
My husband and I are tall and needed a deep couch to accommodate our height.  We tend to keep our couches along time so I didn't want to skimp on quality, but it still needed to be budget friendly.

 The room is small and it's the first room you see when you walk in the front door.  Going too big would have over whelmed the space.  I found the perfect solution at a store in Solana Beach called WE-R-Fabrics.  They make custom high end furniture for very competitive prices.
I will definitely buy furniture from them again.

Now, here is where my nice little couch story gets scary.   

I picked up the couch on a Friday afternoon, but only the chaise part of the couch made the trip safe and sound to my house. 

 I watched helplessly through the rear view mirror as the love seat did a back flip out of the back of my truck on to the freeway!
I know, CRAZY!

I am very lucky to not be facing a lawsuit or dealing with the guilt of causing someones untimely death due to a couch collision on the freeway.

The lesson I learned that day is NEVER trust someone when they tell you the furniture is "secure" in the truck.

CHECK IT YOURSELF

The couch miraculously landed right side up and only received a minor tear that has been seamlessly fixed.  
More importantly, no car accidents occurred as a result of my flying couch.
I should have bought a lottery ticket that day.
 It could have been really bad, I was very lucky that no one got hurt.   

  

A week later the chaise and love seat are happy to be reunited again.

It's perfect for my tall husband and the chaise is lined up with the TV for comfortable, ideal TV viewing.

Originally I was going to make two industrial shelves like the one I made for my great room, to flank the TV, but I decide to do a gallery wall instead.



The picture on the left is of New York City where my husband is from.  It was on clearance for $30 at Homegoods.  The other map above the TV and the blue print picture to the right were also great buys from Homegoods.

I already had the two brown mirrors.

Most of the accessories I found shopping the house.
I picked up a few extra old books at thrift stores.  The globe was on clearance at Homegoods and well as the large black metal urns with the pointy finials.  

My husband is really happy with his new room.  

Now if we can just keep the girls out if it.

Thanks for checking it out.

Thrifty Decor Chick