A happy square

Walking home from a friend's house I passed through a residential neighborhood full of cute houses and a long established practice of leaving free things on the sidewalk.  Could a post-brunch winter walk have any more potential? 

In front of one house I came across this square ceramic cachepot with the words HAPPY BIRTHDAY on one side.  I suspect at one point it contained an arrangement built on florist's foam or perhaps something edible. Either way, I washed it well and it's mine now.

It was the perfect size for a Christmas cactus that had been living in a transparent glass planter surrounded by shells (looked fine, but made it difficult to lift the plant out to check for excess water).
Luckily the wording is only on one side of the planter.

Now this lovely little square pot lives on the shelf near the window next to the hippo planter (with the Haworthia) and near the pothos cuttings that I hope will survive their transplant from water to dirt.

Don't trash it, let someone else treasure it!
Happy freestyling.

A basket for texture

Many design blogs talk about 'layering' the elements of your room, and the importance of bringing in different textures to create this more visually interesting layered look.  Message received!  So when I found a small basket I knew just what it could be, an outer container for some sort of plant. Texture on texture for the win.

Sharp-eyed readers will notice that the interior pot is much smaller than the basket diameter. I didn't have a perfect plastic liner for this basket, but these 'Himalayan Mix' plants from the scandi-superstore seemed voluminous enough to balance the size of the basket although they were a bit short.  The solution is that the interior plastic plant pot is sitting on top of a ceramic pot to make the whole arrangement tall enough to stand above the edge of the basket.  It also helps add a little weight and stability.  So there it is, a little corner of my universe, filled with plants. And texture.

Happy frestyle gardening.

A fern reminder

Sometime in the middle of winter I found a lovely blue plant pot down by the dumpster.  Thank goodness for small favors that it wasn't IN the dumpster but rather NEXT TO it, which made it much easier to find.  Thank you mystery person for realizing that someone else would like your plant pot, that person is me....with my fern.

























Here is the Boston fern in its new home.  I would point out for all you hesitant growers that this plant has been split at least 3 times but just keeps growing back like a champ.



























Now the Boston fern has a small bromeliad neighbor in the white ceramic pot (also free). The bromeliad is a cutting that came off a plant I took care of over the winter holidays, and that plant had been an offshoot of one I originally bought. So I suppose this little guy is the grand-plant of my original. 

Full circle, yada yada yada.

Happy freestyle gardening and paying it forward with vegetation.

Everything about this plant was free

Full confession, I collect planters and planting supplies even if I don't have a specific need.
Yes.
I am a plant hoarder who likes to be prepared.

For example, I found some black plastic plant pots while biking home one night, and even though they were a bit awkward to balance on the handlebars they made it home. So far I've used two of the six.   More recently I found a pair of adobe-colored plastic planters with separate trays, score!  I've also found the occasion bag of potting soil, not glamorous but something that I can *always* use.

This preparation meant that when a large aloe cutting showed up on my desk one day I was ready to plant it.  I trimmed the black plastic inner pot so it wouldn't stick out over the top of the adobe-colored outer pot.

I could have planted the entire aloe directly in the adobe-color plastic pot, but the drainage holes are rather small, and I wanted to keep the pot small while the cutting is developing roots. This way there is a large gap below the bottom of the black pot for drainage.

I used some shells on top of the dirt to help hold things in place, and even the shells are free courtesy of my parents and their trip to the beach.

Happy freestyling and plant swapping.

Mid-century chair pair

I found this lovely pair of chairs quite a while ago, real wood with intact upholstery.

They appear similar in style to a Danish modern wishbone chair. I'm no mid-century furniture expert, feel free to provide other information.

The upholstery is a bit dated, so for a while they sat with blankets and other cushions on top. Then I finally got some spare time and decided to get out the staple gun and do this project.
As I was laying different pieces of available funiture on top this piece of gray cushion cover stood out as the one with the right amount of contrast.  Yes, of course it was free fabric, I just didn't post anything about it earlier.


















Once I decided on the fabric the actual project went pretty quickly.

Laying out the fabric.

Making sure there was enough for two chair covers.

 Wrapping the seat to take advantage of the existing seams in the fabric.

Double checking one last time before cutting....

The longest delay was from the staple gun getting jammed, but now I know how to disassmble the staple gun and remove jammed staples! Educational experience!

So after about 30 minutes of fiddling and stapling I had a newly recovered pair of chairs.  The grey goes well with the couch. 

[[I did the recovering in October, but only now getting around to posting this in February, oops!]]

Here is how the chairs look now with their new seat covers and some colorful pillows.

 

I'm very pleased with their airy look and the contrast of the grey and wood.

Happy freestyling!

Sewing machine cover, from leather couch cushions

Someone was throwing away an old couch, so old that the covering on the cushions and back was REAL LEATHER.  Not vinyl, not pleather, not 'bonded leather', but real 100% cowhide-- which had clearly been much used in its 30-year career as a couch.  Since it was destined for either landfill or creative reuse I decided to salvage it and see what could be made with such pieces.

Project #1 - sewing machine cover to replace the large plastic bag that had been serving as a cover for last year.....8? 10? years. Definitely time.

Luckily a sewing machine cover is not spatially complicated, but I did decide to add a pocket to the outside to hold odds and ends.

Here is an overhead view while deciding what pieces of leather to use.

More fiddling around, putting the existing cushion cover over the sewing machine to see how the leather would drape over the top.

The final product (with the hole for the top handle not visible).
Not the most cutesy or perfectly-seamed piece, but for my first time working with leather using the sewing machine I'm pleased how it turned out.  I'm also happy to have been able to salvage this natural material and extend its useful life.

Happy freestyling, reduce, REUSE REUSE REUSE, and then recycle.

Freestyle finds help a Texas transplant take root

A fortuitous friend introduction led me to meet "Miss S" soon after she moved to the area....and was looking to furnish her apartment with a little bit more than what had fit in her car during the cross-country drive.  As an enthusiastic thrifter and fan of second-hand items Miss S. was thrilled at the prospect of some free apartment accessories, and I was happy to send them to a good home.

It started out with living room things....

A small end table with brass inlay, and a cute lamp that had a secret light-up middle section.

A set of three square display shelves for the wall, after their installation

Geometric patterned throw pillows that happened to have just the right colors to go with the dark blue couch.

Then a few weeks later I found a curtain, very mod with it's pattern of squares.
Two of the grommets came out in the wash, but otherwise it held up well.

The curtain became a shower curtain outer liner.

Finally (for now at least), the masterpiece of this freestyle bonanza was this large frame with the glazing intact. The original poster was a bar scene with a rather elongated bartender, not really in keeping with the light and bright feeling in the rest of the apartment.

A friend's photograph was purchased, matted, and framed....

...then the final landscape with flowers photo was hung with care to brighten up the bedroom.

Happy freestyling!

My kind of bro-mance

More plants, more plants, more plants, and more posts about plants.  This one is about a bro-mance, but in this case the 'bro' stands for 'bromeliad', because its about plants. Duh.
I found a green ceramic piece that once contained a fruit bouquet (judging from the sticker on the bottom), but that happened to be the perfect size for a 4-inch plastic planter.  Now, I didn't necessarily have a plant to put in it when I found it, but the hoarder motto is 'take it now, use it later', although I'm sure there are other hoarder mottos, perhaps so many that they hide under couches and spill out of closets.....

Anyway, enough random words, here is the green ceramic cachepot...




















Here is the bromeliad, looking lovely in its greenery.

Happy freestyling!