Faking it.

In a couple of past posts, I've unofficially introduced you to my newest baby - the most covet-able house plant of the moment, at least in blog world - the infamous fiddle leaf fig.  When I found her I did a little happy dance :) [in our small area it seems people haven't exactly caught on to the fact that this plant is VERY IMPORTANT and AMAZING, so you can't find them anywhere.  Hence the happy dance when I found her, tucked among a sea of palms and rubber plants.]

She fits right in :) 

SO.  Of course after finding such a gem, I of course took every measure to ensure her health, as they're sometimes known to be a bit ... finicky.  I picked out a good spot [the spot I originally wanted for her would likely ensure her death, turns out.  So I sucked it up and put her where she'd like living.] where she can get all of the bright, diffused light she likes.  I cleaned off her leaves so she can absorb said light.  I didn't transplant her from her original pot, as tips in some fig articles I read.  I even named her, so she feels loved, and maybe, in turn, would decide to have more of a will to live.  

She is now known as Miss Figgy.

One more thing I did for Miss Figgy to make her feel more at home was let her spread out a bit.  When I bought her I just got a cheap plastic-lined basket to put her pot in, to make it less ugly.  But it wasn't a great fit.  It was a few inches too tall, so the last few rows of leaves were kind of jammed together.  I didn't want to give Miss Figgy ANY reason to throw a fit and die, so I set about remedying that quickly.

Luckily, my mom had an old planter that was the perfect size, and brass, with which I am currently deeply in a love affair. One problem - it's the really cheap brass-plated tin kind.  But it was FREE.  Why not give it a shot? 

I had an idea on how to make it better, from some past home updates at our old house. And all I needed was my favorite refinishing tool:

I set up shop in the spot I usually use for small refinishing projects - in perfect view of the TV.  Because why not?
If you have some cheap, shiny brass stuff that you want classed up [you see that shit aalllll over Goodwill and Salvation Army thrift stores for pennies], set up shop in front of your TV and follow these steps:
1. Lay out on an old towel to catch all of the dust.  If the object you're classing up is crazy dirty, you can wipe it down, but this had a normal amount of dust on it, so I didn't even bother cleaning it off first.  Any shortcut that's available, I'll take.

2. Gentry scrub off the shiny bits with the steel wool.  Look at it in the light so you can see where you're going and how much you're actually taking off.  Work in a circular motion for best results.  And if you have tiny nooks and crannies, just spread out the steel wool so it's more pliable, and shove it into the nooks.

 2a. Be careful to not scrub off TOO much.  I had a spot that started to look a bit shiny again.  And it turns out I had just scrubbed off *all* of the brass plating in a spot.  The shiny spot underneath is silver.  Oops.  So that part gets turned away from the dining room.

3.  Wipe off the excess dust with a *very slightly* damp rag and THAT'S IT.

I put a cheap plastic plate in the bottom [so excess water won't ruin my beautiful new floors], dropped Miss Figgy in her new digs, et voila!

Looks quite nice, eh?

And just because this blog stands for truth, I took an updated photo too.  The pic above was taken in November, and now - two months later - she still looks happy! 

Don't be afraid of the cheap, ugly brass planters out there!  It's crazy easy to fake it.  All it takes is 10 minutes in front of the TV!