Showing posts with label pots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pots. Show all posts

Friday, April 9, 2010

Beautiful Gardens, Pots and Plants

Shiny Friday is here. Today we'll leave our lovely interiors for a while and enjoy some of Martha Stewart's great ideas for gardens, plants and pots. Have fun!


Pansies and their cousins violas are among the most popular garden plants, adding color, whimsy, and grace to a bed, a border, or steps.



Instead of the usual sphagnum moss or coconut fiber, line a hanging planter with canna or hosta leaves.


Gardeners everywhere have opened their eyes to hydrangeas' intricate beauty, abundant summer-into-fall bloom, and obliging tolerance of some shade


Dress your potted plants in a picket fence made from clothespins.


Bushel baskets from the garden center make charming and inexpensive containers. Their wooden slats provide built-in drainage, and they can be recycled after the plants have had their season in the sun. As autumn draws to an end, the entire basket can be composted once the wire handles are removed.


Give each herb its own personalized pot, and you'll never snip the wrong sprigs.


Use beach pails to hide less attractive flowerpots within.

Create custom cabinetry in your garden shed with vintage wine crates.


A vintage wooden cupboard provides handsome storage for gardening supplies.


When the garden is especially exuberant, it seems you can never have enough vases. Make a matching set of vessels by painting metal cans in muted hues.


Flower pots and windowsills, a perfect match.


Dogwood branches are arranged in an antique Japanese wicker backpack.


Various English hybrid delphiniums, orange Alstroemeria 'Ligtu,' blue Geranium 'Nimbus,' and white-flowering Clematis recta 'Purpurea,' which adds its dark foliage to the mix.

Along a drive, Lombardy poplars soak up most of the water. Spring-blooming bulbs -- Spanish bluebells, Dutch iris, and daffodils.

Morning haze heightens the pinks of these roses.

Garden at Martha's Turkey Hill home.


Create a rustic, richly textured presentation by placing a vase of lush flowers in terra-cotta pots adorned with tree bark.

All images from Martha Stewart.

I have linked this post over at Jerri's Friday Favourites Party, Melissa's The Inspired Room and Laurie's Saturday Favourite Things. Thanks once again Jerri, Melissa and Laurie!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Make your small kitchen work

Small kitchen? No counter space? No cabinet space? I share your pain, and it's probably one of the reasons I don't spend enough time cooking--that and whatever I attempt to make never turns out too well.

One trick that has served me well in the kitchen is to think vertically. I have doubled space in my kitchen by storing things on the walls. I found a long rectangular wooden box, painted it white, and screwed it to the wall, and now it is a great and convenient place to store my spices and things I need to grab quickly.

The wall behind my stove is exposed brick, so i just grabbed some metal hooks and large nails I had loose in the tool box, and pushed them into holes I found already existing in the bricks. It is a great way to hang my skillets and my wok! A magnetic strip screwed under my makeshift spice rack is another great catch-all for knives and utensils I need on hand.

Well utilized kitchen space...

image from California Closets



Storing pantry items in canisters or jars makes them easy to access, keeps them fresh, and the uniformity of the containers instantly adds a look of order. Image from The Kitchn


Even though this kitchen is small, it's compact and set up in an organized way. I love the magnetic spice containers on the fridge.
Image from The Kitchn


Shelves are our friends. Installing shelves is an excellent way to add A LOT of storage space, and allows you to keep counter surfaces clear as workspace. Shelving doesn't have to be expensive either. Image from marthastewart.com


The Ikea Grundtal bars are popping up in small apartments everywhere, the canisters are from Storables, and the galley ledge from Pottery Barn. Image from Not Martha



This idea is really smart, and from none other than Julia Child (thanks Upstart). Outfit a kitchen wall of any size with peg board. You can have it cut to size at a hardware store. After that, you can hang a multitude of baskets, bins, pots, and pans. Top Image from marthastewart.com,
bottom from domino



Kitchen carts can really come in handy for storing small kitchen appliances and provide extra work surfaces. Even better if they're on wheels!
Above two images from marthastewart.com
My Ping in TotalPing.com