Everybody’s got that wall space in their house that they just can’t figure out what to do with, right? I definitely do. It’s in a tiny bathroom and doesn’t always get much light so I struggle with what would work in there. I decided I needed something bright that would catch your eye even without a ton of light and I wanted something interesting and different than the other items in my home. I think I achieved all of that with this project.

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I started with a frame from ARC. There is truly no reason to ever buy a picture frame from anywhere else. ARC always has a huge selection in every size imaginable. This one was a beauty; it was deep, which I needed for the succulents, and it was a thick frame so that the actual space I’d need to fill inside it was small. It was also half off J.

I started by removing the paper backing, popping off the wooden back and pulling out the glass.

All I was left with was the great frame and space in the middle.

From there, I cut a piece of thick foam core that would fit into the open space. I hot glued it like crazy, all over the back edges so that it was strongly in place. (The hot glue gun came from ARC a long time ago-it’s been a vital part of many a project.)

I colored the foam core black so that it wouldn’t stand out as much between the faux plants (though I’d recommend painting it instead, due to the marker fumes).  Then came the fun part: I took fake succulents and started arranging them on the foam core. When I found an arrangement I liked I pushed the stem through to the back and glued or taped it into place.

I played around with a lot of different arrangements and finally found what I liked. I’d found a bag of assorted moss (apparently a real thing that people sell) that had been donated to ARC and bought it to fill in the gaps between the bigger plants.

I love how full the final product looks and how the different textures complement each other. The frame itself adds a lot of texture and interest, as well.

This will definitely look great in that hard to fill wall space. It’s far better than anything I’d buy and when it’s homemade I love it even more.