Supporting An Overgrown Bird Of Paradise

Supporting An Overgrown Bird Of Paradise

One of the most validating things I’ve experienced as a homemaker is witnessing my houseplants grow out of control. The potted plants situated  throughout our house are absolute key pieces within the décor “landscape” I’ve created (a room is never really finished until I include a plant, after all!), and whenever I see that one has grown too large for the space its in, I feel like I’ve done something right. It’s one of my favorite feelings, but it does, of course, come with some necessary homework.

Supporting An Overgrown Bird Of Paradise

Supporting An Overgrown Bird Of Paradise

Supporting An Overgrown Bird Of Paradise

Take the overgrown Bird of Paradise plant in our sunroom as an example. My five-year-old plant had outgrown its pot (click here and scroll to about the middle of the post to see how tiny the plant was when I first got her!). The old pot I had her in was about half the size of the new one you see pictured here in today’s post, and she has doubled in size over the course of the last few years. Some of the branches had buckled under their own weight and were in desperate need of added support. I forgot to take “before” photos for today’s story (shame on me!), but you can click over to my Instagram to watch a video I put together documenting this process, including shots of the plant as it looked in its old too-small floor pot, plus you’ll be able to see close-ups of her broken, bent stems and leaves.

Supporting An Overgrown Bird Of Paradise

The first step in this makeover process was to replant the Bird of Paradise. I nestled her into a larger pot (similar option found here) that we happened to have in storage in the basement, which is about twice the size of the old ceramic pot. This plus the addition of extra potting mix will give our Bird lots more room to grow and stretch out her roots.

I couldn’t just swap her pot out, though. The leaves and stems needed much more support and added strength from up above, and for that I turned to my tried and true method of training the branches with floral tape, clear fishing line, and cup hooks. I’ve talking about this process before in terms of how we support the branches of our beloved Fiddle Leaf Fig tree, and the same principles apply here for our Bird of Paradise.

Supporting An Overgrown Bird Of ParadiseFirst, I screwed a small cup hook into the wall using a wall anchor for extra strength. Then, I tied small lengths of green floral tape around a few of the droopier branches of the plant. Finally, I looped discrete clear fishing line through the floral tape loops and hooked those around the cup hook to drag the branches to a more upright position.

The reason you need to combine the floral tape with the fishing line instead of just using fishing line alone is because the fishing line by itself would cut into the delicate flesh of the stems. The soft, thick floral tape offers gentle support, even when held taut against the branches. I also incorporated a couple of green-colored gardening stakes to help support the branches and to balance out the pressure of the floral tape against the stems.

Supporting An Overgrown Bird Of Paradise

Supporting An Overgrown Bird Of Paradise

I’ve been repeating this method over and over for years with our plants as they slowly outgrow their old pots, and it has worked like a charm. The branches are able to grow without stress, and I’m able to help guide them into a shape that better suits the specific confines of the corners in our home. Click back here for even more information about my training method, and make sure you hop over to Instagram if you’d like to see this method in video form. It might make a little more sense to see it come together in action.

And since I know some of you will ask how we managed to get our Bird of Paradise to grow this large over the years, I’ll give you a rapid fire list of what has worked for us: I soak the soil once every other week with water (sometimes weekly if the soil feels a little dry), I keep it in a spot that gets really nice morning-to-early-afternoon sunshine, and I wipe the leaves down quarterly with a damp rag to keep dust and pests away. Feel free to leave your own plant care tips in the comments if you have them!

Supporting An Overgrown Bird Of Paradise

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How To Pet-Proof Your Dining Room

How To Pet-Proof Your Dining Room

*Today’s post was made possible by Loloi, and features gifted product for the purposes of a candid review. All opinions are my own.

The journey of kitten-proofing our home continues—this time, we’re talking about our dining room. You may remember late last year when I put together what I thought was the perfect dining room design for our home. Take that tour here to see the introduction of new upholstered seating and a luxe glass table. As you can see in today’s update post, the glass table is still one of our favorite pieces of furniture in the house, and, thankfully, it holds up well to our pets. But the upholstered chairs? I suppose I should have known better…

How To Pet-Proof Your Dining Room

How To Pet-Proof Your Dining Room

Once our two rescue kittens, Joe and Marlo, had gotten comfortable in their new home, they decided it was time to start terrorizing it with their claws. It has been a struggle to keep the fabrics throughout our rooms free from their destructive path, so I quickly had to admit that our beautiful new upholstered chairs just weren’t going to last—at least not during this kitten phase we’re in. So into storage they went (they’ve actually since been passed along to a new home), and in came a new set of chairs that our kittens can’t sink their claws into.

I ordered this set of plastic dining chairs, and also brought in the bench that my dad made that we’ve had for years. I love how this mismatched set adds character to the room, and how the light stained wood of the new chair legs and the bench matches our beloved glass dining table. It feels practically meant to be, and so far the kittens haven’t been able to hurt the newly assembled dining set. Eureka!

How To Pet-Proof Your Dining RoomThat’s not the only change we made to the room, though, as you eagle-eyed readers might have noticed. Perhaps the most exciting change was the addition of a new area rug under the table. We picked the Heritage – HER-01 Area Rug from Loloi Rugs, which is part of a brand new collection that just launched earlier this month. We chose the 6’ x 9’ rectangular version of the rug in the color “Clay, Natural” to help brighten our dark dining space, and I love how the multi-level pile is designed to look like a true vintage rug without the high price tag. The polypropylene, polyester, and wool texture is super easy to clean, and has stood up so well against our kittens and their sharp claws.

I know I’ve said in the past that I didn’t want a rug in the dining room after we moved in here, but we’ve found that our special needs kitten moves so much better and more confidently over rugs as opposed to smooth hardwood floors. Joe was born with a mild version of cerebellar hypoplasia, which means that he’s a little unsteady on his feet, especially when he’s running around and playing with his big sister Marlo. This rug is the perfect compromise—our kittens love cozying up on it, the textured pile makes it easier for Joe to move around in the space, and I love how the vintage-inspired design looks in our formal mid-century dining room.

Just in case you, too, are dealing with troublemaking kittens (or if your kitten also has developmental special needs), then keep scrolling for a full list of my tips for creating a pet-proof zone that both you and your fur babes can enjoy.

How To Pet-Proof Your Dining Room

How To Pet-Proof Your Dining Room:

1. Cover floor plant pots: We had some issues early on with our kittens thinking floor plants were bonus litter boxes, so we’ve since added these planter pot covers over the soil to deter them from this nasty habit.

2. Swap upholstered chairs for plastic ones: I love how these new plastic chairs are wipeable in case the kittens ever spill anything on them, and that they don’t have any fabric for them to claw or gnaw on. They’re also kind of stupidly cheap, so if Joe and Marlo do somehow mess them up, it’s not the end of the world.

3. Install louvered doors: Our retro home came with one set of original louvered doors to the entry into our dining room, and we’ve since closed up the second entry with a similar set of louvered doors. Being able to block off the room as needed (mainly when we’re not here to supervise the kittens) has been a game-changer.

4. Use museum putty on breakables: I was determined to find a way to incorporate some of my favorite breakable decorative items in our dining room, but I knew that was dangerous with kittens. I have since stuck each item firmly to its respective tabletop using this museum putty, and have had zero breakages so far.

5. Incorporate closed storage: For those items that are handled more often, I use a closed hutch that I purchased secondhand. The glass doors protect my favorite pieces from prying paws, but I still get to enjoy looking at them throughout the day. Just make sure you anchor large pieces like this to the wall so there’s no risk of them toppling over onto your pets!

6. Use an easy-to-clean rug that looks vintage but isn’t: I think this rug is the perfect way to add pet-proof style to a dining room. The antique-looking pattern hides stains caused by pets, and it’s also worth noting that stains don’t really even have a chance to set in because the polypropylene, polyester, and wool pile is easy to spot treat and steam clean.

How To Pet-Proof Your Dining RoomHow To Pet-Proof Your Dining RoomHow To Pet-Proof Your Dining Room

What do you think of our updates? I miss our lovely designer upholstered chairs, but I know that the new hard surface seating we chose will stand up to our family for the long haul. I’ve learned over the years that having pets definitely requires a person to make sacrifices when it comes to the design of a home, but it’s well worth it. And the good news is that there are so many beautiful pet-proof alternatives out there to order so that you and your pets can be happy to live in the space. As always, feel free to leave your own pet-proofing tips in the comments, and click here to shop the new Heritage rug collection from Loloi.

P.S. Hop over to my Instagram to take a video tour of our dining room!

How To Pet-Proof Your Dining Room

Your DIY Guide To Home Decorating eBook

*I earn a small percentage from purchases made using the affiliate links above. Affiliate links are not sponsored. Rest assured that I never recommend products we wouldn’t use or don’t already love ourselves.

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