Balcony Makeover

Remember this ugly balcony?

The balcony door is the only natural light source for our living room and kitchen, and since I love natural light, I constantly have the blinds open and had to look at this eye sore each day. I decided that I needed to make some changes. We have an amazing view of the mountains and I wanted to be able to sit in the evening and drink my herbal tea and look out at my view. Previously all I had to look at was some bikes and dead plants.  I took a trip to the farmers market and the thrift store and here is the finished product. 

Come on in, I'll give you a tour.

Like I said, I wanted a place to sit and drink my tea at night and look at the beautiful mountains. I had previously bought this chair from a thrift store for $5 and painted it blue and cream for my house, but it looks just lovely on the balcony. If it looks like we are going to be here for a while longer, I am going to get a trellis and will grow peas up it on this wall. 

I bought the hanging plant from the farmers market for $4, what a steal! It has 5 basil plants in it and a rosemary plant.  The only problem was I didn't have anywhere to hang it. I bought the shepherds hook and attached it with wire to the railing.

I bought the 3 herbs from the farmers market for $4 each.

Sage, stevia, and lavender. 

I bought this old yeast box from an antique store and thought it would be really cute with some succulents. This was in my dark apartment kitchen and most of the succulents didn't make it, so I decided to give it a try outside with this grouping. I like all the different colors and textures in this corner. 

The unused pots got stacked next to the other plants. I liked the addition of more texture and color that it brought to the grouping.

Now to the middle section. The planters on the railing were previously laying on the floor of the balcony because they are meant to be screwed into a wood railing and I didn't know how to hang them. I ended up just using wire to attach them to the metal railing, and it has worked great. I planted impatiens in the planters to remind me to be patient in my search for a house.

I got this table, the lantern, and the 3 metal candle holders from the thrift store for a total of $11. I was going to paint the table, but once I got it home, I really liked the color of it.

This little corner still needs a little work, but the black eyed susan plant just brightens my day. One of the pots has the remains of a mint plant that my friend Tressa transplanted from her yard for me before she moved. I guess mint dies if you fail to water it for 3 weeks. I have tried to revive it, but I think it is a goner.

This is a raspberry shoot that I dug up from my old house. I'm hoping to keep it alive until we get to our new house. It will be a fun reminder of my first backyard farm. As you can see I have a little helper who likes to throw the dirt all over the patio.

 Which got her banished from the balcony.

But all is well.

~marisa