DIY Home Projects

Cat Meschia of ctrl + curate is a craft blogger based in Gainesville, Florida where she spends her time creating beautiful things that encourage thoughtful living. Known for her affordable small-space solutions and practical yet artistically-driven designs, Cat shares everything from DIY planters to no-weave wall hangings through simple tutorials and inspiration boards.

With end of Daylight Savings near, you’re not the only one anticipating (or rather dreading) the harshest months of the year. Pretty soon, your houseplants will be busy dodging drafts and soaking up every last ray of dwindling sunlight. To give your ferns and fiddle leaf figs a fighting chance at survival, follow these ten tips for winter plant care to get your plants through the worst of it. 1. Move plants away from vents, radiators or drafty windows.

We love our pets, even when they are annoying little troublemakers. So when our furry friends start munching on our plants and digging around in the dirt, it’s our job to keep them safe (even when we want to strangle them). Being the human in the relationship means doing the research and only populating our homes with non-toxic varieties of plants. We’re making it easy for you. Below are some of our favorite pet-safe plants that are non-toxic for both dogs and cats.

Vertical gardens are an exciting outdoor project because they show off your flowers and plants beautifully and aren’t difficult or expensive to make. In fact, they can easily be made out of mostly recycled (and recyclable) materials. Vertical gardens are also especially well-suited to small outdoor spaces so no worries if you don’t have a whole yard or deck to work with. Below are the basic instructions for how to make a vertical garden planter using scrap wood and a pallet.

The highly-anticipated Pandora: World of Avatar opens officially to the public on May 27 at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom Park. While most will beeline it to the two new rides, the photos we’ve seen of the incredible landscape make the argument to slow down the pace (just a little bit —wouldn’t want to lose your spot in an up-to-six-hour line).

When you live within city limits, it’s rare to have access to private green space. In a perfect (and sustainable) world, we would all have our own backyards, overflowing with lush shrubbery, robust herbs, and fruit-bearing trees right next to our cute little chicken coops. In reality, we’re forced to get a little more creative – vertical gardens, hanging planters, and fruit purchased from the local market.

I love Halloween, but in the making costumes, eating candy, and drinking a cocktail while asking “and who are you supposed to be?” kind of way. When it comes to the actual scary stuff, I’m the first to cry and run for my life. I jump a foot when a pin drops, fast forward through tense movie scenes, and avoid haunted houses as if my life really depended on it. And thanks to these yards on Instagram, I’m now going to sleep for the next month with all the lights on.

When we’re busy making cookies, wrapping gifts, and brewing hot chocolate, we sometimes forget to look after the quietest living things under our care: our plants. But there’s no time like the present (ha) —when guests are around, and when the greenery inside looks even greener because of the barrenness outdoors — to give our plants some extra love and attention. Turn over a new leaf (another ha) in 2018 and become the plant parent you’ve always wanted to be.

I love finding overlooked products in hardware and garden supply stores that I never knew I needed. I recently discovered one hiding right under my nose that’s a clever, inexpensive way to add life and style to a living space. I, for one, can’t wait to use it at home. What is it? A flower pot clip. They are a quick, easy and cheap way to hang plants. Simply drill a hole, hang the hardware onto your chosen surface, then clip on a planter.

When I opened this reader-submitted project, I thought, “Aha! Our dear reader has obviously uploaded their “after” photo to the “before” box, happens to the best of us, not a bit of trouble,” because it never occurred to me that the lovely space you see here could possibly be a “before” photo. Oh, but it is! Now this balcony is a tropical retreat—in Switzerland, no less.

Plants add vibrancy to our living spaces like nothing else quite can. And although tending to them isn’t necessarily hard, they are living things that require our time and attention. Anything that makes caring for plants a bit easier is a plus in our book — because this means we can add a few more! Here’s how coffee filters contribute to smart, less-mess plant maintenance.

While most people think it’s neglect that does house plants in, over-watering is actually the most common way to kill your green friends. Keeping them alive means figuring out how to not drown them, and that’s where charcoal comes in. Without proper drainage, water will linger at the bottom of the pot, and roots become water-logged and susceptible to rot, fungus and bacteria. Unfortunately, when it comes to water, not all flower pots and planters are created equal.