Okay, so this is a
recycle project to the max.
You all know how much I love topiaries, just not their ridiculous cost. So I either find them at Goodwill or I make them myself! And you totally can, too. Just look around and "shop" your house and you might be surprised to find that you already have what it takes. You can see a few of my priors HERE and HERE.
This time the project involved two home decor items that had both seen better days. One was a faux red berry topiary I bought at Target almost 10 years ago. It served its purpose well for a number of years collecting dust on the mantel until I just plain got
tired of it. So into the basement it went.
The other old decor item was a Colonial Williamsburg above-the-door apple, pineapple, boxwood and magnolia leaf wreath that Mr. CBD had bought for me as a gift.
Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Wreaths of Colonial Williamsburg
The one in the picture is not exactly like mine but I was too impatient to take a pic of my own once I decided to tear it down. But it's close enough. I was in love with it. It hung over our front door for almost 9 years. It was meant to be hung outside just like it is in the picture. But we don't have a covered porch so it was hung inside, above the front door in our foyer. Which means that I've seen it a gajillion times a day, every time I walk past it. But just like the topiary, it got old, dusty and faded. {Don't judge.} And as much as I loved it I knew it had to go.
So I climbed up on a chair and pulled that thing down. Then I got
to work. I pulled off each apple and boxwood leaf until it was just a mere
shadow of itself. But I was happy......30 faux apples! And enough boxwood to
choke a horse! I knew exactly what to
do. The apples were put away for another day. But the faux boxwood, well, I washed the dust off of each and every leaf and it ended up looking like this.
Here's the original berry topiary mid-transformation after pulling most of the berries off of it.
And of course they were set aside for another day.
Here it is "naked" waiting for some boxwood and reindeer moss love.
I just pushed the boxwood leaves pretty willy nilly through the openings in the grapevine orb and voila.
I think it looks strangely similar to some of these, don't you?
{$49.90 for a 9" diameter ball}
Then I added some Dollar Tree reindeer moss to the base just to finish it off.
So there you have it.
Colonial Williamsburg
and
Target
combined to make
one
Ballard Designs-worthy
topiary.
What do you have lying around that might just be topiary-worthy?
xoxo
I'll be linking up here:
The Shabby Creek Cottage Transformation Thursdays
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