Over the past few years "Live Walls " with real plants have taken over commercial spaces. I have seen them everywhere from a 2 level high one in London at Anthropology to even in smaller but well articulated ones in lobbies here in NYC.
I really like the "Living wall" how ever I kill every plant. Not even a cactus is my friend or able to live more than a few months with me. The issue is less about me not being able to provide the right care, as my apt gets lower than low levels of light. Yes, its the trade off for being close to the subway and a fun neighborhood.
So in my attempt to:
1. Create the illusion that I do get more light in my apt than I do and
2. Give my apt a focal point that is inviting and at least looks alive
I went to Michael's craft store and basically went Green! Really green. To give you an idea my live wall is about 4 feet by 4 feet it is densely covered all over with excellent artificial faux plants. While this does seem to defeat the purpose of real plants it gives me the look with out the watering and fear of killing all the plants a slow death.
HOW TO MAKE ONE! The fun part. Seriously this is super simple and provides instant gratification.
Armed with about yes about $100 dollars worth of artificial plants ( get them on sale or even try a jack's 99 cent store )
I had already an old 4 by 4 canvas I had painted it black but you can paint it any color green would have also worked I wanted it to disappear but maybe you want some neon color to pop out a little have fun and know that if you hate it black is what I did and its an easy fix.
Then what I did was measure out about 4 holes across the bottom of the canvas. The canvas is also 2 and a half inches thick which is important to note when looking for a canvas to use. I then took a pair of scissors and cut/ popped a hole into the centers spaced out.
POINTS TO THINK ABOUT: Make sure you have allowed enough distance from the edge of the canvas to not have the greenery rip the hole further although you can probably fit it - but its good to think about spacing from your edges. Also make the hole a little smaller so the stem can fit snug.
Then all I did was continue to space out the holes going up he canvas staggered. I built mine as I went so I was able to actually be creative and see what plants I liked where thinking about leaf size and how the natural light color of the leave variation would emulate real light coming into my apt.
I also took an industrial stapler and hide and attached some of the leaves to the canvas. I wanted to really set them into place and give a dense look to the overall canvas. Which why not do that its your wall. You can also use a hot glue gun but I hate the "strings" from hot glue so that's why I went for my stapler.
The best thing about this project is it goes fast does not require a lot of materials and youcan hang it up as soon as you are done to appreciate it. No watering required.
Message me if you have questions or want to share if you made one too!
This post was not sponsored by Michael's Craft ( but it was where I got my plants )
