Five ways to give your balcony a new look

What is your most favorite place in your apartment/house? Are you a green-loving person?  Do you dream of a home with a backyard, a vegetable garden, front lawn, and a courtyard full of potted plants?

I love to start my day sitting in the balcony with a hot cup of tea and newspaper. And, I prefer to do it before the family wakes up.  Those 10-15 minutes of blissful silence in the company of plants. But, the same look can get boring; so I rearrange plants every once in a while or add something new.

A few tricks that’ll work if you are striving for a new look to your balcony without spending much:

1. Rearrange – Move all your pots to different corner. Change the order in which they are lined. Try various combinations until you hit a satisfying one. Take some inside the house.

2. Paint – If you have smaller terracotta pots, don the paint hat. Take out your brushes, get into the mood of the season, and splash your pots in an array of colors. Nothing more eye-catching than a colorful cluster.

3. Get some new ones – Have a few seasonal plants. Most of my plants are the same. But, I always have two to three empty pots filled with potting sand for experimentation. Every season change is a good time to discard what didn’t turn out well and replace it with new ones.

4. Add curios – Get out some curios from your corner table to the balcony. I moved a three-legged chinese frog from my side table to the balcony recently.

5. Decorate your walls- The walls need not be bare. Draw a little something like worli art or small colorful butterflies on the walls. Or fix candle stands at varying heights; light them in the evening. Look in your attic for unused old decor pieces like wall hanging gifts of Ganesha. Get them out.

Here is a pictures of my balcony’s new look with the freshly painted terracotta pieces.