For the Fall 2021 One Room Challenge we are building a whole room — a greenhouse! And we will be racing the snow to get it done, too. I’ll let you in on the inspiration board as well as plans for my dream greenhouse — a place for starting seedlings, overwintering tender perennials, and extending our short Colorado growing season. Be sure to check in on all of the other ORC projects on the ORC blog here.

I have never been the person who squeaks in at the very last minute. But this is the first One Room Challenge where we have built the room from the ground up. If you are just joining me, this was a family project. My husband, Romano, is an architect. Last winter as I was planning our gardening projects for the spring, I mused a bit about having a greenhouse — and now it is a reality.

When we bought our house it had been empty for more than a year and neglected for much longer than that. The backyard was largely an expanse of weeds, a few neglected trees, and more weeds.

In the spring of 2020, at the start of the pandemic, my husband ordered a load of lumber. He figured we would do some home improvement projects while we were stuck at home. And since we also spent that summer without air conditioning (because COVID), we started making the back yard a more livable place. Between the summers of 2020 and 2021, we built a treehouse, a stage, and a pergola as well as dozens of garden beds — all in an effort to give our yard some structure and to create rooms within the large, flat space.

And so we end this season of building with The Greenhouse…

I have always been a little sad that our 1958 Atomic Ranch doesn’t have a butterfly roof, so we gave The Greenhouse a butterfly roof. It turned out to be an incredibly practical solution for two reasons: a central gutter to collect rain water, and very high ceilings for tall plants.

The siding is beetle-kill pine from the forests here in Colorado. We bought this lumber to use for our fence which we replaced last spring. When we purchased the lumber, we also bought some extra knowing we would have future projects to do. The lumber was rough-cut, however, so Romano had to plane every piece of siding for The Greenhouse. The boards are still fairly fresh and haven’t weathered yet — thus the vast variation in color. I want to stain The Greenhouse, but if we did it now, the stain wouldn’t take and cover evenly because the wood hasn’t weathered and dried. So we will do the staining next spring. Until then, it looks a bit like a log cabin — rather appropriate for Colorado, I suppose.

The South and East sides of The Greenhouse have coldframes — enclosed garden beds where I can garden year-round and begin seedlings for transplanting in the spring. I’m so excited to have this great gardening tool!

The Greenhouse Interior

Ok. Let’s go inside! The Greenhouse is 8 ft by 12 ft — a snug little space filled with light and greenery. The South end of The Greenhouse is the work station with a countertop, potting area, and propagation center.

The Potting Bench

One of the most important parts of The Greenhouse is the potting bench — a simple work area where I can prepare seeds, repot plants, and pot up the cuttings that I am growing. I wanted to replicate one of the most critical elements of my potting bench that’s outside — a sink. It’s not plumbed. There’s no need. But it’s the perfect arrangement!

This is an antique enamel sink from my favorite architectural salvage yard in Denver. When potting plants, I can place them in the sink, fill the pots, and any dirt which spills can be swept down the drain into the soil bin below — nothing is wasted!

Underneath the sink I have a trashcan filled with my favorite potting mix (equal parts manure and compost mixed with perlite — perfect for our dry climate). I also have smaller bins filled with horticultular grit and perlite as well as an empty bucket for miscellaneous tasks.

But the sink isn’t just for potting. It will be used daily for bottom watering plants. We live in Colorado where it is unbelievably dry. Bottom watering has proven to be the best way to keep my plants from drying out too quickly. I simply fill the sink with plants and plug the drain. Then I add 4 inches of water from the rain barrels. I leave the plants to soak up the water for anywhere from an hour to overnight. I leave a garden trug under the drain in case there are drips. I pull the plants out of the sink and either put a new batch in for a drink or drain the sink into the trug below. If there’s water left, I use it to water the plants on The Greenhouse floor. Water is too precious to waste!

The Backsplash

Most of the materials we used in The Greenhouse are very utilitarian and inexpensive. The walls are highly insulated with two layers of insulation, but they are covered in OSB painted white which is a little rough. That’s fine! This is really just a fancy shed, afterall. But I wanted something special as a backsplash above the work surface.

Using some materials I already had, I created a backsplash utilizing a technique called “sunprinting.” One of the first means of photography, sunprinting uses chemicals which react when exposed to the sun. I painted the sunprinting solution on strips of plywood. Then I arranged leaves and flowers from my garden on top, wrapped the whole thing in cling film to keep the plants from blowing away, and exposed it to the sun for a few hours. There’s a rinsing step that follows, and I let it dry. Then voila! I had a beautiful sunprinted backsplash!

I used the same technique with a different solution to create some smaller pieces which I used to mount my hand tools to the wall, too.

The backsplash runs around the three walls of The Greenhouse’s South end.

I used the same sunprinting technique on the top of a flower press which I made to keep in The Greenhouse. I have a full tutorial for how to make a flower press as well as how to do sunprinting on wood or on fabric, too. The backsplash in The Greenhouse uses the same sunprinting principles — just on a much larger scale!

Heat & Water

The North end of The Greenhouse holds two rain barrels which collect water and melting snow from the roof so that I can water plants inside without having to run a hose in the winter. The Greenhouse is at the far end of the yard, so running water out here isn’t easy. Occasionally, I will probably need to run a hose out and top off the rain barrels, but that’s work for a warm day. When it is cold, the stored water will be warmer and will add to the building’s thermal mass helping to keep The Greenhouse warmer, too.

The floor is composed of five inches of gravel — just some of the 5 tons of gravel we hauled during this construction process. The gravel serves two purposes: it absorbs heat during the day and radiates that heat out into the room again at night helping to keep The Greenhouse warmer during the winter. And it also is a permeable floor which allows me to water plants directly on the floor without worrying about protecting a precious surface.

I have a collection of plants overwintering on the floor of The Greenhouse including my agapanthus and a huge geranium from which I am growing cuttings for next summer. Embedded in the South and East walls are seven 55-gallon steel barrels. Each is filled with water, and through those openings they sit half inside the cold frames and half inside The Greenhouse. These barrels will act as a heat sink or a solar battery — warming during the day and then helping to keep the ambient temperature higher at night. Our hope is that once the barrels warm up sufficiently, we won’t need to heat The Greenhouse except on very cold nights. This is a big science experiment, and I’ll let you know how that goes!

The Shelves & Up

The shelves run around the entire room at two heights. They are simple pieces of lumber. I painted the edge green for some contrast. There’s nothing precious about them, though, so if a plant has a wet bottom, it’s not going to ruin anything. They are wide enough, too, that they will hold seed trays when the time comes to start seedlings for spring.

Not only does the butterfly roof provide an easy way to collect rain water, it also gives great height at both ends of the building. So plants have a lot of room to grow on the upper shelves, particularly. And I have room for at least six hanging baskets — all without anyone having to worry about hitting their heads!

The Desk

It may seem a little silly to have a work area in The Greenhouse, but actually I am looking forward to being able to work in the sunshine on cold days. With a clear roof, The Greenhouse will be the perfect source of Vitamin D even on the coldest days, and we have 300 days of sunshine here in Colorado, so I expect to enjoy working here quite a bit.

The desk and chair together cost $40 on the Facebook Marketplace, and it is exactly the right size. I love the lift-up top, too, which will keep all of my supplies clean and dry when I am not using them. I’ve outfitted it with basics for journaling, letter writing, and watercoloring — three of my favorite things to do!

Vintage Accessories

If you’ve followed me for long, you know I love to use vintage accessories. They are less expensive, stylish, and they already exist — so they are more eco-friendly. I didn’t have to shop much for The Greenhouse, frankly. My plants do most of the work, and I shopped my house quite a bit, too. But I did buy a few key items for this special spot.

To store my seeds, I found a vintage makeup case which holds them perfectly. I have moved my collection of vintage bottles the The Greenhouse which work beautifully for rooting cuttings — and catching the afternoon light. And I found an incredible architectural element from an old building at the salvage yard which now holds a gorgeous fern.

Is it done?

The short answer is: no. As for so many others, the supply chain has been a problem and has made finishing The Greenhouse harder. Eventually there will be a layer of polycarbonate panels under the roofing, and the windows — which my husband made himself — will be double-glazed. But the polycarbonate panels have been hard to come by, and we were lucky to get enough to finish out the windows. Additionally, we need to make a cover for the round vents near the roof — also from polycarbonate. There are some finishing details inside which are also delayed and can’t be done until the polycarbonate is installed.

Additionally, as I said before, next spring we will stain The Greenhouse once all of the wood has weathered evenly.

Having said that, The Greenhouse is snug and secure. It is functional and beautiful. And it represents a huge amount of work in a very short time — a labor of love. And we did it ALL ourselves including building the windows and doors, milling the timber — everything except hauling about half of the gravel. We hired two guys to come and finish the gravel work, because we were afraid we would never finish it otherwise. They were fast and efficient, and I’m so thankful they were available! Eventually all of the paths in our garden will be the same pea gravel which I absolutely love.

I installed solar-powered cafe lights inside The Greenhouse. They provide enough light to putter in the evenings, but they also make the entire building glow — like a lantern at the end of our yard.

This project could not have happened without the tireless work of my whole family. My 10 year-old knows a lot more than your average child about DIY and construction — whether he wants to or not. And my husband has done nothing but work on this gift for the last two months. He is both talented and generous, and I’m so very blessed. Thank you both! I love you so much!

To Linda Weinstein, the creator of the One Room Challenge, I offer my most sincere thanks. Thank you for offering this kind of opportunity and for opening it up to anyone. And to Better Homes and Gardens, the ORC media sponsor: thank you for making this possible! And to all of the other ORC participants: I’ll be sure to stop by to admire your work! It is always fun to do this together!

To my sponsors: O’Toole’s Garden Centers here in Colorado and Owl & Ember, the cutest little store on Etsy — thank you for placing your faith in me.

And now we will rest. Phew! Be sure to follow along on Instagram for updates as the seasons change. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to my newsletter below so the weekly updates will pop right into your inbox.

Thanks for your kind support week after week. Your comments and notes of encouragement are so meaningful — and so appreciated.

Cheers!
Angela

Thanks to my sponsors for this project!

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@MidModernMama

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