Apartment Living: Bringing the Outdoors In
Over the summer, Amy and I visited Sheridan Gardens, a nursery and gift shop near my mother-in-law’s house in Burbank.
In the shop we noticed a display of tiny furniture and accessories that would transform an ordinary houseplant into a miniature outdoor landscape. We ooh-ed and aah-ed over the little swing sets, realistic birdbaths, and intricate gazebos, thinking what fun it would be to have an inviting scene or two like these in our apartment. The prices were out of our range, but an idea had been sparked.
Back at Grandma’s house we discovered that examples of homemade miniature garden accessories abound on the Internet! After imagining all of the possibilities and visiting a
few craft stores, we came back to Beijing equipped with some of the supplies we
needed to create our own miniature gardens.
We visited a nursery nearby on the look-out for plants that would fit with our ideas and within our budget as well. Amy used clay to design her own bird-bath, complete with a tiny robin, and we both made a few items using painted craft sticks. Bright blue beads stand in well for water, and twigs found outside and fastened together with wire form an inviting garden gate.
Ian photographed a few of our first attempts at bringing the
outdoors into our 7th floor home. We are quite pleased with the
results!
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| Jungle river with footbridge |
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| Birdbath with robin |
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| Stepping stones leading to twig gate |
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| Desert Park: teeter-totter and swing set |
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| I took this photo (thus the poor quality). Desert art studio. Amy plans to paint the scene on the tiny canvas. |
Mom would love these!
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