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sochi

For the plant lovers - living wall in my DR

sochi
12 years ago

Please forgive my slightly off topic post, but as the DR is just off the kitchen and visible from my peninsula, I thought I might get away with it. I'm still working through the finishing touches on my ground floor. The living wall is something I've wanted since the beginning of my reno, I've had it for about three months now and just love it. It is irrigated automatically, so upkeep is fairly simple.

Comments (34)

  • breezygirl
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OMG! That's cool! And no mess from water or dirt? I'm a neat freak so just the thought of that above my wood floors would give me heart palpitations.

    I love the juxtaposition of the natural, organic, green of it right behind the more formal and chic chandy.

  • blfenton
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That is so neat! How do you set one of those up? With our lousy summer my outside garden is not doing very well so maybe I should try an indoor garden.

  • leela4
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    sochi-I was just looking at your kitchen space on the thread about floors and thinking how much I've LOVED it since the first time I saw it. And this just adds to the uniqueness. It is too cool.

  • ae2ga
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Uber cool! How did you make it and how do you maintain it without getting water and soil all over the floor? I thought the living wall was great outside - it's fantastic inside!

  • clumsycook
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I love it!! The plants are beautiful, and the design is so unique. If you don't mind me asking, what type of wood floors do you have?

  • brianadarnell
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So Cool!!!! I love how it is a part of your indoor space...

  • Adrienne2011
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That is so elegant! I'll bet that room smells fantastic.

  • bigjim24
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, please tell us how! It's really something special.

  • cat_mom
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, yes! Share details! :-)

  • rosieo
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That. Is. Awesome!!!!

  • BalTra
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I LOVE THIS!
    Thanks for sharing.
    I've been wanting to do this too. One person warned me against it saying that in my area (high humidity in summertime) I would encourage mold growth and it would be smelly.
    What do you think?
    How did you do this?
    What plumbing is required for the irrigation? Demolition just started for my new kitchen, so now is the time for me to speak up!

    Really lovely dining space. Congrats!

  • MCMesprit
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Living wall -- what a great idea. It looks gorgeous in your DR. I'd love to have instructions.

  • remodelfla
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I absolutely ADORE your home!

  • athomesewing
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Looks fantastic!!!
    Did you make it with Woolly Pockets?

  • laxsupermom
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow! That is so cool! Your kitchen is such a stunner, that I knew the rest of your home had to be just as neat.

  • kmmh
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Amazing!!

  • trailrunner
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Very nice ! I love everything I have seen so far about your home. Really a delight to the eye. c

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Beautiful! (Like everything else in your house that you've posted here)

  • antiquesilver
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Since I saw one of these at a local greenhouse, fashioned after the one in France, I knew I had to have one but yours is the first 'real' one I've seen. I'm planning for mine to be in a large powder room.

    What fabric did you use to make the pockets?

  • sochi
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks everyone, I'm glad to you like. I must confess that I absolutely adore it and it has taken my focus away from getting my kitchen island made and the backsplash up, but whatever.

    Clumbsycook - the floors are 130 year old reclaimed birch, brought up from the bottom of a nearby river.

    Okay, the details on the wall:

    I've been researching living walls on-line and at the library for about 2 years. After some research and visits to a few local living walls, I figured out which "type" of living wall I felt was best for the house. Essentially I opted for a "Patrick Blanc" style living wall - essentially the plants grow in a felt medium with little, if any, soil. Patrick Blanc is from France, and he is considered the "father" of living walls/green walls/vertical gardens. Here is a link to Patrick Blanc's website: http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/

    Here is a link to an outdoor Patrick Blanc style garden in San Diego - this website is a great resource and has dozens of great pictures of living wall eye candy: http://www.livingwallart.com/do-it-yourself/constructing-a-vertical-garden-patrick-blanc-style/

    I determined that it was possible to build a Patrick Blanc style living wall on my own. A guy named Matt in New York has a fantastic and unbelievably informative blog on how to build your own Blanc style living wall. Here is a link to his blog: http://diygreenwalls.blogspot.com/ He built a stunning living wall in his NY apartment.

    But I was a little nervous to make one myself, I admit. Plus, I have a crazy busy job, two kids under 6 and an on-going home renovation, so I ran out of time. Earlier this year I found a company in San Francisco that builds pre-made Patrick Blanc style living walls, the company is called Plants on Walls. I decided to save my pennies and buy a 31" x 82" recirculating living wall from them. I am still determined to make a living wall on my own, and I think I will in my master bathroom that is due for renovation over the year or so. The living wall "kit" from Plants on Walls contains the galvanized steel frame, water-proof back lining, the reservoir, pump, tubing and the felt pockets that the plants grow in/into. I bought the plants here and planned out the "planting design." I'm very happy with the Plants on Wall product, and they were very responsive to my questions. That said, they aren't cheap (my kit was $1,300), and I'm determined to build my own living wall next (the master bathroom project). Here is the link to the Plants on Wall site: http://www.plantsonwalls.com/default.asp

    I do keep a small carpet under the reservoir, it catches the odd drops of water off the ends of the leaves. I do mist the plants whenever I think of it, so the mat/carpet takes care of that. If you could put one up in a room with tile floors that would be ideal I guess.

    It does add humidity to the room, but not much and we welcome it in winter (we have to use a furnace here in the winter and the air gets dry). This size living wall isn't big enough to create serious humidity issues I think - and we do live in an area with hot, humid summers - and I hate A/C. No smells or mold - that is the point of the felt growing medium, the felt dries totally between watering. That said, my living wall is also in a relatively large, open room, so there is lots of air circulation.

    You of course need adequate lighting for a living wall - this often determines where you build it. I didn't want to build it anywhere that would require artificial light.

    Let me know if you have any other questions!

  • schoolhouse_gw
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have never seen anything like that. I'm in awe.

  • celineike
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Squeal!!! omg, so cool and gorgeous! LOVE it!

  • davidro1
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If I get invited, I'm willing to go to Ottawa for a site visit to see if I can help you in any way (backsplash, island, etc). 20 minutes with all the normal disruptions you get with young kids. I'd enjoy seeing the living wall up close too. In Ottawa there are many other places to visit, and I have a great-aunt who still lives there.

  • remodelfla
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    sochi... that was very generous of you to share all that detailed info which took so long for you to research. Thanks.

  • marthavila
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sochi, that is an amazing, OMG, wow-just-wow living wall! I've never even heard of, much less seen, such a thing before now. Thanks so much for sharing your gorgeous creation with us as well as the source information. It's simply magnificent!

  • Stacy Rahn-Dennis
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What a way to bring the outdoors in!! That is just awesome!

  • marcolo
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Now you're just showing off.

  • mbcullen
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The wall looks great.

    I'm wondering though, who makes the chandelier?

  • pharaoh
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Woooooowww.ww.......

  • lisa_a
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So very cool!

    I saw interior living walls in a display garden at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle two years ago. They were gorgeous! It was one of the most popular display gardens at the show, too. Saw the same company (why, oh, why can't I remember their name?) again at Portland's Yard, Garden & Patio Show. Or was that at the Farwest Show? Dunno, too many garden shows to keep them all straight at times.

    But I digress. They got the same question about interior living walls in a humid region since we're, uh, just a bit dampish in winter. ;-) No problem, they said.

  • steph2000
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sochi... what do you do for a living? Whatever if it, if it isn't interior design, you need to change fields. Seriously. You leave me in awe.

  • bigjim24
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    sochi, thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. Truly appreciated.

  • sochi
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    marcolo - aren't we all showing off here??

    mbcullen - I'm afraid I forget the name of the light manufacturer. I do know that it is no longer produced - we found this one at the back of a lighting store covered in dust, last one they had. I tried to find it online, it was discontinued a few years ago.

    Steph2000 - thanks very much. I designed our kitchen/ground floor reno, but I'm afraid I'm no designer. That said, I've really enjoyed designing the lay out of my ground floor and the kitchen etc. A previous thread by palimpsest has me thinking that maybe I want to study interior design ... who knows! But I'll stick to my current profession until this reno is paid off anyway!

  • steph2000
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, if you do change fields some day, remember to charge the big bucks. You do very high end work. :)

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