We were at the second hand furniture store the other day, and saw this coffee table. We have been in the market for a new coffee table anyway, so for the right price, I thought it might be cool to use the inside of the table as a little humid zone for some of my tropical plants. Not really a terrarium, but a little plant closet.
I didnt love the finish on the wood, but figured maybe I could sand it down and refinish it.
The lovely surprise came when I sanded through the old finish and discovered that it was solid mahogany! Must have been an expensive table when it was new. I love mahogany, so my goal was to try brightening the finish up to show off the wood grain a bit more than before.
The first stain I used looked…ok. but in the wrong light it looked quite red, which I didnt love. so I started over again with some mahogany stain, and shelled out a few extra $$ for marine varnish to give a nice gloss.
So shiny!
I threw the glass back in place, and set the table up in-situ. For lighting I had some LED strip lights laying around that I wrapped around the lid of the table (the top door hinges up like a treasure chest).
I also wanted to protect the base wood from rotting from the moisture, so I poured like a full liter of epoxy resin into the base of the table to create a watertight floor. It didnt look very nice but it’ll all get covered over by some kind of substrate. I still wasnt sure at this point what my plans were in terms of planting — whether to keep things in pots, or try to actually plant things into soil. (btw in the second to last photo in the next album you can see the vertical terrarium in the background)
After trying out placing pots into the table, I received the comment that it looked ‘like a display case at a shop‘ which was pretty accurate.
Thus - terrarium. I started with a layer of kitty litter to act as a kind of clay-absorbent base level (and accidentally it turned into a pretty sweet Zen garden for a bit), and then spread coco-peat above in a thin layer. After that, I planted a few orchids and a nepenthes. It looked alright. A bit empty and like a tarantula enclosure at a zoo or something. But I still wasn’t totally happy. On the plus side, the lighting was amazing, and it became an incredible centerpiece to the living room.
I did a bit of orchid shopping and the terrarium started filling out a bit, but I still wasnt sure about the coco-peat look.
Seeing as how the vertical clearance of the table is quite low, I was thinking of focusing on orchids, especially miniature orchids. So already at this point the project was veering towards a more specific goal, which would involve a major redesign.
Oh also at this point there was persistent condensation on the glass tabletop, which I felt would lead to fungus and mold and all that stuff before long, so I robbed a few PC fans from another terrarium to throw in there to get some air circulation. They don’t look very nice, so at some point I’ll get some smaller ones or redesign it somehow to hide them a bit.
I went to a orchid grower not so far from my house, and showed him pictures of the terrarium in its current state. He recommended I ditch the coco-peat as over time it would become water logged and the orchids would slowly die back being planted in it.
I therefore took a more ‘epiphytic’ approach to the terrarium, using up my stock of cork bark pieces and sphagnum moss to get everything up off the ground as much as possible.
From now on, I’m keeping my eye out for any interestingly shaped branches in the forest when I go for walks, as I want a bit more ‘branchy-ness’.
I also bought way more orchids than I should. But they were so cuuuute!
At this point in late 2024, I was much more happy with the way it looked. I think a ‘Mini orchid landscape’ works perfectly with the limitations of space. It will definitely take some time to grow in, and I am still unsure if I will add more (actually, I already know myself well enough to say that I definitely will add more). Also I havent decided on moss. I’ll leave it moss-free for the time being, but I do wonder if it would look nice with a carpet of moss between everything. we shall see. Also, one of the Bulbophyllum orchids bloomed!
For those interested - here is a list so far of the species inside:
Ornithidium sophrontes
Coelogyne wenzelii
Epidendrum porpax
Restrepia trichoglossa
Aerangis sp.
Catteleya ‘Andean Moon’
A couple Phaelenopsis
Bulbophyllums that I forgot to write down the species…