Garden furniture…. with a twist!
This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and we’re all really appreciating the positive effect gardens and gardening can have on our mental well being. I thought I would look at some other ways we can introduce some happiness and positivity into our gardens - as well as with all the wonderful plants of course! So I thought I would tell you about our Happy Table. Actually it may only be me who calls it our Happy Table….. other people might just call it our table? But I’m sure it still makes them happy!
It started with a standard rattan cube dining set I ordered online and when it was delivered, the glass top it came with had completely smashed. I certainly could have returned it…. but I had already been thinking about doing something a bit different with it…… and this finalised the decision, so it stayed and we got planning and sketching and it became a family project. We have been so fortunate to have had some wonderful family adventures and we decided to use these as inspiration, choosing some of our favourite places with our happiest memories. Can you spot the cities? (Answers below….) I also included trees showing the different seasons of the year in the corners. Well it is a garden table - I had to get some plants in there somewhere!
There’s lots of guidance online and on YouTube on how to create mosaics. If you happen to have any spare tiles, broken tiles, pebbles, it could be a fun project! If you don’t have the materials though it’s great to plan ahead. Our table took quite a bit of time to come into fruition. You can make sketches and plan just how you want it to look and it gives you the excuse to browse through your photos, images and memories…. and to get creative. And until we can travel again it’s nice to dream.
It’s such an engrossing activity! We sometimes got so caught up in the task we lost track of time……. even ended up sitting out in the dark with head torches. A lovely way to spend time chatting together and getting lost in an activity - whoever wanted to take a seat and stick some pieces down for as short or long a time as they felt like. Very relaxing. And you get to smash stuff up as well :) Getting creative, having fun and spending relaxing time in the garden is all so good for you.
Visits to our local tile shops resulted in an impressive array of tiles. Some were happy to let us have broken tiles just destined for the skip - and we were going to be taking a hammer to them anyway. (Remember to use appropriate PPE!) Just to mention, not all tiles are frost resistant so it’s a good idea to take that into account for a garden table. Since we wanted some really bright colours we knew some of our tiles weren’t frost resistant but planned to provide protection over the winter.
It doesn’t need to be something as big as a table though! There are loads of mosaic projects you could do - from furniture to a decorative wall plaque or house number and you can even get some basic kits from craft shops to get started, if tackling a project from scratch is too daunting.
(Answers to the cities……… Venice, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, San Francisco.)
Stay safe and well and Happy Gardening…….. and Creating!
