How I made a succulent terrarium.

I believe I’ve mentioned here that I am slowly (affordably) trying to revamp my apartment. I don’t plan on moving anytime soon, but last year I realized that I have had most of my furniture and decor for 12 years!

There’s nothing wrong with having things around for a long time, but please understand that none of the pieces in my apartment were meant for that kind of life. Most of the items are from Target or Rooms-To-Go, and again, nothing wrong with that, but my style has changed and I’m really bad about attaching emotional baggage to items.

So, I have slowly been tossing things and oddly turning everything that was black into something white or gold. One thing I’ve been keeping an eye out for is a cool “centerpiece” for my kitchen island — which can be seen from most corners of my 600-square-foot apartment.

I wasn’t sure what would look good because it is a small space and there are two low-hanging lights over it. But, I was wondering around Michael’s (always dangerous) and they had an aisle of succulent terrarium supplies! This was it!

I actually saw these over the summer, but I felt overwhelmed by all of the options. I was honestly doing anything I could to escape the work I needed to be doing on this day, so I went all out in building this terrarium.

I started with the vessel. They had full-blow clear ones, but several clear ones that had gold detailing, which I liked. Although I really liked the geometric ones, I thought the long, skinny rectangle one would look the best on my island.

Then, I started sorting through all of the faux succulents. They had quite a bit, and I am not a florist or an expert in any similar area, but I used my container to see how they would look inside it. I figured a variety of color, texture and heights would be ideal, and I really wanted it to look full and lush.

I picked at least eight or so different succulents, and some of which could be separated to create multiple areas, such as “flowers” or grass-like pieces.

For the bottom of the vessel, I got regular tan sand (they had all sorts of different colors) and then larger natural colored pebbles to go on top of the sand. I figured the pebbles would help hold the plants upright and I wanted to avoid dealing with glue or any adhesive.

When I got home, I used wire-cutters to clip all of my plants to the right heights. Then, I put the sand in the vessel (I used all of it) and then the pebbles on top. Then I just started arranging the plants.

I actually ended up having some extra plants, so I used them to create a separate plant in an old marble candleholder I had. It looks so cute!

The vessel ended up being pretty heavy, but it doesn’t matter since it’s sitting on my island. I honestly love how it turned out and I like that since I didn’t have to use any adhesive, I can rearrange or change the plants at any time.

My other concern was Blanche. Blanche LOVES to eat my plants, which is why all of the real ones are outside and she has to be supervised when we go out there…and even fake ones are exciting to her.

But honestly, she touched them all once and really hasn’t given them any attention since. Total win!

I know these are more of a summer thing, but I’m planning on leaving mine out all year long.

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