More Room/Less Plants

As you may remember from previous posts, my plant room got a makeover.

It used to look like this:

and now it looks like this:



The reasons for this are complicated.  First of all, do you remember all of this business?

That's me trying to start seedlings INdoors.  This is a common practice, but usually you later plant your seedlings OUTdoors.  I was trying to create an indoor, vine-y, blissful bower.  That didn't so much work out. 

See, I had this naive idea that because this room is composed of windows on three sides it would function like a greenhouse, and allow me to grow plants indoors that really should be grown outdoors.  I have since pinpointed two problems with that approach: 

1.) The windows are darkened glass which doesn't actually let in enough light for outdoor plants to feel happy. (Who designed these apartments anyway?  What's the point of that?) 
2.) There are windows which I need to open to let air in- the circulation of which is important to outdoor-plant well-being, but which then also let in pesky things like 40 degree night air, rain, and desert dust.  Rain, dust, and 40 degree night air are not things you want in a room of your apartment.

I've made a number of changes to accommodate my space restrictions.  First, I moved the plants that really needed more sunlight outdoors.  Second, I re-focused my plant-acquisition (it's a bad habit) to house-plants that are more tolerant of low light and poor air circulation conditions.

I then also decided that I should make some attempt to furnish this space in a live-able way since I wasn't going to be able to choke it with green and leafy things.  I managed to re-claim two chairs from the plywood board (piece of someone-elses's dumpstered furniture) I was using to support my plant collection- I can actually sit on them now!  At a desk!  Where I can work on projects!  Extra bonus: I am also no longer required to bend over or crouch on the ground to see/tend to/water/enjoy most of my plants.  I even managed to do this fairly inexpensively thanks to the transformative power of IKEA.

At my long-awaited second trip to IKEA, I bought 2 LACK tables: $7.99, one of the small VIKA AMON/VIKA CURRY table and leg sets: $19.99.  We already owned the two dinner-table-style black chairs (also IKEA) and I found the large black chair next to a dumpster.  A total of $35.97 isn't bad for a total transformation, wouldn't you say?   

I also managed to find a place for this family jewel, a mobile that hung in my paternal grandparents' home for as long as I can remember.  The crystals make rainbows all over the plant room/living room for about 2 and a half hours in the morning.  Lovely!

    

Good Times!