So Fresh So Green

Lean green living walls and everything in between🌿

Before Christmas, I won a massive debate in our household and as per, got my own way on a decor decision. I have wanted a living wall or just a giant explosion of leafy greens in my home for years now and always assumed it would be really hard to setup, maintain and get looking perfect.

You know, those walls you usually find in your cafes and eateries that are so lush they become the backdrop of all your Instagrams, that's if you're lucky enough to be seated beside it and game enough to stage a photo shoot in public (GUILTY).

With the planning stages of your wall, you need to be sure of a few aspects, the last thing you want to do is get halfway through your design and construction and then change your mind.

• Where and/or what wall do you want to transform? Make sure you take very accurate measurements of the space you wish to fill, this is so important in the planning stages so you can estimate what things will cost. I initially wanted my tallest wall in the house (4m high ceiling) but later found myself changing my mind.
• Real or fake? In this particular instance, I went down the fake route. I based my decision on the fact I'm slightly afraid of ruining a huge wall that really is almost the focal point in my entertaining areas. I couldn't be sure if the real deal would somehow compromise the wall with moisture and I also know myself well enough to know that I have killed many succulents that are famous for being indestructible, it seemed like the smart choice.
• How much do you really want to spend? We all love to spend and splurge on certain elements of interiors but this is the time to really decide if this is something that will be a 'for fad' or 'for keeps' type feature. In my case I let my budget fall somewhere securely in the middle of cheap and cheerful and the limit where the big guy disowns me.
• How often do you want the look to change? This question is one of the last ones you need to ask yourself as it often will tie in with the above questions. I get bored easy and in turn, find myself wanting to change and tweak my homes focal points. Being able to adapt it with ease and create new looks could just be an all year round game changer.

These are all questions I wish I pondered before attacking another wall with my trusty hammer.

Anywho this is how I went about things so feel free to take what you like from the following... maybe even just learn from a few mistakes I made.

I chose the wall directly behind my dining table, it's a real sun-drenched corner, cosy almost as we have built-in seating. The thing with this wall is its an odd angle and tricky shape (trust me to pick it) and it actually made installation and cost planning slightly harder. Bloody angles and my unwillingness to learn anything in 6th form math.

I had a feature on this wall previously, as you see below, it was a simple wire grid for holding random things up and various items to keep our house organised (Spoiler alert- none of us were organised).
When I snapped this pic I was keeping the grid up next to the greenery as I thought about having both up and having the grid work as some type of negative space sitcho... Then I came to my senses once I saw it coming together. This also gives you an idea of how large my green grids were. Here there are 3 vertically placed grids installed, not straight may I add, I shall touch on this soon.

I chose to work with smaller grids given the shape of the wall I was working on and also my indecisiveness on my design (Again, PLANNING).

These grids are nailed to the wall, you can hang them but I wanted them to sit as close and as firmly against my wall as possible for a more secure result. Getting things super straight is a bit harder to do than you think, interlocking them and also the fact they do move a bit means its harder than it looks, however, the hanging of the greenery is only one part of the look. There is actually no need to stress the small stuff like something being a few millimeters off from the first panel installed.

I got my base grids from a small store I accidentally found in Hunters Plaza called Flowers and Gifts, however, I have a feeling I cleaned them out of that particular stock. I have found 3 options below that are of similar pricing and quality.

Freedom Furniture

Ready Leaf

Trade Tested

I'm going to go ahead and say the obvious for the next part of construction... Hang your grids to fill the space required, make sure everything is secure and in position. Nobody wants a green wall hitting them on the head in the middle of a selfie-session.

How you decide to finish the wall really depends on the look you are going for, the wall looks great as is but I highly recommend filling it with various greenery and other leaves to keep it looking full and fluffy. You want to make sure the extra leaves or flowers look as natural as possible and are almost imperfectly scattered. Nature isn't perfect.

Below I have used a mix of foliage from Flowers and gifts, Kmart, Freedom Furniture and Spotlight to bring this wall to life with different textures and tones cascading down.

All the leaves have just been slotted in so it's super easy to switch in and out when you need to do so.
Other extras I have on hand are florals and few winter leaves for when we are entertaining and when it gets cooler. Nothing says 'fake' like the thriving tropics in the winter months so this is where my need to change the wall often will come in handy.

I have had so many requests for this post so I hope I have answered all questions here but if I have skipped over anything you want to know, feel free to shoot me a message or a comment and I'll happily elaborate further.

B.x