a cactus house

I’ve been wanting a terrarium for a really long time and I just couldn’t find the right vessel for it. I wanted something unique and unusual but nothing I saw was really cutting it. I’m very lucky that my husband has a creative mind and can see the potential in different objects. This isn't so much of a "how-to" as a post that will hopefully inspire you to make your own unique terrarium. Here is where our terrarium story began...

This past Christmas, there was an oddly shaped present under our Christmas tree. I wasn't allowed to look at it, touch it, shake it, move it or think about it - I just had to sit and rip the paper off of it when I was told to do so. To my surprise, it ended up being this – a beautiful vintage glass light (minus all the inside pieces and parts that a light usually has).

Although, it wasn't so pretty when Adam bought it at Resource York and few weeks prior. From what I was told, it was a little dirty and it was brass (totally outdated).

Adam tediously taped off all of the glass and spray-painted it a nice metal gray color. He also cut out and stained a piece of wood to form an end cap (since the one end was completely open) and painted the other end my favorite color - yellow! When he was done, it looked like this:

Isn't she lovely!?

A few days after Christmas we headed to Stauffer’s to buy some cacti, cactus sand, cactus food and a little spray bottle for watering. I do not have a green thumb so I’m hoping I can keep these puppies alive J

Our cacti-decision making went a little something like this:

Me: "What do you think about this little guy"

Adam: "Yeah, I like him..."

Me "Yeah, me too. He's prickly"

We don't know much about cacti so we went into Stauffer's and picked out a variety that we liked and took them home to try them out. Here is what we planted:

If you want to make your own terrarium, my advice is:

1. find a neat vessel to plant them in…the more unusual the better - at least in my opinion.

2. DON’T over water your cacti (never a problem for me). That’s why these are perfect plants to have in our home.

3. Spray paint can fix anything!...ok, not really…but I’m obsessed with spray painting things and it really can transform an object.

4. Buy more plants than you need. When we got ours home we played around with how we thought they would fit best and then we returned the ones we didn’t use. It’s better than getting home and not having enough to fill up your terrarium.

5. Make something that you love – because it really doesn't matter if anyone else likes it J That’s our motto at least.