We’re finally here with our balcony garden reveal. I know it’s been really long, but we had to wait for the plants to settle in and grow. We started getting the new plant babies in the middle of last year. But posting pics of empty pots with a few leaves in wouldn’t have done justice to our balcony garden. The plants are bigger and fuller now and our garden is beginning to look a little wild like we wanted it to. So let’s get straight to it.
The Plan:
As always, we’ll start with the plan, which is simple enough. It is a long terrace, so we decided to keep the seating on one side. The look we wanted to achieve was that of an unkempt jungle, as opposed to a manicured garden.
I shared lots of inspiration images and details of how we were planning to go about it in our last post. You can read it here in case you missed it. We did follow most of what we had planned.. though there are always minor changes when you actually start working in a particular space.
A Balcony Garden In a Mumbai Highrise
As you can see in the plan, the seating is to the right of the balcony as you enter it. We’ve got an eclectic mix of furniture here, again to avoid the manicured look. That lovely red bench is my favourite piece of furniture here and we sourced it during our furniture shopping trip to Delhi. The marble top centre table is from Delhi too. We sourced the cane chairs at a local furniture shop in Mumbai.
The Ceiling:
I didn’t want to fill up the entire floor space with plants. That gives very little room for movement in a narrow balcony. And yet we wanted the wild jungle look. The obvious thing to do then, is to suspend the plants from the ceiling.
For the longest time, I couldn’t decide how to do that. Should I put hooks every 1 foot so that I can then keep changing the plants around as required? I would need hooks for the light fittings too.
And then I saw this grill work in a photograph of an outdoor nursery. I immediately had my solution. We’ve installed a wrought iron grid about 3 inches below the ceiling and painted it a white to match it. It gives us complete flexibility with where we want to hang our plants and lights. The plants are changed around almost on a weekly basis to make sure they are all getting enough sunlight.
We have plants and lights suspended from almost everywhere on the left of the balcony too. We have some creepers starting all the way down which have finally reached the grill and are gradually weaving their way into it. Over time we hope to have a thicker green cover on top.
The Walls Of The Balcony Garden:
Once the floor and ceiling has been taken care of, the only space left are the walls. Since we were looking for a lush, green space, we wanted to use these well too. We went ahead with the wall planter which we had mentioned in our previous post. We have some vines hanging off from the upper shelves, some creepers growing upwards from the lower shelves and space for candles and tea light holders too. (Those large round pots hold tea lights in them). This plants will hopefully get thicker and greener over time, but our little balcony garden is on its way.
On the opposite side we did a mini gallery wall with some masks and baskets to hold plants.
The Floor:
It’s not like we haven’t used the floor space at all. The right is almost completely taken up by the seating arrangement. So we intentionally left the left side empty, to give it a feeling of openness.
It gives you space to step into the balcony and walk around and enough space to easily add another pair of chairs with a small table when entertaining. Since the left side is otherwise unoccupied, we have place here for some floor plants… and this Buddha is a favourite.
Furnishings:
I loved the red bench as is, but sitting on it was not entirely comfortable. It definitely needed some cushioning. Since the furniture was an eclectic mix, we decided to go with bright and boho with the furnishings too. I found these beautiful Suzani cushion covers on Amazon. But I wasn’t quite sure what to do for the bench seat. I wanted something patterned and colourful and coordinated with the cane chair cushions too.
Eventually, what I did, was to order a multicoloured bedcover online. We used the thick border for the bench seat cushion and the body of the bedcover for the cushions on the cane chairs. The cane chair cushion pads I found ready online while my local tailor helped me with the cushion pad on the bench.
The most important thing which was mentioned in the before post and you can’t yet see here, are trees. Well, we do already have them, but they aren’t trees yet. My favourite is a fiddle leaf fig which had about 4 leaves on it when it came. It is about 3 feet tall now… but still has a long way to go before we can call it a tree!
On the central column of the balcony too, it looks like we have Areca palm on both sides of the column. But the palm to the right is a variety which will grow into one of those 7 foot tall palms, and it is on it’s way.
The Night View:
With Moroccan lamps on one side and hand painted lamp shades on the other, the balcony garden is a pretty sight at night.
Before & After:
We have to have some before-and-afters before we end a reveal. Here’s a complete view of the balcony garden.
The right side of the balcony.
And here is the left.
This is the central column.
I hope liked our little garden. If you did and would like to get any of it for yourself, then the next section is for you.
Get The Look:
The red bench and marble centre table are from Amar Colony in Delhi. You can read about our furniture shopping trip to Delhi here. But we ordered a lot of the accessories online and I am providing links to them here.
| – 1 – Cane chair cushion pad | – 2 – Leather lamp (We got ours at a handicraft exhibition, but similar is available here) | – 3 – Moroccan lamp (We got ours at Dilli Haat in Delhi, but similar is available here) | – 4 – Leather lamp (We got ours at a handicraft exhibition, but similar is available here) | – 5 – Red railing planter which we used in our wall planter | – 6 – White Suzani cushion cover | – 7 – Yellow Suzani cushion cover | – 8 – Round Suzani cushion cover | – 9 – Dark Suzani cushion cover | – 10 – Bedcover we used for bench and cane chair cushion covers |
That’s all from our garden in the sky for now. I’ve tried to present it as completely as I can, but there might be things I missed out. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you think of this boho balcony.
Until next time,
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This is a wonderful balcony each corner, plant with a lot of love and thoughts…. If you don’t mind can you share the dimensions of the balcony? I could not find them in the post… Thanks…
Thank you.. it is about 16′ x 7′
Hey, could you please share how much area is occupied in seating area.. i want to do similar sitting arrangements in my balcony.. size of our balcony is 6’x8’ is it too small for this?
Hi Rashmi. The entire balcony is about 18’x7′. The seating area is about half of that.. about 9’x7′
Omg….reading through ur blog is like getting trained in interior designing. Love the way u patiently explain all aspects n also show us the before n afters. Thanx for sharing ur spaces with us.💚💚
🙂 Thank you Sumeet. I hope you can find lots of useful tips!
Hey!! Loved the ceiling grill idea!! Was looking for an effective solution myself and this does it perfectly! Might I ask how much did it cost just so I have an idea?
Thanks Sonakshi. It’s very convenient and you’ll thank yourself for it every time you want to make any changes in your balcony 🙂 Don’t remember the cost though.. was done a few years back. We got it done by an MS grill vendor.. same person who would make a window grill for you.
Beautiful n serene…hard work always pay.Love for plants is like oxygen to the soul.
Thank you Dora.. that balcony truly is a relaxing and unwinding spot for us 🙂
Lovely garden …please tell how did you manage to hide pipes in balcony
Thanks so much Meenakshi. We’ve done simple plywood boxing around the pipes and painted it the same colour as the wall so it gets camouflaged. Put some plants in front of it and you can barely see it at all!
The grill idea is brilliant
It is so mesmerising!Getting inspired by your work.wonderfull!
Thanks so much, Gautami! There is something wonderfully inspiring and relaxing about being in nature!
It’s so magical…😊
Thanks so much, Ankana!
love what i see here… so inviting!!!
Thank you Rachel! So happy you liked it! 🙂
Very beautiful…And what a transformation looking at the before and after pics…Just superb
Thanks Sonali.. so glad you liked it!! 🙂
Beautiful and innovati. Love the wall & Ceiling with Hanging plants. Great Job Ritika 🙂
Thank you so much, Binda! 🙂
You have created an oasis here Rittika!! Loved your idea of grill and plants from ceiling. Also the shelf on the wall makes the look complete! Everything has been so thoughtfully placed and yet gives a very natural look. When I saw your bench on IG The first thought that came to my mind was this looks so much like Delhi furniture piece. Also very well articulated post!!
Thanks so much, Nupur. Yes, that ceiling grill is a blessing. A big regret is not saving the pic where I first saw it.. it was before Insta days and the only place I used to safe references was in my head. Would have loved to credit the owner!
The creation is beautiful, it makes you want sit down and share a tea with friends
Thank you!! 🙂 Yes.. it has become my favourite hangout with friends!
such a beautiful transformation. great job.
Thanks so much, Debjani! Have a great day! 🙂
Very inviting… Beautiful
Thank you! 🙂
Its soooooo beautiful..one can spend hours and hours here not get bored at all ..I wish to have tea here😊
🙂 Thanks so much Tejal.. yes, we really enjoy spending time here. And welcome for tea any time!
The most beautiful and colourful balcony! Kudos to you 🙂
Thank you ji! 🙂