Our house has a lot of quirks unique to ranch homes from the 60s and 70s. An intercom system that runs throughout the house – with a built-in radio and 8 track player. Faux wood paneling in the family room. And a built in planter separating the dining room from the living room.
I’m not really a retro kind of girl – so the paneling got painted and the planter box found a new purpose. (Not sure what to do about the intercom just yet – not so cute but still kind of cool.)
Around that time, built-in planters dividing rooms were pretty common.
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A lot of them were brick or stone, but ours is actually made of drywall. It looks a lot like a regular half wall except there is a big metal-lined hole in the top.
When we first moved here, I was stumped as to what to do with it. The obvious choice would be to plant something there. But, one, this spot doesn’t get a lot of sunlight. Two, I wasn’t sure I would love the look of plants sprouting from a random wall. And three, I just can’t seem to keep a plant alive more than a week or two.
So I had to come up with something different. And our little planter wall became our little candle wall.
This planter was about a foot and a half deep so the first thing I did was fill in all that space with some pieces of styrofoam. Once the planter was filled in to about an inch below the top, I cut a scrap piece of black fabric and laid it over top of the foam, tucking in the edges. I bought a bunch of white pillar candles and evenly spaced them down the wall and then filled in all of the space around the candles with decorative black river rock (from Target). The black cloth underneath helped camouflage any spaces the rock didn’t completely cover.
Now, it looks beautiful and fits in with the rest of the house much better. Plus, that little row of candles adds tons of ambiance to nice dinners. And it sure comes in handy when the power goes out.
What funny quirks does your house have? How did you deal with them? Anyone else with a random planter?
Laurie says
How creative Carrie, and so pretty. A perfect solution!
Lindsey Ralls says
Good idea! We have planters too…gotta love those 1970’s homes :)
Narelle says
It looks so pretty but your description of styrofoam fill under the candles brings memories of a fire from birthday candles in a styrofoam board that caught alight and burned a hole in my mums crocheted table cloth. You may need more than just a cloth to cover as it is very flammable.
intercom system says
Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up !!!
Christina Lumb says
I have been searching Pinterest for ages trying to find ideas as I have exact same drywall, metal lined planter box. Over the years I have tried many things, just not plants as mine are near windows elsewhwere. I think I have decided to go with a finished wood board even though your candles look lovely! At Christmas I usually have faux greens with candles in it and I will miss that but I am looking forward to the clean lines of a single board and no dusting issues.
Carrie says
Christina, great idea – a nice clean board should finish it off nicely! I don’t know why these planters were such a popular feature – especially for walls that don’t get direct light. I’m sure there are plenty of things we put in houses now that people will think are crazy 30 years from now.
Alex Ann Gildner says
I have one in my house that’s about 6 ft long. In the autumn I put my autumn/Halloween village on it, and in the winter, my Christmas village goes there. It’s perfect because all the wires go in the planter area and are hidden away. But I have no clue what to do in the spring and summer. I wanted to do a fairy village, but those suckers are expensive! I’ve bought all my light up village houses at auction, but never see fairy houses.
Carrie says
That is such a fun idea! I wonder if maybe you could find some Christmas houses that aren’t so Christmasy and mix them in with little plants and accessories to create a fairy village?