I venture to say that I have the cutest Fairy House around, although, it took a mythical renovation to get to this point. Start with a dog house and then add a few design changes and abra cadabra!, you can have one too.
Although, my photography leaves much to be desired.
If only I could move some of that background clutter, they’d actually be pretty good pictures!
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At one time, this started out as a dog house. A friend of ours was getting rid of it because it was flea infested. Well, that didn’t stop Mr. Menace. He bought a couple of flea bombs, set them off, and then took it home.
I don’t have a proper “BEFORE” picture, because this all happened before we were Mr. & Mrs. But the original dog house looked similar to this one.
My very creative husband added the cute windows. And when he brought it to me in 2008, it looked like this:
I knew immediately that this was suppose to be a fairy house. And this napping gnome is just so cute in his hammock on the porch.
But I really thought it needed a door! So I found some boards that would work, added a knob and hung it.
Once the door was up, the fairies began to arrive! Some of them came all the way from England.
They moved right in and seemed quite happy with their new home.
As you can see, the wood was already very weathered when I got it. It wasn’t but a year or so when the roof rotted off. Mr. Menace replaced it with some red plastic siding, but it just didn’t look very good. So I decided I was going to make a green roof for it.
A planted “green” roof, that is.
But before I got to that project, we bought a new house and were busy moving.
After we got moved into our new house, Mr. Menace helped by removing what was left of the existing roof, and lining it with tin. I then added some chicken wire to hold the plants, tons of potting soil, and then started planting.
Over the years I tried several different combination of plants. But the above one is one of my favorites. It is a chartreuse sedum along with ajuga, which has purple blooms. The color combination is fantastic with the light green of the sedum, the deep green foliage of the ajuga and the deep purple blossoms.
But this year, the porch collapsed.
So again, Mr. Menace had to make some renovations.
This time he decided to class it up a bit and add cedar shakes to the porch roof.
After planting the new apiary, I had some moss rose left over. I thought I’d use it on the fairy house roof this year. But first, it was time for a move. The plants were going to need more sun. So Mr. Menace helped me get it moved a few feet back. Now it is a part of this bed at the back of our property.
And finally, it was time for planting.
The moss rose, or portulaca, should fill in and cover the roof nicely.
When I stain the new deck the fairy house will get a coat too.
And I am considering making curtains for the windows. What do you think about that? Should I? Shouldn’t I??
If so, what colors? Or neutral??
cheese cloth curtains??reckon? love the fairies–when I next catch some with my fairy catcher, I’ll ask them about going to visit ‘bama
Oh thats an interesting idea. Where do you buy cheesecloth these days?? And please, hitch a ride with them when you send them. 🙂
A lot of healthfood stores sell cheesecloth. (I;ve actually bought it and used it to make cheese. But use it for straining too.) You can easily get it online too.
ah yes…. Amazon carries everything! Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
I love it! The moss roses are going to be gorgeous when they fill in. And I think curtains would be great. The cheese cloth (from above is a good idea and cheap) Bed Bath and beyond has cheese cloth or I’d use thrift store napkins or a cut up sheet. To keep cost down 🙂
Good Idea! I probably already have something that I can use, now that you mention it. 🙂
I saw some cheese cloth at the Dollar Tree. Love the Fairy house
I will sure check the Dollar Tree! We need some cheese cloth anyway to strain honey…. 🙂
What a neat idea! Solomon loves the gnomes and I love the fairies. (I had Tabby’s bedroom decorated in fairies when she was little.) If you want a pop of color for curtains – maybe one of the Michael Miller fabrics – he has several with mushrooms. (Easy to find on Ebay “Michael Miller mushroom fabric”.) Oh and we both like the flowers on top. So creative! I love your bottle trees – I have a lot of old bottles from the property here that I think would be nice displayed that wa. Where did you get your tree?
I bought the bottle trees from a local nursery that carries quite a bit of garden art. I buy when they have their yearly 1/2 price sale. I will sure do some research on the Michael Miller fabrics. Thanks for the suggestion. 🙂
Yes, you do have the cutest fairy house around! I’m sure the fairies love living in this magical place. The flowers on the roof are an excellent touch! (I also really like the bottle tree). Your yard looks like such a nice place to hang out in nice weather, with a comfortable place to sit and charming views to contemplate.
Thanks so much for the kind compliments Carol! I am sure trying to make my yard have interesting places to sit and contemplate! And as long as you stay under the big shady oak, it is quite pleasant. LOL 🙂
Oh my goodness! I LOVE it!!! Absolutely unique. Makes me want one. Thank you Nikki for linking up at the #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty. I shared this post.
Thanks Grammy Dee! I appreciate you and your party! 🙂
Absolutely adorable!! Thanks for sharing this!
#BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty.
Thanks Donna! I am glad you like it and thanks for visiting me. 🙂
I am always so impressed at such creativity. Your fairy house is lovely. Thanks for linking up at #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty. I’ve shared your post on social media.
Thank you! And thanks for sharing! 🙂
This post is absolutely beautiful. Your fairy house has so much whimsy and the perfect spot under the trees. Love it
Thank you Leanna! It has really been a fun project over the years! I appreciate you visiting my blog! 🙂
Oh wow! That’s so fun!!
Thank you for sharing at #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty
Thanks Lori, I do look forward each year to finding something new to plant on my fairy house! Thanks for visiting. 🙂
Thank you for linking up at #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty. I’m sharing your post on social media.
Good Morning Carol! Thanks so much! 🙂
Such a cute and creative idea to turn a dog house into a fairy house! And the plantings on the top are the perfect touch. I vote for curtains too. It looks like you have a nice big wonderful yard to sit in; under the shade of a tree, drink some ice tea and relax! Thank you for sharing at the #BloggingGrandmothersLInkParty!
I often sit in the swing under the tree with a glass of tea, Teresa! Have you been spying on me??? haha Thanks so much for visiting and commenting! 🙂
I just do not know how to describe how cute this is. I am thinking about of all of the ideas for the inside too. Just the sweetest!! Thank you for linking up at the #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty. I shared this post.
Thank you Clearissa! I have thought a few times about decorating the inside but I am not sure I will get around to that. Maybe I will if my granddaughters come and stay with me a week sometime. That would be a great project for us! 🙂
What a cute idea and i love the flowers in the roof plus the fairies and gnomes. Thanks for sharing with us at #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty. I’m sharing your post.
Hi Sue. Thanks for everything! I do love planting the roof each year and finding new things to plant. I just saw one planted in grass! I might try that next. 🙂
How wonderful it is in every rendition you’ve done! Love it plain without curtains, but if you add some curtains, how about burlap (looking like burlap bags) which seems what the fairies would find around a yard.
Oh burlap! Thats a great idea! I might try that. Thanks for visiting.
What a fun project it is really neat to have the fairy house under the tree.
It is a fun item to have. I really enjoy having unique things in my garden. Thanks for visiting Karen! 🙂
The fairy house is so adorable. Floral curtains would be my choice.
Hi Leanna, I am assuming that when I see “it” I will know. I looked a little at Walmart yesterday. But I think first, I need to go look at my own stash. I probably have the perfect thing already. And most likely, its floral. 🙂
I love all the incarnations of the dog house on the road to fairyland.
Oh yes Carol! If only you knew how right you are! One of our granddaughters called the dog house “creepy”. That was before it came into its own as a fairy house. 🙂
I absolutely adore your fairy house! How fun to consider curtains! I think if I did them, I would choose some type of leaf print or soft floral. -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
Your fairy house post will be my feature for Tuesdays with a Twist this week. I hope you have time to join us again!
Thank you so much for the feature Marci! I will be back. And thanks for the curtain idea. I still haven’t decided yet. 🙂
Nikki your fairy house is adorable. Everything about it is wonderful. But the crowning glory is that you can actually grow flowers on it. How cool is that?
Thank you Mary! I love it. So glad you do too. 🙂
Such a cute idea! Very creative repurpose. I love the growing roof! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Thank you Jann. I love that the green roof makes it different from most. Thanks for visiting. 🙂
This is just amazingly detailed to me. I love the green roof, and the sleeping gnome! Visiting from Kathy’s Home and Garden Thursday – love the feature!
Rita C at Panoply
Rita, I love the gnome in the hammock too! I am not really a gnome fan but this one was just perfect for the porch. Thanks for visiting. 🙂
How fun! I love anything that features gnomes and fairies. I repurposed an old bird bath into a fairy garden that’s fun to decorated with seasonal pieces. Curtains would be a great touch. I think I’d use something colorful to give it a pop of color. Thanks for sharing at Snickerdoodle. Pinning.
Hi Beverly, I love the sound of your birdbath fairy garden! I have a planted (cracked) birdbath and I love it. I guess I will just gather up some fabrics and take them out to the fairy house and try them out. Maybe I should do a voting contest!?? 🙂
what a unique idea and I love the moss rose roof…
Thank you Linda! It is such a fun project. I love choosing which plants to try each year and I never did add curtains, so I am still entertaining that idea. 🙂
Too cute! I haven’t managed to plant a fairy garden or make a fairy house yet (and it will probably be smaller than yours!) but absolutely LOVE the green roof! If you were planning to keep using the portulacas on the roof, you could pick up the colors of the portulaca in the curtains. I love portulaca but can only grow it in high summer here in the Northeast.
Great idea to color coordinate the curtains! However, I do switch up what I plant on the roof each year. I haven’t found anything to use yet that will live year ’round. In fact, I saw a new way to plant the green roof recently that I’m dying to try. 🙂
OH that is AAAdorable! It’s just perfect and love how y’all worked together to achieve such cuteness.
Thanks Sandra. It’s a really fun project. 🙂