The Clever Way Galey Alix Turned Her Backyard Clippings Into Interior Artwork

Creating your own artwork for your house is the key to affordable décor. Finding inexpensive art can be challenging when you want to display multiple pieces in various sizes. However, DIYing artwork and using what you have around your house can add a personal touch and save you money. In an HGTV TikTok video, Wall Street executive and DIY designer Galey Alix uses items in her backyard during one of her weekend DIY renovation projects. She frames backyard clippings and hangs them in the home she's renovating for a family. The artwork she makes is something you'd see at Home Goods. It's beautifully crafted and looks luxurious in the finished renovated living room.

Instead of buying expensive framed artwork, touch into your creative side and make something you want to see every day around your home. You don't have to be highly crafty or a professional artist; putting together a few evergreen plants in a picture frame can transform your space's ambiance. Here's how Alix used her backyard clippings to bring a piece of her home into someone else's.

DIY designer Galey Alix renovates homes only on weekends, where she makes significant changes, turning a dull dwelling into a luxurious abode. She stars in HGTV's "Home in a Heartbeat," which showcases all of the work Alix and her team gets done over three days. During the first season's episode, "Dallas Place," Alix helps renovate a couple's home where their kids have taken over the living room and dining room with their toys. She creates a space that everyone can enjoy. Moreover, Alix adds a special touch to their living room by making pressed plant artwork. In HGTV's TikTok snippet, she says, "The artwork in here was free. It's from my backyard, so they were cut with love." She took backyard clippings, pressed them, and framed them with a white background and gold frames.

Alix hung six frames above the couch, consisting of similar elements, such as leaves and pampas grass. She made two rows of three frames that perfectly fit the space on the large wall behind the couch. They tie the whole room together because, without them, the wall would be bare or other artwork displayed wouldn't give the room a special feel. You can replicate Alix's plant artwork or design something different.

If you're DIY savvy and have pressed plants or flowers before, this will be a breeze for you. However, this is a great beginner's project if you're new to framing or working with plants. You'll need flowers or leaves, a flower press, and frames to replicate Galey Alix's interior artwork with backyard clippings. This project does take about three to four weeks to complete.

Start by picking out the flowers or leaves you want to display in your room. In one of Alix's Instagram posts, she suggests cutting your flowers and leaves around mid-morning after the dew has dissipated. You want the plants to be fresh but dry. After picking the flowers, ensure they're extremely dry before pressing them. Once dry, sporadically place them in the flower press, set them between two heavy books, and place an extra weight on top. Leave the flower press alone for three to four weeks in a dry area, then remove the plants from the press. Finally, put your pressed flowers or leaves in the frame and hang them on the wall.

Alix offers a few extra tips in her post, too. She suggests putting your leaves in a sealable bag and in the fridge to keep them fresh and clean if they're not ready to be pressed after you clip them. Also, it's crucial to separate the greenery a few inches apart to prevent them from overlapping and getting stuck permanently together in the press.