FINDS: Green Walls for Indoors

After I managed to turn our balcony into a little green jungle this year, I thought it might be an extra to have green walls inside as well. I mean real green walls with plants growing vertically not horizontally.

There are a couple of companies who create breathtaking green walls for inside with immense advantages for your well being and enjoyment because who would not love to have a green living wall in front of you rather than a grey concrete monster? Here are a few examples which may give your interior designs a completely new twist:

The first examples are from a company in Stockholm, Sweden, Greenworks:

image source for all above images:

  http://www.greenworks.se/index.html

Wouldn't it be exciting to work in an environment such as this? Or imagine to have a green wall in your living room so that it would not be necessary to have an additional sunroom to enjoy the feeling of an inside garden?

The following examples are from Indoorlandscaping, a German company, located now in Munich but with subsidiaries in Los Angeles and Mexico City:

 image source for above images:

  http://www.indoorlandscaping.de/

And here are some more examples from a company in England, Bio Tecture which are specifically charming:

 image source for above images:

 http://www.biotecture.uk.com

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Art on (at) the Wall but please not in this Manner...

When a room is prepared for photographing it is normally "staged" - you would not show a mess in your bedroom to the public - would you? Often enough the newly prepared rooms look though as if no-one ever has lived or will live in it because everything is too tidy, too styled - you would not dare to touch anything at all.

On the other hand who would like to see all the personal stuff of the owner in a house you want to buy? Your own imagination would be spoiled. But I do not want to go into details what to do when you want to sell a home or what you could expect when you want to buy a home. There are enough tips to be found on the Internet or you could even contact a professional home staging company.

Here is an example though where the owner of this room was not well advised regarding placing art as a design element. Somewhere in the HGTV channel I read a comment such as "new artwork can make a world of difference when staging a home to sell".  Now this applies of course to a newly designed room also. But look at this example: the pictures are placed loosely on the headboard of the bed, partially covered by the cushions. This does not look good.

As an alternative I would have chosen a real painting or a large fine art print such as this one, mounted in a nice frame. The original of the artwork I have chosen here, is actually a silk scroll, painted and embroidered and hung on 2 dowels. A picture is shown below.

This is the original silk scroll:

"Panaxia I"
43" x 24", silk scroll
©Petra Voegtle

and this could be the fine art print that could be produced in any size mounted in a virtual frame:

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Sorry for not posting - but there was an Emergency...

When you think you have time again to write there is definitely something coming your way that needs your attention. This time it was a sick pigeon again (I sometimes wonder how they find me???).
I had observed her already a day before I could catch her and realized that there was something sticking to her chest or coming out of her chest and knew immediately that there was something wrong.

After I had caught her (we named her Lotti) we could do a close examination. I realized that she had a crop rupture, a hole the size of a 5 eurocent piece (2cm in diameter) in her crop and the food was coming out of it. Well - I rather spare you the details - fact is, that she healed completely in our care and was released again this morning.

Crop ruptures are nasty because when this is not treated (closed) the pigeon normally dies of infection which is a slow death. Imagine you have a hole in your stomac and your dinner is coming out of it. This time it went very well because Lotti found us on time before anything really bad could happen.

I am so happy...

and this was her play pen:

and this was finally her great day after a large breakfast (that's why her face is a bit wet):

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Romantic Bedroom in the Colours of Tuscany

The colours of this cute little bedroom are so lovely and warm and the iron cast bed is so romantic. This is another example that you don't need a big budget to create something beautiful and cozy, just the kind of room you need for a good night sleep and a wonderful place for a guest to feel at home.

The only item I would possibly have an alternative for is the art piece on the wall. It is a bit too dark for my taste. Instead I would hang the silk painting as below which repeats exactly the colours of this room and adds a little bit more mystery and magic to let the dreams fly...

The painting has been painted on silk and belongs to the Magic Landscapes series.

"Dry Land"
(from the Magic Landscapes Series)
40" x 21", silk
©Petra Voegtle

This series is also part of a concept and the theme of this concept is to show the magic that surrounds us everywhere and is recognized easily when we open the eyes. This series explores the magic of landscapes and special places, the moments of awe when we see the miracles that are created by nature rather than human phantasy, the moments of spiritual connection with the past and the future and the moments of transformation through human imagination.

Dry Land is a semi-surrealistic landscape. Inspired by the colours of the desert, which can change completely during a day, this work shows the paradoxa of a landscape that obey the natural laws of nature. While the dune like formations seem to be a solid mass, the surface of the dried river bed  appears  fragile and delicate. But in reality the opposite is true: dunes are the fragile element, ever changing with the wind and the dried river bed has turned into solid earth, hard as stone when the water is all gone.

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What is growing in your Balcony Garden?

This year I am really happy about my "balcony garden" because it is so lovely overgrown. In fact not very stylish as it could be and not even very tidy but greeeeeeeeeen and many blooms still to come.
I did not want to invest much money because you never know how the weather will be like and if the plants you lovingly potted will survive without mildew or other lovely pests. The question whether they will survive our harsh winters is also important because I have no possibility to put the more sensitive plants in a cool place inside.

So I decided to try something new this year:
I planted vegetable seeds and simple flowers. Vegetables can have some lovely blooms and depending on what it is, grow nicely in pots with climbing branches such as the small pumpkins. They have big yellow blooms - unfortunately they last only for one day. So this is something I am not going to repeat next year.

I also planted seeds of the Tropaeolum (Nasturtium) which is one of my favourites because it creates absolutely lovely blooms in various shades of glowing yellows, oranges and reds and their perfume is wonderful. They look very nice in small glass vases together with one of the leaves or two and can serve as lovely table decoration.

I also planted the seeds of sweet peas - which have started to bloom in the meanwhile. Their perfume is wonderful and the colours of their blooms are absolutely beautiful. They also look marvellous in small vases. I can only recommend these.

And then of course herbs in little pots or larger ones such as lavender and rosmarin may not be missing. I especially love to cook with rosmarin. There is nothing better than adding a branch of fresh rosmarin while roasting fish. Astonishingly these grow amazingly well in my balcony garden (the herbs not the fish) although we have the sun here only till about midday. Then it is wandering off around the corner of the building.

Here is what I am talking about:

So do YOU have a balcony garden and what is growing there?
Btw - something else is very valuable when you have a balcony with a green wall - it keeps the heat off considerably on really hot summer days and functions like a natural air conditioning.

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