Labor day is upon us, and with it, those end of summer sales! After Labor day, some of us put away our white clothes and eagerly whip out our fall decor while imbibing pumpkin spice lattes. But first, there are some great sales going on over the weekend! So if you’re in the mood for some retail therapy and a home decor refresh, take a break from the BBQ and and score some great deals!
Read MoreHave you wanted to try rooting your fiddle leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) but weren’t sure of the best propagation techniques and practices? Rooting fiddle leaf figs may seem intimidating at first, but in this post I’ll cover all the steps you need to successfully root new fiddle leafs of your own. We’ll go over best fiddle leaf fig propagation practices I learned in university greenhouses plus a popular one to avoid.
Read MoreWhat’s the secret to making your space look like it was designed by an interiors pro? Well one of the most important is laying out your furniture and your other design elements in a floor plan to see how they will really fit in your room. I reviewed 4 room layout/floor planning apps with video demos to to see which were the most user friendly to help you design your interior or garden space.
Read MoreEver bring home a new favorite plant (just. one. more. I swear.) but then you realize you don’t have a good pot for it? If you’re anything like me, you’re not happy with your new plant sitting in it’s plastic nursery liner for long.
I want my plants in a pot that looks great with my home decor, and a collection of plastic nursery pots doesn’t cut it. So I’m always on the lookout for attractive and reasonably priced planters, pots, containers - whatever you want to call them, for my ever-expanding plant collection.
Let’s look at some great pots that are all reasonably priced and will beautifully showcase your favorite fronds. (In fact, most come in sets of two!)
Then we can talk about how to pick the right pot according to how you like to water your plants, plus pot workaround tips.
Read MoreStock tank pools are an outdoor trend I came across just recently and I have to say, I’m feeling like I’ve been living under a rock. Just in case you’ve been under one too, a stock tank pool is a galvanized tank normally used to water livestock that’s repurposed into a small, backyard pool - typically around 8’ diameter and 2’ to 3’ deep. It’s a budget-friendly backyard trend with legs, and they’re many creative, industrious people out there who’ve made them into total Insta-worthy assets for their own outdoor oases.
Where’s this trend coming from? They say necessity is the mother of invention, and I think families are getting pretty desperate for some outdoor fun (and to maintain their sanity) for their requisite stay-cations right now. Now that they’re on my radar, I feel like stock tank pools are cropping up everywhere like mushrooms, from Instagram to articles in major media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
This is such a great idea for outdoor fun that looks good with out spending a fortune. Let’s take a look at traditional pool options and then explore this summer-style trend that just might be the perfect addition for your patio or backyard!
Read MoreCistanthe grandiflora, a.k.a. Calandrinia spectabilis or Rock Purslane is what I call a "Super Succulent." It blooms for months straight, is cold hardy (frost tolerant) to 15 F, has succulent blue-green foliage, and is drought tolerant. It's also really easy to grow in the garden and propagate from cuttings making it a fun and rewarding plant for even a novice plant parent or gardener.
Read MoreHot Summer Sales! (best home decor scores online) 4th of July is almost here. This year things aren’t the same in the way of looking forward to big fireworks and BBQs, so how about some retail therapy as consolation prize. Who’s with me?!
I nearly finished the internet looking for decent sales for indoor and outdoor decor and found a few to share with you. Summer savings drum roll please!
Read MoreFire is a natural design choice for outdoor entertaining and family enjoyment. It creates a warm, cozy atmosphere, enticing friends and family to stay and hang out, especially on chilly nights. We all love to gather around a crackling fire; as humans we're naturally drawn to it . So let's take a look at some options including fire pits, fire tables, and outdoor fireplaces.
Read MoreDo you have a fiddle leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) that is one tall stalk with no branches? Do you really want a tree-like fiddle leaf with a single trunk and multiple branches at the top? If so, you’ve come to the right post. We’ll get into 2 specific techniques of pruning and notching with step by step guidelines for making your bush-like fiddle leaf into a beautiful branching tree.
Read MoreLooking for some inspiration to fuel your outdoor oasis dreams? It’s that time of year again - the weather is warming up, and soon we’ll want to be outside enjoying it all. Time to plan our outdoor living space so we can enjoy with friends and family. I’m finishing up my own backyard garden re-design and I’ve been looking at lots of images and inspiration, so I thought it would be fun to share.
Read MoreContainer gardening is fun and satisfying, giving you fresh picked herbs any time to add to your favorite dishes and drinks. We'll go through some planter ideas as well as a step by step process for putting together a winning herb pot combo that’s both delicious and ornamental. If you're new to container gardening, rest assured with a little effort (not much!) you'll grow great results.
Read MoreAre you almost as picky about your indoor plant accessories and pots as you are your plants? Looking to bring the outdoors in with a garden room and a bunch of ugly plastic accessories and pots don’t fit the bill? Me too!
While I definitely have quirky plant preferences that may or may not be rooted in aesthetics, (like some weird trait they have) I want them looking good in their container and on display.
They are the living part of my home decor and in many ways my favorite design elements, but regardless, they need to contribute to the home aesthetic and not just look like a bunch of plastic-y pots crowded together by a window. (OK so that’s kinda what’s going on in my kitchen, but we’ll pretend otherwise for now.)
Read MoreChoosing a pot for your plant may seem like it’s only a matter of aesthetics, but the size and shape of your planter along with the soil/potting mix you choose has a direct result on the amount of available water for your plant.
If you’re serious about growing your potted plants as successfully as possible, whether indoors or out, it’s really helpful to have a grasp of the science behind how water and soil interact under different conditions in containers.
In addition to choosing the most attractive planter to show off your prize plant, (also important!) this’ll help you make informed choices about what kind of pot to use for your plants’ long term health and growth.
Read MoreThis is my exact design process written down for designing and decorating a space. The whole point though is to make it adaptable so it serves YOU, your home, and your loved ones. If you follow these guidelines, you will create a room that is comfortable, cohesive, functional for you and yours, and reflects your own personal style.
It also doesn’t need to cost a fortune. I firmly believe that design constraints, whether budgetary or otherwise, often result in a more interesting project and not the other way around.
Read MoreMost of us are sheltering now, so I decided it would be appropriate to write about getting creative and decorating with what we already have or can find in nature for free in our collective backyards. Many of our home projects have been put on hold indefinitely while we try to flatten the curve and also reassess our financial situations which may look very different from a few short weeks ago.
Read MoreWant to create your dream room but don’t even know where to start? What if I told you there’s a tool that can help get your ideas organized and on the right path from the get-go? It’s called a mood board, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a novice or the most experienced interior designer, every interior design project starts with a mood board. I totally get it - design projects can be overwhelming under the best of circumstances. So I’m here to show you how you can make your own simple interior design mood board to help get your project off to a strong start and not waste time or money by going in the wrong direction.
Read MorePicking paint is one of the most challenging parts of designing a room. I've done it enough to share designer advice, tips, and tricks on what to do and what costly mistakes to avoid when choosing interior paint palettes. When picking paint, whether it's a neutral palette or saturated color, these paint selection guidelines will help you find shades that not only can you live with but you love.
Read MoreI just came back from the Design Influencer Conference 2020 in San Francisco. It’s a gathering of interior designers, design influencers and home decor brands from all over the country. I was on the fence about going because a) I just started this little blog o’ mine, and b) I’m not an interior designer (landscape designer by trade). After checking out the lineup of speakers though and more importantly, the topics covered, I decided to make the investment (plus San Francisco is only an hour from Napa, so no corona-virus petri-dish flight involved). So I got my boys sorted for the time I’d be away and bought my ticket.
Read MoreForcing - refers to the process of getting your spring-flowering branches to bloom early. Essentially, by cutting them and bringing them indoors, we’re tricking them into thinking it’s spring. Whether it’s forsythia, quince, or spring-flowering fruit tree branches like cherry or plum, putting together a floral display with these spring harbingers can provide the winter mood lift we need.
Read MoreWhen winter is dragging on long after the holidays have come and gone, (perhaps the only time some of us may be excited about cold weather) saucer magnolias suddenly appear to perk us up with their large goblet-shaped flowers that bloom on bare wood.
Magnolia x soulangeana typically blooms from mid winter to early spring, depending on variety and climate, when most other garden plants are still in deep in winter sleep. In Napa, CA where I live, it’s mid February and they are blooming all around town now.
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