There's something magical about stepping out into your garden and seeing a tiny door nestled into one of your trees. Or seeing small stepping stones leading up a pot towards a tiny home.
The world is already a beautiful place, but adding in a touch of imagination can bring wonder and joy to both adults and kids alike. It's also a wonderful way to spend your time and relax. To help you get started, we've put together five fairy garden ideas that will add a dash of mystery to your space.
Fairy Garden Ideas
Fairy gardens have been blooming all over the internet as more and more people find inspiration and share ideas with each other.
From cute miniature versions that are tucked away waiting to be discovered to full homes complete with gardens and swing sets, there's a project for anyone to try.
The best part is -- there's no limit to your imagination! While you can buy items already made on sites like Esty, you'll be amazed and how much you can make yourself with a little bit of creativity.
1. Create a Tiny Fairy Home in a Flower Pot
Flower pots are becoming an increasingly popular space for people to create their fairy gardens.
They're small so don't cost much, and you can bring them inside if the weather is expected to be really bad. The other advantage is the size encourages you to be creative and try to use the space as well as possible.
Some people have placed small pots inside larger broken ones to create a staircase up to the home. Others have created bridges and waterfalls using simple items like popsicle sticks and shimmering plastic.
You can even use debris from your garden and outdoor landscape. An old broken piece of wood may be the perfect fairy home once you've added some accessories to it. Broken twigs can make excellent miniature trees or even become roofing or a cute fence around a fairy garden.
Don't feel pressured to make something you've seen online, instead just work with what you have and imagine the fairy garden growing from the items you find around your home.
2. Try a Planter Box Fairy Garden
If you want more space to work with and have ambitious ideas in mind, then creating a fairy garden in a planter box is an excellent option.
You may even have a part of your landscape where plants struggle to grow because of the lack of sunlight. These can be excellent areas to place your creation as it adds more beauty to the area and will be much easier to maintain.
When thinking of a larger project like this, it helps to sketch out an idea of what you would like it to look like. It doesn't have to be overly detailed or a well-drawn version, just a good outline of what you would like and where it could go.
As you're doing this, start thinking about the different ways you can use the space. It doesn't just have to be grass and a house, you could pile up the soil to make different levels and heights. You could make two fairy homes connected by a toothpick bridge, or run a small fountain in the back to make a river that flows downstream while also watering the plants.
If you're making the planter box yourself you could even make small rooms inside glass containers and place them in the walls of the box. That way once you fill it with soil it will look like the fairy home extends deep into the soil as well.
Enjoy being creative and imagine how you would want your dream home to look like if you lived there. The more personal you make it, the more unique it will be.
3. Use the World Around You
You also have the option of using the nature surrounding your home as the perfect 'real-estate' spots.
It's a great way to spend time outside and look at everything in a whole new way. For example, rather than just seeing a tree with roots, you may notice that one root sticking out of the ground would make a perfect walkway. From there, place a door at the base of the tree and voila, you have started making a cute home.
Before making your first trip to purchase materials, look around. The moss nearby could make an excellent roof or mini garden. You can place flat stones to make a garden path or pile up dirt to create a structure to decorate.
You also can have fun by playing with the space and people's expectations. Why not place the door flat on the ground so it looks like the fairies live underground? Place doors, windows, and balconies up a tree to make a wondrous fairy utopia.
The more you use the natural resources around you, the more authentic your fairy garden will look and the cheaper it will be for you.
4. Add a Touch of Wonder With Lights
When it comes to using lights in your fairy garden there is only one important rule: Less is more.
While it may be tempting to scatter a string of fairy lights everywhere, it will likely over illuminate the space. This will distract from the decoration and time you've put into it.
To return to the previous examples, here's how you could use small lights to make a huge impact:
- Flower Pots - one light behind a window or out in the fairy garden is all it will take to make it look like a little life is living happily there
- Planter Box - try placing two lights in the home with another by the edge so it looks like someone has gone exploring. If you used the glass containers, they would be an excellent place to put a light as well
- Out in Nature - a small light in the tree, one hidden amongst the flowers, it won't take much to make it look like magic and life has come to your garden
5. Change With the Seasons
Once you've completed your fairy garden it may be a little sad that there's no more work to be done. Try creating small decorations or items to swap out as the season's change. Think flowers for spring, little pumpkins for fall. Now your fairy garden is a fun, ongoing project throughout the year.
Let Your Imagination Run Wild
Having fairy garden ideas shouldn't be frustrating at all. It should be an incredibly freeing and enjoyable process where the hours seem to fly by.
The worst thing you could do is try to copy someone else's garden because then it won't be personal to you and you'll just keep comparing it to the picture. By all means, follow their techniques for creating structures and items, but just remember to add your own personal style and taste.
If you're feeling inspired, we invite you to continue reading our blog for more expert tips.