With all of the excitement resonating in me with her delight for things created by Mother Nature, I started looking ahead to how I wanted to plan my garden and porch areas this season. I came up with some ideas for displaying fresh flowers and plants that I am really looking forward to implementing. If I don’t get around to all of them, maybe I can at least share these ideas, and somehow, somewhere, they will be used and enjoyed.
Create Colorful Pots and Window Boxes — Buy plastic pots or window boxes at a home discount center. Spray paint them any color to coordinate with other items, then stencil or freehand sketch (if you’re feeling crafty) over the base spray paint. Use enamel paint to decorate after pencil outlining. Protect your creations with two coats of sealer.
Frame a Beautiful View — Visit your local salvage yard, garage sales and such and pick up some wonderful vintage doors and windows. Use a window to spotlight a favorite scene in your garden; twist eyebolts into the frame and into an overhang on the house. Hang the sash from the eaves with a chain. Or entice guests into your garden with an old weathered door, still sporting old paint for a cottage garden look.
Use Low Cost Metal — Because metal stands up to most everything Mother Nature can throw at us, you can find many affordable weathered garden items for far less than you would imagine. Watering cans, for example, are great to use. Setting different shapes, sizes and colors atop an old farm bench with various colored flower plants would really make a great scene.
I am waiting with great anticipation to view everyone’s front stoop, side entry way, garden and any place people will display nature’s beauty in their outside living spaces. Happy spring!
Kristin McClellan is a professional home stager and redesigner who runs her business, HomeCharmers, with her husband, Nathaniel, a flooring expert and furniture craftsman. They work together to make people’s homes more buyer-friendly and help homeowners who are staying enjoy it more. You can reach her at 899-1239 or www.homecharmers.net.