Last Saturday, I took the morning to create this indoor garden in my office/mudroom. A couple of years ago, weekend projects started early Saturday morning and lasted into late Sunday night. They were huge, exhausting endeavors. Since becoming a parent, our weekends are more about relaxing and rejuvenating and our projects reflect that. Instead of tackling something large (and then being frustrated and even more exhausted when it never got close to complete…), now I do little projects that I can complete in a couple of hours – that are fun to do, not just fun to enjoy after completed.
Flowers are at the top of my list in our home. I have really become very fulfilled by growing flowers and herbs – and when it is 20 degrees, that happens inside. I find that I look forward to watching their progress each day, and the life they bring to an interior they way no pillow or accent can.
Since moving into our house at the beginning of last summer, I haven’t taken too much time to really decorate or properly set up my office. We sort of just hit the ground running and had more important areas to tackle (like completely empty rooms!). Now we’ve got the main areas covered, I was ready to spruce up the office space in the mudroom where I work.
The bench was a $150 find in my hometown of Lexington, Mo. I was told it was purchased from a farm sale in Pennsylvania. Like all good finds, I purchased it without really knowing where it would live in our home. I did know that I loved the patina, spindly lines and wood tone. For the moment, it is living in our mudroom/my office. The entire room is painted Navajo white – trim, cabinetry, shaker pegs, and all, so the contrasting wood tone feels really nice amongst the cream in here. The bench has become a great sunny spot to grow some potted flowers and bring some life into my office space. I have to say, it really does make it an inviting place to walk into every morning and settle into work.
I’m working on the rest of the office this weekend – creating inspiration boards to hang, storage for ribbons, papers, etc. Hopefully I’ll be able to share the completed space on Monday. Hopefully ; )
What I decided to plant was mostly determined on what I was able to find… I knew I wanted some spring bulbs, to bridge the gap between winter months and spring, just a couple of months away. Hyacinth are always my first choice for indoor spring bulbs because they smell just so springy. These pink were a couple of days away from blooming when I took this photo. I wanted to bring some pink flowers in the office area since I’ve been working on the Valentine’s Collection in the store. 
I also potted some daffodils in pots. In the fall I planted 400 daffodil bulbs in our yard. I saved a handful in my refrigerator to pot indoors this winter. I’m hoping that when I’m ready to shoot my spring products, I’ll be able to use these daffodils – they should be all different colors and shapes… well, that was the plan anyway. I potted everything in pea gravel with moss on top. I found this new moss that is more like little clumps – I like how spongey it is and doesn’t seem to brown.
I came across this pale pink and yellow orchid at Home Depot ($10) to add some instant gratification. I’m terrible with orchids, so hopefully this one lasts a little longer than mine usually do. I also repotted it in a Brown & White Square container.
I did a single daffodil (or it could be another form of narcissus… everything got a little mixed during planting outside.)
Here are the hyacinth today – so full that they are drooping. They smell amazing.
This is our kitchen counter with some herb plants I plopped in smaller containers.
This is the garden bench today. The pink hyacinth are blooming – really putting me on a deadline for taking “after” photos of the office!
The entire project was completed with about $50, including herbs in the kitchen and took an hour of errands and about 30 minutes of planting at home. I am tempted to go out and buy more tables/consoles/furniture, just so I have more surfaces to keep little indoor gardens like these. Because the planters are closed, I only have to water about once a week to replenish the water in the base. The bulbs sit in the pea gravel and the roots reach down to the water. Really simple to keep them alive – thank goodness.
Happy Saturday! I hope you have some easy projects planned… or already completed : )