Maidenhair Ferns

I really love maiden hair ferns. I first learned about them when I was looking a wedding floral arrangements. I found a tiny potted fern used on the reception dinner tables that I loved.

I had never owned one until I found them at a local garden shop (The Greenery). It was not expensive, so I purchased it.

I never had my maidenhairs last more than a year. They’d get pretty frail looking and I didn’t have the knowledge to bring them back. And actually, I have discovered that by the time they show signs of distress, it is almost too late to correct it. These plants are finicky and need constant attention.

I’ve had some really large ones that have done well. 

A coworker of mine said that she only has luck with maidenhair’s when they are planted with something else. I haven’t tried that yet. I love them so much by themselves, but I also like them in groupings. But whatever they are grouped with needs to love water as much as they do.

I bought a maiden hair fern for my desk at work. I transported it home on the weekends.

During one of the transports, the fern fell over. Because of the frail stems, the majority of the stems snapped and died. So, I stopped transporting the fern home on the weekends and would give it a heavy water on Friday to help it last through the weekend. I have been working on getting new growth, but was having issues. I would see new growth start, but by the time it got 2-3 inches long, it would dry out, shrivel up and die (just the new growth). I took the maidenhair home to see what I could do. I watered it every day (a lot) and noticed the new growth lasting longer than before. My guess was that the weekends without water were drying up my new growth. But I’ve come to a new conclusion that it was also due to the lack of light. They were only getting fluorescent light and that was not enough.

Now, the pot I have my maiden hair fern in has no drainage holes. I heavily water the fern in the morning and then about lunchtime, I turn the plant, in its pot upside down, to drain the excess water out of the pot. These ferns love water, but they don’t like to sit in it.

I have not yet fertilized my ferns. I am too scared. One time, I repotted a fern and within 2 days it was dead. I attributed it to the new potting soil that already had fertilizer in it. Which could have been part of the case, but I think I just didn’t water the new soil well enough during those days with new soil. The new soil was dry and these ferns like to be surrounded with moisture. I actually kept the new fern in the original disposable pot it came in because I was fearful of exposing it to new soil and it dying. But when I was having trouble with the new growth, I decided to officially transplant it into a new pot and I made sure to get the new soil good and wet. The fern survived!

 

I have two maidenhair ferns in the house and they look completely different. One is fuller and has stems coming from all over the pot. Its color is a lighter green.

The one I keep at work is a darker green and the stems are coming from the center of the pot only. 

It use to not be as dark in color, but I think that is because of the lack of sun it gets at my desk. There are no windows at my desk. 

I have decided to keep my work fern at home and keep it in the windowsill. You can see the new growth coming in and staying!

I also have a different maidenhair. I was told it was a “Silver Dollar MaidenHair fern.” I found it by chance once and loved it. I don’t remember what happened to it, but I wanted another one. They are hard to find. 

It wasn’t until someone told me the Brooks and Collier (a local shop) had plants! I thought they were a furniture only store, but they have a beautiful greenhouse. It is where I found the rubber plants that I use at the clubhouse!  It was while I was browsing that I saw their huge assortment of ferns and saw the silver dollar maidenhair! I was in heaven. I bought one and Mom bought one. I placed mine on the piano, and hers stays in her room.

The silver dollar maiden hair requires the same care as the normal maidenhair. A maidenhair fern can handle watering every-other-day, but for its best performance, it needs it every day. 

I think I have finally found out how to take care of the maiden hair fern. It takes daily watering, good drainage and indirect light. Seriously, it likes to be wet. I just use the sink’s spray nozzle and water it every morning. For the ferns in other spots, I keep a water bottle in my vanity and use it to water the ferns. 

I also noticed that my maidenhairs do best in the breakfast nook of both of my houses. They like the light from all the windows. It also did well in my bathroom due to the moisture from showers. 

Best of luck to you in owning a maidenhair. They are diva's but they are so worth it!

Laundry Drying Racks

It appears that my laundry room is my favorite hangout between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s not because we are home and I get to do all that laundry!But I have extra time that I can start and finish a project in one sitting.

Recap:

2016 – Backsplash the wall behind the sink in the laundry room

2017 – Backsplash behind the washer and dryer

2018 – Add a drying rack (this post)

All of my laundry projects have been at the top of my favorites list, but this year’s drying rack is really my favorite!

All the projects are making my laundry room more enjoyable, but this one really added function. We purchased and hung a drying rack based on recommendations from YoungHouseLove. It works great and we love it, but I was scared of hanging too much on it and being too heavy to handle. Plus, the bars are so close together, that I felt the clothes didn’t have enough room to breathe and the bars were actually starting to rust a little.

We still use the rack a lot, but not for heavy items.

In Mr. JCrew’s wardrobe, he has a lot of items he does not dry. He is fearful of shrinking clothes. But pants and sweaters are heavy. We were using the appliances to drape the pants over to dry. But then the whole room was covered in clothes. It looked messy. That’s when I went searching for options. And when I do that, I don’t find what I want and end up making it.

Sure enough, that’s what I did. I looked at the space in my laundry room and found very little. I then looked at the cubby that houses the laundry baskets. I could make pull-out racks.

I then measured the space to see the biggest I could make it and bought supplies. But then the supplies hung out in my garage for four months until I found time. I actually was slightly stalling this project because I wasn’t confident. On paper it worked, but I knew there would be a hiccup.

I finally tackled this project after Christmas. I wanted the front flush, so it didn’t stand out. Because there was a lip on the front of the cabinet, I had to build out the inside to attach the sliding drawer hardware to. I used wood glue and screws to attach scrap pieces of wood to the side of the cabinet, but I also used the drawer hardware to attach it to the back of the cabinet for extra strength.

I then built the box frame and then cut the dowel rods to fit.

The dowel rods are 1-inch diameter. I wanted large so that it didn’t create a crease in the clothes, but also allowed the longer pieces to not be touching themselves when folded and could dry faster.

The project ended up being easy! I put multiple coats of polyurethane on it to protect the wood from water. I then waited a few more days before use. And my first time using it was awesome!

The drawers open and close so smoothly with just one hand.

And with both racks in use, you can still open the door plenty to get in and out of the room.

Soooooooo, excited about this project and its function. I think I love the laundry task just a little bit more now!

Kitchen Trim Continued

Cabinets can be such an expensive cost when building a house. We received many estimates outside of our price range. I wasn’t trying to have elaborate cabinets, so I can’t imagine what the price tag would have been if I did!

I asked to have “feet” at the base of the cabinets on one wall in the kitchen, but that was the extent of “extras” I requested.

I asked for turned column legs on either side of the stove and got a version that was not my vision, but I went with it. If you remember my experience with the cabinet supplier, you will understand that I ended up accepting a lot of things from them just to get the experience over with. 

For a year, I stared at my island dreaming of how I wanted it to look more like a piece of furniture. I added baseboard to it and some trim. (Post here)

At the time, I also added a piece of trim to the wall cabinet.

All was good. My base cabinets felt finished.

But then I studied fancier kitchens and noticed the finishing details on upper cabinets. There was trim at the base of upper cabinets. So, I found trim and installed it.

I used wood glue and my nail gun to attach the trim to the cabinet.

I used my miter saw to cut the corners.

Before

I used wood putty to fill in the nail holes and the seams.

Once I sanded, I painted.

When I added the trim to the island, I bought Benjamin Moore paint from Lowe's. The color wasn’t an exact match, but pretty close. I could tell the difference. I was glad I had taped the trim instead of assuming the color matched perfectly.

So, this time around, I bought Benjamin Moore paint from the Benjamin Moore store. The color was still not a match, but better than the Lowe's attempt,

I am now thinking that the cabinet maker does something a little different to the paint. And it makes sense reflecting on a comment he made while visiting the house during construction. The owner of the cabinet company actually told the cabinet maker not to make a cabinet I wanted. !!! (I had many issues with the company, so this was not a shock.) But the cabinet maker went behind the owner's back and built me the vent cover I needed and I paid the cabinet maker directly. When the owner was checking the final job, the story we gave was that my trim carpenter made the vent cover. The owner’s comment was that he was surprised the paint matched so well! I don’t know what it is that they do differently so that you cannot match the color perfectly, but I wish I knew. I actually like his shade the best!

The new trim color is not too big of a difference, and I’m probably the only one that notices.

After adding the trim, the kitchen does feel complete. I kind of wish I would have added feet to all the lower cabinets, but that is something I don’t think I will attempt to do myself. And since it has been years since our cabinets were made, there is no chance the cabinet maker has our paint still and can add them. Without the legs, it is still pretty!

Layering Rugs

There is a trend right now that I really like. It is layering different size rugs on top of each other. I’m not usually a trendy person and I won’t jump on a trend because I know I will tire of it. But this trend, I really like and am confident I will stick with it past its trendiness. 

I first did it before the trend took off, but not with rugs. When I hung placemats above my cabinets in the kitchen, I had an extra. I had bought three and then used something different for the middle.

Instead of returning the placemat, I knew I could do something with it. Then I layered it on top of a charger I had that was currently under my favorite lamp. 

It made me love my favorite lamp even more!

Back to rugs, I really like the idea of layer a rug on the back porch seating area. But I don’t have any rugs out there right now, and it’s not on a priority list, so we’ll see if it ever gets done. But I did layer mats for my entry ways.

Current Inspiration

The back door is not fancy, but it was the first runner I bought from Walmart. It is under a Stanley Steamer mat that works really well at getting the grime off shoes after playing in the back yard.

For the front door, I found a runner from Costco to put under the mat. Mom loves a good plaid, and the colors went with the house pretty good.

I like how it pulls the porch together and can’t remember it without it.

I also layered rugs on the inside! I found these rugs that I felt didn’t take away from the detail of the brick. It went with it very well. I bought one for each exit door, but the one at the front felt too small. I then ordered a Dash and Albert rug from McGee and Co to put under it.

Love it!