Vertical garden project journey - phase 1

Finally,  stars have set up properly for my vertical garden project. I found in the garage wooden box that  seems to be perfect. This is project that takes at least a month or two to be quite ready for the wall and I will regularly update photos. I am so eager to see how it will turn out. But, prior to planting, some preparations need to be done to protect wood and avoid wood decay.

Tutorial (and journey) to set up vertical garden

This is box 'before'. It looks pretty good and the  baffles could be removed. It might sound silly, but I discovered in the  last moment that this could be done (and was delighted, as this made my job much easier).

I cleaned it, sanded a little bit and then 'wax' with an old candle.

Applied one coat of white acrylic paint, left 20 minutes to dry and sanded again to distress it.

I also painted back of the box, I always take care about the sides that are not visible, as well.

To protect the wood from water and moisture, applied coat of transparent satin varnish for boats (I already had it on hand). Applied it inside and outside the box and left to dry - this is oil paint and it took almost  24 hours to dry.

And the protection efforts were not finished. I decided to use transparent adhesive foil for additional protection and incase the whole box. The foil I also already had, originaly it was bough for school books protection. I love the grid on the paper side, it is so much easier to measure and cut the foil.

So, I measured to foil and cut the corners (to 'create' the box  an put it inside the box.
Protected the buffles as well.

Box is now prepared and protected. More exciting part to follow.

Although this is going to be a vertical garden, I put some grit on the bottom for a drainage. First  couple of month (or until the plants spread around) the box will stay in horizontal position.

As planned to plant succulents, prepared a mix of 1/3 sand and 2/3 usual soil for flowers.

The box is now filled with soil. 

To avoid the soil to drift away, I fasten the metallic net onto the box.

Now, the best part - planting. I already have a lot of succulents - chose the smaller ones and planted them. I think I'll buy some additional on the green market, may be reddish or variegated.

What I learned? The meshes of the net were rather small, I had to use wooden stick for planting. It is better to use net with the bigger meshes. Some people used moss, may be this is even better, don't know.

At end, added soil and water sprayed my garden.

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Vertical gardens

If you think you don't have enough place for gardening, you are wrong. There are very creative ideas how to make your own vertical gardens. There are, of course, industrial products and design, but I prefer home made projects.

Tutorial for this  project I found on DesingSponge – it looks very easy to try. I planned to do it couple of month ago but didn’t have time and haven’t found the pallet or something similar until recently. I will post steps and updates of growing plants soon.

Another great tutorial for similar project, using picture frame.

This project I found on Community gardening. Although Lenny Librizzi who run project, declared this experiment unsuccessfull, I found it very interesting.  At least, it seems to me as a very good idea, may be some improvement needed. But it is good to learn something new even if it didn’t turned out as we expected.

This is example and a great tut how to make something completely different if you are creative - this garden was made using shoe store and some hangers.

That is my favourite one - ugly wall turned into picture. This project is made by  the crew behind Calanthe Artisian Loft, a homestay in Melaka, Malaysia… 

Recycle plastic bottles and make a garden.

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From toolbox to mail box

Old wooden toolbox was lying in our garage for years, hubby didn't use it but also didn't want to get rid of it. But when I decided to upcycle it, he didn't have a choice but to agree. In my country elelctronic invoice is still not so popular and implemented and I am getting number of envelopes each month from utility companies, banks, telcos. Needed something usefull to sort them.

'Before'

Toolbox was rather shattered, but I liked the size and the partitions. 

Tutorial how I upcycled the toolbox

Material and tools:

- acrylic paint black
- acrylic magnetic board paint
- sanding paper and orbital sander
- three new hinges
- brushes
- decoupage paper and glue

First step was, as usual, to dissemble pieces - this time just the cover from the box. After that i sanded the box and the cover to clean the old paint.

Minor damages I repaired with acrylic filler and sanded again.

After two coats of black acrylic paint I used magnetic board paint for the inner side of the cover. Frankly, I expected a better magnetic effect after three coats of the paint. Flat magnet (used the one for fridge, in the right corner on the photo) was adhered rather well, some other didn't. Nailed new hinges to fasten cover tot the box and project was finished. Nothing difficult, but I am happy I have mail box now to sort my mail.

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Side tables makeover

Once upon a time they were ugly twins and then decided to take facelifting and continue to live separately. I got these two pieces our acquaintances decided to get rid of and recognized the opportunity at once. it was just the small table I needed for my printer and another one for my son's room.

Tutorial how to makeover side tables

This is how tables looked like 'before'.

And this is their look after makeover.

How to do makeover

Material and tools:

- usual suspects (sander and sanding paper, filler, primer, acrylic paint, roller and brushes, transparent varnish for the protection) plus some additional things for decorations (decoupage and rice papers, thin brushes and acrylic paints)

As usual, sanding is the first step. I am using orbital sander, it is great help. Started sanding with sanding paper grade 40 and continued with paper grade 80.

Tables were in rather good shape and just minimal corrections were necessary to be applied (using filler). After that, I applied one coat of primer. 

Drawer 'before'

Drawers inside are usually hidden, but I like to refresh hidden parts as well, so I applied primer and paint for the complete drawer.

After primer, applied three thin coats of white acrylic paint using roller. This was the process same for the both tables. After that, additional decoration was, of course, different.

For the 'printer' table, I used rice paper for the legs. First, made pattern to be used for legs,  then cut the pieces from rice paper and glued them using decoupage glue. For the drawer, I used tape and stencil and decorative acrylic paint.

This is my 'office' corner with the printer table.

To decorate drawer I used tape to protect tne white part and colored the stripes using colors - blue, red and green as used for the legs.

For the surface, I used decoupage paper and glue.

When finished, I put two coats of transparent varnish (satin) for the protection.

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Wooden pallets - endless ideas

  It is amazing to me how rubbish could be turned into treasure. Wooden pallets are certainly the (hidden) source of a thousands creative ideas and projects - to acomplish some of them you need a little bit more practice and tools, but some are so simple yet astonished.  Here are some projects I found the most interesting. 

Source and tutorial for this sofa is scraphacker.com .

 DesignSponge is one of my favourite sites - I found there tut for this beautiful vertical garden.

Source for this interesting pallet fence is Camelot art creation.

You need to be more experienced crafter to make this chair   from pallet, but consider it as a challenge. I have to confess, usually ask my hubby to make more demanding carpentry work for me.

 This awesome shelf is certainly for beginners, just need to get the pallet. The source is fuckyeahbookarts.tumblr.com .

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