diy faux succulent planter ~

Why is it little things and odd spaces can bug the heck out of you? Or maybe they just bug me! Putting my home back together after the major floor demolition and renovation, there have been lots of small things and odd spaces to bug me. Decided the only way to get just what I wanted to finish off the downstairs half-bath was to create a DIY faux succulent planter ~ so I did!

The downstairs half-bath is an odd space. It’s a big rectangle with doors on each side, designed for wheelchair access. And it was a life-saver some years back when I was in a wheelchair with a broken leg, but that’s another story! It takes the right combo of things to not look lost on those big blank walls, and I’ve tried lots of different things over the years. Putting the room back together this time, I needed to change a few bits (one ~ due to breakage, two ~ due to never liked it anyway!) and was done except of one tiny spot.

I needed something green, in a half-round shape, with natural materials ~ to sit on a wall mounted pedestal shelf. Easy, peasy ~ right? I had some 99 cent faux succulent picks from Michael’s, and decided to MacGyver a planter by shopping my crate of random floral supplies.

This brown craft board box turned up in a closet, and a styrofoam disk, pebbles, and grass mats in the floral crate. Yay, it’s the right size! Cut the box down to half-size, trim the styro to fit, and stick it in place with some adhesive putty. 

Getting the faux plant bits in place took some adjusting ~ picks with floral tape, fern pins or bits of wire for angling, but nothing too bothersome. 🙂 I didn’t even need the pebbles I had planned to fill in empty spots, so they went back to the floral supply crate. Though this is a half-round, the same idea would work well as a full round or other shape, and these brown craft boxes are available at just about any craft store. In fact I may make another in a different shape for another room!

Ok the garden was pretty easy, but now it needs something to finish it off. Thought to accent with some jute twine, but once I started I just kept winding it around the box ~ so it’s now a texture rather than an accent. This also covered the open back and exposed styrofoam. I considered cutting another piece of cardboard and doing some sort of patch across the back, but really wanted it to sit flush to the wall, and a patch made it bulky. The twine gave coverage on the back without bulk ~ sort of like that perfect pair of yoga pants!

Here’s the problem spot. 🙁 The piece that hung above the blue and white platter was broken in the floor bedlam, and the piece that sat on the shelf below was never a favorite anyway. Somehow I know I can make this work!

Here’s the finished diy faux succulent planter on the shelf ~ and done in about an hour, even with looking around for bits and pieces.

Some re-arranging of the other pieces and now it plays nicely together. 🙂

Just for grins here’s a broader shot of the whole wall. In addition to being an odd space, it’s hard to get a good photo angle. Guess I’ll break out the tripod next time! Without the decorative stuff, the sink and lav are just lost in the room.

Here are the two doors on the opposite side of the space. When open, they cover the wall. When closed there’s a big gray wall staring at you, so I needed something fairly large but flat enough to work behind the doors.

I’ve used these two posters here for a while, with the narrow display shelf below. An update to more substantial frames was the only change this go-round. This display shelf has been used many ways, in different homes over the past 15 or so years!

Only thing left for this space is to re-caulk around the sink at the wall where it was pulled away when swapping the floor boards ~ sigh! There are a few re-caulking chores, and I will knock them all out at once, when the mood strikes.

As I finish up each space, I’m doing a few photos to share some bluwaterstyle projects. This half-bath has a touch of island colonial feel, and the accessories carry through to the connecting room I use as my home office. That room will likely be last to be put to rights, and it’s currently a maze of boxes. I’m almost finished with the dining area and bar alcove, soon to be here on the blog!

And all it took was a diy faux succulent planter project to finish off at least one room today. Another MacGyver project for the win!