so i love my new house a lot except i can't stand the side of the backyard that has chainlink fence - because i don't like looking into my neighbors' trash filled backyards and alleyways.

so we came up with the idea of creating a vertical garden that would simultaneously cover the space between the yards and double our planting area by hanging canvas and sewing little pockets onto the canvas to plant in. we bought about 8 yards of 60" canvas, 20 eyelets, two big bookbinding needles, and a big ball of twine. we measured the fence and plotted out points on the canvas where we'd install the eyelets to attach the canvas to the fence.

patrick installing the eyelets

glad that cellphones have calculator apps - i'm really no good at math

after installing the eyelets, we drew out a plan to figure out how many pockets we could fit into the canvas. i ended up with 48 6"x6" and 12 6"x8" pockets. we cut 10"x14" and 12"x14" rectangles to leave room for 4" of depth. i folded the pockets into shape, glued, and clamped them so they could dry overnight.

ziggy wanted to help measure

so now i just need to finish sewing all of the pockets onto the canvas - i've finished about 30 so far. it's taking a little longer than i'd planned on to sew all of the pockets onto the canvas and some of our sprouts are starting to get too big for their little eggshells and yogurt containers so i definitely need to hurry it up!

mirrors into chalkboards

we've gotten to the point of unpacking my many "stuff" boxes. i had a pretty awesome collection of ornate-looking mirrors that i'd amassed, but honestly i really don't need that many mirrors, you know?

so we decided to turn them into chalkboards to keep our schedules, grocery list, and a to-do list for projects! i sprayed the frames and the mirrors with white spray paint. in retrospect, i would have also sanded the mirror-surface to help rough it up before painting - chalkboard paint is latex so it needs a surface to cling to - but mine still turned out more than okay!

once the mirrors and frames were coated and dry, i taped off the edges and painted on the first coat of chalkboard paint with a brush. 24 hours later i painted on the second coat with a foam brush to keep the paint surface smooth.

unfortunately i'd lost the hardware for the back of one of the mirrors so it took a day or two to finally get them up, but here they are looking great in my kitchen!

plants plants plants

i've been doing a lot of planting and seed starting so here are a few pictures from the last week!

i transplanted my rosemary and a tomato plant into upside-down containers along with the chives i'd planted earlier. i'm surprised how quickly the tomato plant started growing upwards again - but i'm sure it'll get weighed back down once there's big old tomatoes hanging off it's branches.

i planted a handful of different succulents into indoor pots and started some more carrots, peas, and cucumber seeds in the plastic ones that i'd brought the succulents home in. i also planted a blackberry bush and strawberry plant for the backyard.

upcycled succulent table

apparently patrick had been carting around this trashpicked table for a few years. even though it looked like a box of crayons, the shape was really very beautiful. so we slapped a few coats of leftover white paint onto it and it looks a million times better.

we're planning on covering every inch of it in succulents and crystals. patrick also found my old skull bank and decided to melt two candles to the top of it. it looks super awesome. this table is a far cry from where it came from.

upcycling old crates into garden planters

patrick had a few old wooden crates that he'd saved (we're making one into a table) and after a quick trip to ikea's as-is section, we'd found two more shelves/trays/drawers to use as planters. using an old shower curtain liner and a staple gun, we lined the boxes to prevent their bottoms from rotting out with water damage. but we did poke a few holes in the curtain to allow drainage.

we planted peas, squash, and cucumbers in the first crate because their seedlings were already starting to look like champions after only a few days of planting

i planted red onions in the largest tray. even though i filled the tray we still had a lot of leftover onion bulbs - if anyone lives in the philadelphia area and would like 10-15 onion sprouts i'd love for them to go to a good home!

diy upside-down planters

i've always like the concept and aesthetic of upside down planters - they free up space and the plant uses less energy trying to hold itself up. i just finished my first upside-down planter and plan on making several more!

all you need is an empty can, an old towel, and some twine or string. for herbs i'm using a very large aluminum can. when i start planting tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries, i'm planning on using paint cans.

first, cut a circle in the bottom of the can with a knife and a hammer. bend the sharp edges inside the can with the hammer. then you just need to poke three or four holes around the top (the open end) so that you can hang the planter. i painted my can with some white spraypaint but wrapping fabric or old wallpaper would be a a great idea as well.

cut a small hole in a piece of old towel. this hole's size is dependent on what kind of plant you're using, because the leaves/flowers/fruits need to be pulled through the hole. the towel is going to keep the soil from spilling out from the can. i just pressed the towel into the bottom but you could probably glue it in if you're worried about it moving. once the plant is pulled through the towel at the bottom of the can, pat down the soil so it's nice and firm. string your twine through the holes in the top and hang!

freeing the chives from their old mason jar home

frosted window diy

i've always liked frosted window glass - privacy when living in the city is definitely high on my list of priorities. and i love the idea of using natural light to turn a window into a giant soft box. unfortunately, frosted window film is significantly more expensive than i thought it would be. luckily, patrick is way better than i am at thinking of ways to use the items available to him for projects. and so, using an extra roll of glassine and some white glue, we were able to frost all of the windows in our house for free.

first he painted a thin line of white glue around the edges of the window (white glue is easily removable with hot water) before carefully spreading the glassine over the glass. once flat, he used an x-acto blade to remove the extra paper from around the glass. and voila! frosted windows!  they let in all of the natural light while keeping the inside of the house safe from prying eyes.