We have two sides to our house. The pretty side with a deep garden bed, daphne and camellia plants, crab apples and jasmine.
And the side I call the Dark Side. Our bedroom looks out onto the dark side, and for years it has niggled at me. We have tried to grow plants in pots but nothing seems to take.
Last week I walked past that window and stopped and looked at the outside vista with great distaste. The fence was unpainted, the bamboo we had planted was completely 100% dead, and there was ficus and unmentionable climbing plants from the neighbours garden growing through cracks. All of a sudden I became almost angry. Why can't my view be like this? Neat and happy.
You know when all of a sudden what you have put up with for years is no longer remotely acceptable and must be changed NOW. That is how I felt.
So this is what I did. I went down to Paint Spot and bought a tin of paint in a colour called Lava Stone. Then I stopped into a fantastic shop called Perfect Pieces and bought some wrought iron hanging bits and pieces.
Then I put my son down for a nap and I threw the bamboo out, and with great enthusiasm stripped off all the ficus. Then I in a frenzied fashion painted the wooden fence. Then I hung up my hanging things.
And - snap crackle pop, this is the result. Just as my son woke up!
Not perfect but a massive improvement. Neat and reasonably peaceful. I confess, what you see in the pot is fake plants ('giant sage'!), something I said I would never have in my house. But after 7 years of trying to grow real plants, I was a little bit desperate.
If only I could fit all my activities neatly into nap time.
(Image (1) Martha Stewart)
7 comments:
You really did all that in one afternoon? I'm totally amazed. I'm loving the color of the fence. We have a nice and an ugly side to our garden too. My solution has been to go nowhere near the ugly side for fear of what I might see. It's basically a graveled path where unwanted garden objects end up.And you are too honest, my dear. No one would have ever guessed that that plant was fake!
That is quite a lot to fit into one naptime! It took me two days just to paint two windowsills, I envy your efficiency. And that fake plant looks utterly real, you absolutely cannot tell the difference. Here's hoping you find the "dark side" less objectionable with these new improvements!
Well I did say I was in a frenzy!! I didn't take as much care painting an outside fence as I would with a window sill. Plus my son has Looong naps!
Well, I'm now going to comment on your blog... prolifically !!!!
We have a DARK SIDE to our house (it sounds as if everybody does)Our DARK SIDE looks at next door's wall of their house.... and all the things that you don't want in the garden ends up along this 'corridor'. You can't grow anything as the wind blows down there and it doesn't really see the sun. We have lived here for years and I still don't have any idea what to do with it....oh well, life isn't perfect, is it ? You have done a great job and, as much as I have always said that I wont have fake plants, sometimes needs must and yours looks brilliant. XXXX
It turned out lovely! I can totally relate to get "angry" and fed up with something and dashing to the store to find something to fix it up with. I did that this weekend by painting a set of closet doors that were bugging me!
You have done a great job, it must be a really long nap ;) or you're superwoman! I could never have guessed that was a fake plant.
It looks as though the sun is shining on that plant - seems to me you've defeated the dark side! Good work, and good choice of paint colour.
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