SO SUCCULENT

Succulent. One of those words that sounds like what it means, no? Juicy. Fleshy. Moist. But I promise this tutorial won't make you feel as uncomfortable as those words do.



Everyone needs a little greenery in their lives. Studies have shown that having plants in your home or office can actually improve your health and productivity! But if you're like me, and you tend to kill your plants before they even have a chance to make you skinny and successful, and you end up with a lower self-esteem and realize your lack of nurturing instinct, then succulents might be the plant for you!

One of my favorite indoor plant arrangements is the succulent garden. And I'm hoping it's as easy to take care of as it is to create! Here are the steps.

1) Choose a planter that will fit your selection of succulents. I found some containers at the local thrift store for a couple bucks. I used the large green bowl for this succulent garden. I still need to drill a hole in the bottom for drainage.



2) Choose which succulents you will be potting together. I'm not an expert on succulents yet, so this might not be the optimal grouping, but we love experimentation in this household. I chose varying colors, heights, and leaves. Put a little soil in the bottom of your planter. I picked up some cactus and succulent soil at the store, hoping that this will help my brown thumb.


3) Remove your plant from its junky plastic pot, and lightly loosen up the dirt and roots.


4) Place firmly in the planter, using more or less dirt to stand the plant up. Repeat with the other succulents, and play around with them until you're pleased with the arrangement.


5) Top off with more soil to cover the roots, and voila! An adorable little garden display to make your home a happier and healthier place!





Through my extensive research on Wikipedia, I learned that virtually all cacti are succulents but not all succulents are cacti. I'm not in love with prickly plants, so I lean more toward fat and juicy-looking leaves. We all remember how cacti survive in the cruel desert heat, right? A succulent's fleshy parts are adapted for storing moisture in times of drought. And there will be times of drought. In my home. Because I forget to water my plants. So this plant is well-adapted to my neglectful ways.

Click here for tips on caring for your succulents from our friends at the Cactus and Succulent Society of San Jose, of which I would like to be president someday.

HEAVY ON THE METAL

I'm currently loving all things metallic when it comes to home accessories. Vases. Planters. Frames. Lamps. Pillows. All of it. I like to mix vintage finds, cool big-box retail buys, and easy DIY projects in warm metals like gold, brass, and copper to cozy up my cooler-toned color schemes of navies and greens, while adding simple touches of glamor. Here's a tour of my metallic obsession.

This gold vase was an inexpensive estate sale find.

This little gold picture frame came from the local Goodwill.

I glammed up a cheap old plastic clock with copper leafing.

This adorable gold patterned pillow is from the Nate Berkus line at Target.

Craigslist is great for vintage goodies like this brass floor lamp.

A boring plant pot gets a makeover with some DIY copper leafing.

Oh man, you can metallic-ize anything and everything with some gold or copper leafing. I hope to have a short tutorial to follow. Get ready to King Midas that junk!

HEY STUD

If you saw the previous post, you might've caught a glimpse of the studded upholstered headboard that I made for our master bedroom. It combines a couple of my current aspirations for a bedroom--a clean, cream/white color scheme with a little bit of an edge.

THE INSPIRATION:

West Elm Nailhead Upholstered Headboard (Queen: $449)

THE PROJECT:

THE MATERIALS:

MDF or plywood (62" wide x 38" tall for queen)
Spray adhesive
Fabric
Batting
Staple gun and staples
Nailhead trim
Materials for hanging/standing

I neglected to photograph the entire how-to process, but you can find an awesome tutorial on budgetwisehome.com. I ended up not using any foam because it is a bit expensive. I just used batting, and I'm pretty happy with it. I also did not hang my headboard on the wall. I just screwed two scrap 2x4s to the back, threw on some felt pads, and just leaned it flush against the wall.

As you can see, the back of the headboard can be far from perfect! Ain't nobody gonna see it!

DRAWING ON THE WALLS

I LOVE WALLPAPER. Especially with metallic patterns. But living in an apartment makes this a forbidden love, unless I want to go through the pain and heartbreak of removing the paper at move-out time. Not to mention the fact that beautiful wallpaper is just expensive. I've seen some cool removable options from tempaperdesigns.com and whatisblik.com, but the price was still a bit steep for me.

So I decided draw on the walls with Sharpies.

THE INSPIRATION:

L-to-R:
Metallic gold wallpaper seen on emilyhenderson.com
Gold sharpie wall seen on littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com

THE PROJECT:

I bought a 12-count box of gold Sharpies on Amazon for about 12 bucks. That was the total cost of this project, folks! And I only used 9 of them.

I made a stencil of a circle pattern that I like. It was also important to me that I chose a very forgiving pattern to minimize the effect of the inevitable mistakes I would make. I wanted the stencil to be pretty sturdy, so I ended up making it out of an old plastic binder. I have this cool Silhouette craft cutter, which made this process easy, but you can certainly cut a stencil by hand.

I just traced the pattern across my 11x8ft wall.

And a couple LOTRs and one While You Were Sleeping later...

I'll be sad when we have to move and I have to paint over it.