An easy Topiary

I love greenery within the house. I have always kept money plants indoors, wherever we lived.

After moving into our home, last year, I made few attempts to grow money plants indoors. It often wilted due to lack of sunlight and neglect. Finally I had given up on the idea.

When browsing through blogs, I saw the fake topiaries and had an instant liking to the idea. There were some good topiaries in the home decor stores and online. But I found them pricey for the size or quality.

On a recent shopping trip, I found few artificial leaf bunches. They were small leaves and had a color gradient - dark green at the bottom and lighter as it went up. And it wasn't pricey. I bought 3 bunches of it to make my own topiary.

Back home, I decided to use a plastic container I had in the kitchen to hold it. I bought some floral foam, fixed it into the container, and carved a sphere on the top. The leaves were pretty long. So I cut each strand into two - the darker and lighter ones.


In the picture, you can see the bigger and darker leaves to the bottom right. The tender and lighter leaves are to the upper left.

Working with the foam was very easy. I just had to push the stalks in. I started working from the bottom of the sphere. The darkest leaves on the bottom and as I worked upwards, I added the lighter ones. This gave it a natural color tone.

Once the greenery was set, I moved onto prepping the container. There were various options - spray paint, wrap with jute/yarn, cover with fabric, and so on. Finally, I decided to go with a macrame wrapping. I had some white macrame and made a very long 5-strand braid.

You can see three rounds of the braid in the picture.

The container had a glossy surface. I was not sure how to attach the macrame braid to the surface. After few rounds of thinking I figured out that I could use masking tape.

Stuck a layer of masking tape around the container and then I could attach the braids with regular craft glue. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the process.

And it was done.

For the very top row before the braid, I twisted some macrame cords and fixed it.

Check out my lil assistant helping me out with the photo shoot :-)

Makeover

Like always, I have been away from the blog for a very long time. Though crafts were happening in the background, I never got around to photographing or updating the posts here.

The last one month was a completely gloomy month (weather-wise) in Bangalore, owing to the Chennai rains and floods. It was always raining, drizzling, and cold. It was really hard to catch a sunny and warm day during those days. Now it is kind of back to normal with sunny, warm days.

Last week I managed to take some pictures in the evening light. So first up today, is an upcycle or makeover.

We have a red stool with metal legs. I do not know the age of it. I have been seeing it since I was a kid. It was bought by my parents when they were in the MiddleEast. When we moved to Bangalore, it came along. For the past few years it was not being used properly and was often neglected. There were some burn marks on the red leather and the metal leg had started to show signs of aging. For the past one year we never used it and it lay in the utility area.

Recently I was asked to give it away while clearing up the utility. But the sentimental side of me was not ready to. I had no clue what to do with it. Still I decided to keep it as it was still sturdy and chic looking.

This picture shows how sad looking it was.

I had a can of bronze spray paint from a previous project and decided to put it to use. I decided to give the stool a makeover.

First task was to find a fabric for the seat. I decided upon a dark/navy blue fabric. I do not have much knowledge on the fabric types but I can tell you that it is a heavy and at the same time breathable fabric. It has been lying around in my stash for the past few years. This is from my mom's collection.

Next task was to dismantle the stool and sand the legs. The legs were showing the signs of age in the form of imperfections formed on the metal surface due to the exposure to all bad weather conditions over the past few years.

Once it was sanded smooth, wiped with a soft damp cloth, and dried, it was time for the painting. We applied two coats and it dried pretty quicky. I was overjoyed with the finish.

Next I cut out the fabric and hand stitched it to the backside of the seat, pulling it taut.

Within very less time the project was completed.

I love how it looks now.

Now it rests by the bedside in the guest room. Happy to have given it a home.