Green fingers – Page 4 – Apartment Apothecary

katy 4th January 2016

Styling the Seasons – January 2016

Keeping it simple, stripping back, blowing out the cobwebs, refreshing and rejuvenating; this is what January means to me. One of the ways I try to motivate myself at the start of a new year is by having a clear, bright space, free of clutter – my way of taking control, I guess. The Christmas decorations are gone, the celebrations are over and the big clean up has begun and it’s time to move on and try to find the positive…

And what could be more simple than white Hyacinths against a white curtained window, which is open to blow out the old and bring in the new.

What does January mean to you? Charlotte and I would love to know and see your styled surfaces. It is such a worthwhile process to stop, reflect and re-style a surface in your home, clearing what was a dumping ground, especially after all the festivities and house guests. Tag me and Lotts and Lots and use the hashtag #StylingTheSeasons – either write a blog post or post a pic on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Happy January styling everybody and i hope you have the most wonderful 2016!

Katy x

katy 31st December 2015

December 2015: a review

Wow, so that’s 2015 done and dusted. I can vividly remember sitting in a cottage in Wales on this day a year ago and feeling pretty apprehensive about the year to come and I have to say it’s definitely not been the best although I’m forcing myself to see the positives. In many ways this blog of mine is what has kept me focused and more importantly I have met and made friendships with the most wonderful group of fellow bloggers, who I chat to every day and laugh with (usually via emojis) many times a day. Thank you to those beauties.

I hope I can learn from 2015 to focus more on the positives and try as hard as I can not to become overwhelmed by what I don’t have. I want to thank the hundreds of people who commented, emailed or messaged me after this post. I am still struggling with the words to respond to as many of you as I can but I would really like to say that your kind words, thoughts and recounting your own experiences helped so, so much and I don’t think I will ever be able to express my gratitude as well as I would like to. 2016 is going to be a challenging year for us but I hope I can maintain a positive outlook throughout and who knows, maybe we will have some good news by the end of it.

I am currently with a group of my best friends in Norfolk, cooking up a storm in readiness for a feast this evening but to end the year I want to share my favourite Styling the Seasons shot that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. I absolutely love it in every way. Katie’s living wreath set against that amazing colour of her front door (major front door envy over here!) is to die for.

KT Robbins Ceramics | Christmas succulent wreath

Image via KT Robbins Ceramics blog. Pop over to her post to find out how she made this stunning wreath.

There were nearly 3000 posts over on IG this month. Do have a little explore of the hashtag #StylingTheSeasons – they’re too good! These beautiful blog posts were also written and styled:

I hope you all have the most wonderful time this evening, in whichever way you choose to celebrate; personally, I feel a sense of achievement if I make it to midnight these days! I will be back on January 4th with my Styling the Seasons post for January after I have got home from Norfolk and cleared away the remaining few bits of Xmas debris.

Thank you for all of your wonderful support by reading, commenting, sharing and trying out some of my ideas in 2015. New Year’s kisses all round!

Katy xxx

katy 18th December 2015

Natural Christmas garland

I used to love tinsel as a child and we would decorate the whole house with it: up the banisters, along the mantelpiece, over pictures hanging on the walls, anywhere and everywhere. It’s definitely festive, but not necessarily particularly beautiful.

I saw this fabulous Eucalyptus garland tutorial back in November and I was determined to give it a go, having never made a garland before, as it seems like the perfect alternative to tinsel.

This really is as easy as it looks and it can be a last minute decoration that you make to run down the centre of the Christmas table or I think it would look beautiful on a mantelpiece (I wish I had one!).

You will need:

– Hardy foliage (I bought mine from Columbia Road flower market because I don’t have a garden and very helpfully some lovely people on Instagram were able to tell me that it is called Eucalyptus pauciflora, otherwise known as Snow Gum and it is amazingly hardy!)

– Florisrty wire

– Twine

– Scissors

Step by step:

1. Cut your big branch into smaller pieces around 20cm long.

2. Unravel 20cm of your twine but don’t cut it, just lay it out on a flat surface. Place one of your pieces of foliage on top of the twine. Cut a 20cm piece of wire and secure the twine to the foliage by winding the wire around and around.

3. Unravel more twine and place another piece of foliage on to it, slightly overlapping the last piece and secure it with the wire and so on until you have the length of garland that you want.

If I had a beautiful doorway or fireplace this ‘green tinsel’ would be perfect but I think it will look equally as lovely on the Christmas table.

I’m taking next week off to prepare for January so I will pop in on Christmas day and New Year’s eve to say hello but won’t be back again properly until January 4th with my first Styling the Seasons of 2016. Until then, I hope you all have the most wondrous holiday!

Katy x

katy 7th December 2015

Wreath making for cheats

I have to admit that my visions of floral makes are almost never realised; I don’t have the patience, have never practised enough and it just doesn’t come naturally. Anyhoo, I was very inspired by this wreath and basically wanted to copy it for my own front door but I knew I would need to take a few short cuts to make it anywhere near as nice.

So, I have come up with a cheater’s wreath-making how to. Basically, my mum and I went to Ikea the other day (you know, when you wake up in the morning and decide if only you had a white sink all your problems would be solved so you find yourself in Ikea that same evening – no? Just me then!) and I picked up an artificial spruce wreath. I was actually quite shocked that it cost £7.50 but then thought about it (over meatballs, naturally) and decided that to make my own would firstly cost me a fair bit as all the florists near me are very, very expensive, secondly I wouldn’t be able to make mine look as good, thirdly, I will be able to use it again and again in different guises over the years and fourthly, it looks amazingly real! One artificial wreath purchased, along with a whole basketful of other stuff I clearly didn’t need and one expensive white quartz sink – I am out of control and the fact I gave more thought to spending £7 on a wreath than I did on spending £190 on a sink I don’t need is worrying.

Back to my ‘how to’.

You will need:

– ready made wreath base (I have seen loads of real pine wreath bases available in florists, markets, even the supermarket if you don’t want a fake one).

– hardy herbs like thyme, rosemary, bay leaves (I grow all of these on my balcony)

– hardy foliage like eucalyptus or anything that will dry well (I used Myrtle, which is the small leaves with blue berries).

– small, flat succulents

– floristry wire

– scissors

– ribbon for decoration or to hang it from

Tutorial:

Step 1 – make small bundles of your herbs and foliage and use the wire to tightly bind them at the bottom.

Step 2 – place your bundles on the ready made wreath base and simply secure with the wire by wrapping around the bottom of the bundles again and then take the wire behind the wreath and twist it together as tightly as possible. Do a little shake test to check it’s as secure as possible.

Overlap the bundles to hide the wire, working your way around the wreath.

Step 3 – to attach the succulents remove their roots and stick two pieces of wire through the bottom of the succulent head.

Place the succulent on the wreath and then use the wire to wrap it around the wreath base to hold it in place.

Step 4 – add some ribbon to the wreath ring and you’re done! Could not be easier.

I love how fresh and luscious the herbs make it look and it smells flipping amazing!

Honestly, this took me about fifteen minutes, if that, and next year I can reinvent it all over again as I can keep the base. Would you be able to tell it’s fake?!

Katy x

katy 2nd December 2015

Styling the Seasons – December 2015

I love the lead up to Christmas, probably far more than the day itself. I love cosying up at home, making, cooking and preparing; those quiet, candlelit afternoons making and wrapping presents – just love it all! Therefore, I wanted the first of those afternoons to be all about setting up this month’s Styling the Seasons.

We went for a walk in the park and I brought home a big fallen branch (with Otto going nuts trying to jump up and steal it from me) and let it dry out for a few days. I painted it white and then strung it up over my dining table (using command hooks stuck to the ceiling) with a bit of help from Jules. I wrapped the branch with sparkly lights and hung a few tea light lanterns. I made a few bundles of herbs from my balcony (bay leaves, thyme and rosemary) and some eucalyptus and myrtle that I bought at the market last weekend. I added glitter to a swan feather that Jules had found in the park and added one glass bird tree ornament. Such an easy thing to do and it was a very happy afternoon putting it together.

Styling the Seasons - December 2015 | Christmas branch | Christmas table decorations | Nordic style Christmas | Apartment Apothecary

Sheep skin on chairs from Modern Rugs.

I sprayed the bottom half of the swan feather with glue and added gold glitter.

On the table itself are the remains from preparing my Christmas branch and some hyacinths that I potted up for the festive season in a vintage jelly mould. I have added sheep skins from the Modern Rugs to the dining chairs for the winter and I love the way they look, as well as how soft and cosy they make my Ercol chairs.

Nordic mini lanterns from The White Company. Make sure you string them up with metal wire, not string.

We had a dinner party the evening after we’d put the branch up and it was so lovely sitting under the lights and candles. The herbs also smell amazing.

Bundles of rosemary, eucalyptus and bay leaves, which smell wonderful.

I have never liked the traditional red and glitz of Christmas in my small home; I never feel like I have enough space for it and it just feels like clutter. However, bringing the outdoors in feels so much fresher and simpler.

Charlotte and I would love for you to join us this month and style a surface in your home to show what this month means to you. Blog about it or post a picture on your favourite social media platform and tag us in so we can see. We can not wait to see all your festive decorations!

Katy x