It was time to transform our drab, dingy balcony into a colorful floating edible garden. This balcony makeover completely changed this neglected area into a place that I love to have my morning coffee, greet the bees that buzz around our flowers, and pick ingredients for summer cocktails.
Here’s how we tackled this DIY project.
Balcony Makeover Steps
- Clean the Balcony: this proved to be 1000x more work than we had predicted. Years of pollen, dirt, and grime took several days of sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, and Cinderella scrubbing with vinegar + water to remove. No need for harsh chemicals, the vinegar works great!
- Prime the Walls and Floor: it took two different types of primer: one for the walls and a different one for the floor.
- Paint the Walls and Floor White: oof, this took a lot of coats of floor and patio paint in crisp Chantilly Lace to cover the drab gray. Three coats on the walls and five coats on the floor over two days of hard work.
- Lay the Stencil Pattern: working carefully and slowly, we laid the stencil pattern on the floor in the blue gray color, Atmospheric, to create a design that mimicked tile. The end result was so chic!
- Create Floating Raised Beds out of Wine Boxes: after I received seven free wooden boxes from a local wine group that we’re a part of, I primed them and painted a fun modern design in four colors with layers of paint and tape. Then we drilled drainage holes and covered those holes on the inside with mesh to keep the dirt from falling out. Afterwards, we nailed them using L-shaped brackets to the inside of the balcony walls, so they are floating. Then, we filled them with dirt and planted herbs and flowers.
- Spray Paint the Hardware: to match our color scheme, we spray painted the metal plant stands and the anchors that attach to the sunshade a bright teal to match the balcony décor.
- Add Pots and Décor: the final touches were to add pots of varying heights, plant stands, and decorative tables to bring the space to life. All pots were bought at Ross, Marshalls, and Target to create an affordable garden with varying heights. If the plant stand isn’t the color you’re looking for, a little spray paint does the trick to make it match!
- Step out onto your lush balcony garden and enjoy the fruits of your labor!
This balcony project was 100% DIY and can be completely reversed if you are renting. Also, it was a cheap project, costing less than $500 since it is mostly paint that is transforming the space.
It took about a month of hard work and patience to do this balcony makeover. It takes time to let each coat dry and to clean the balcony between each step because pollen and leaves would fly onto it between rounds. But in the end, it is such a serene place buzzing with life. Also, it almost doubles the amount of food we can grow on our shady property.
I love coming out here in the mornings to drink my coffee and check on my plants–the hard work was 100% worth it.
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