Hello, friends! As you may have seen in some of my photos, I love plants. We have a ton of plants in our home, including a growing collection of air plants (including one I smuggled home on an airplane from Florida, shhhh). Air plants are just so interesting looking, and I love displaying them in creative ways! While vacationing in Maine this past summer, I spotted an air plant holder that I loved. I decided to make a similar version myself. This is a super simple DIY project that will really jazz up your fridge!
For this project, you will need the following:
Wooden hexagons (or any wooden shape you like, I knew I wanted a hexagon, so I had to purchase them in bulk)
Hair elastic (no, really!)
Staples and stapler
Gold leaf spray paint (optional)
Glue gun
And an air plant, of course!
The first step is to stain or paint your hexagon/wood shape. If the wood is super rough, it might need a light sanding before you get started. This is what the hexagon looks like naturally.
I chose stain because I already had an open can lying around, but you can certainly paint the hexagon instead (painting a pattern on would look really nice). I also like gel stain because it's pretty easy to use. I typically wear a rubber glove and use a rag to stain. Follow the directions on the can when staining, and be sure to stain the front and sides of the wood.
While my stain was drying, I had some down time, so I pulled my staples out of my stapler and gave them a few coats of gold spray paint. This step was a little tedious and possibly a little crazy, but what can I say - I like gold!
Once the stain and spray paint are dry, you are ready to attach the hair elastic. This is what holds the air plant in place. I chose staples because I liked the minimal look, and because I wanted some flexibility (i.e., to be able to loosen the string when I needed to remove the plant to water it, and then tighten it back up). The staples hold the string in place, but not so tightly that you cannot slide the string back and forth if needed. I took a ruler and made a small dot 1" in on each side of the hexagon - this is where I eventually put my staples.
Cut the hair tie where the two ends are glued together. Then, put your fancy gold staples back into your stapler, and staple the string in place. Put the staple in perpendicular to the string, and about 1" in on each side of the hexagon.
Once the string is in place, tie a knot in each end, and then trim off the excess string.
Next, heat up your glue gun to glue the magnets to the back of the holder. Optionally, if you don't have a glue gun, you can buy adhesive magnets instead. Or, you can buy a glue gun, since they aren't super expensive. I bought my glue gun at the dollar store over 10 years ago, and she's still going strong! Seriously - look at this poor thing. As you can see, we have been through a lot together!
Secure 4 magnets to the back of the holder, and let the glue set up. Try to distribute the 4 magnets evenly-ish on the back of the holder. As you can see in the image below, mine are not perfectly even, and I accidentally got some stain on the back of the holder. Don't worry - no one will see the back!
Once the glue has dried, you are done! Just put your plant in place and slap that baby on the fridge.
If you are at all like me and love air plants, I hope you will give this DIY a try. It really is a project you can tackle in just a couple of hours, and most of that is drying time, not hands on time. I've received a lot of compliments on my air plant holder, and have even made a few for friends. I also have managed to keep my air plant alive since last summer...which may be a new record for me! Woo hoo! Please let me know if you have any questions!
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