Air Plants

Every now and again, I get the opportunity to transport back to my high school glory days and go to town creating store displays, like I did when I worked in a little shop on Main Street; my first job EVER. The owner’s son had a crush on me, so he somehow convinced his mom to let me create messes around the shop after school.

It. Was. Awesome.

These days the boss’ son is in the under 5 age category and does not have a crush on me – his crushes include candy and probably cars or dinosaurs, assuming he even knows the meaning of the word ‘crush’. So at this time in my life, I get to do this because I have finally developed the skills to pay the bills (or more accurately have purely lucky moments). So once again, I get to hop up on a ladder and create messes.

This time around, Living Room set out to literally give new life to our lobby with an airy display of what better? Air plants.

When we were in the process of renovating our building, we found little gems in the window frames; old metal pulleys that raise and lower the windowpanes. In my crazy little hoarder mind, these were treasures and I had to give them a very important, very special new purpose. With this, our lobby display was born.

We installed the pulleys in the ceiling to suspend beautiful glass globes of different heights and sizes above the lobby tables and because they’re pulleys, we can raise and lower the globes for proper watering. Form + function [angels sing].

We originally planted ferns and succulents in dirt inside these globes, but with this new thing called winter showing up and burying us in snow, we decided to switch it up to something that feels lighter and reminds us of warmer times ahead.

Air plants, unlike other plants, don’t need dirt to grow so they add a lot of visual interest from all angles in the clear globes. And with variations in color, shape and size they are awesome (slightly terrifying) living sculptures. This switch, along with changing out the heavy ropes for twine has made all the difference in the look/feel of our lobby – great success!

Come check them out and be reminded of greener months in our lobby! Or if you want a DIY moment, pick some up for yourself. We got ours, as well as the glass globes, at Fern-Shop in Cincinnati.

I believe in a mix and match, thrown together kinda look, as you may have learned in my Flower Tips post, so just get what you like. Let the air plants do the hard work of looking flawless no matter how you arrange them – if only we all had this natural talent. Keep in mind – contrary to their name, air plants do not survive solely on air (I learned this the hard way). You will need to soak them in water at least once a week for an hour (also spritz them with water 2-3 times a week if you have a sunnier spot), then shake them out and put them back in their home.

We miss you, all seasons but winter…but slightly less now.

*Photos by Sarah Urmston // Jessica Copp