Outdoor living

Hey hey! Hope you had a WONDERFUL holiday weekend! You can tell summer is approaching in this household – it’s getting harder and harder for us to get up in the mornings and my posts are getting later and later. ;)

This weekend was just gorgeous and I’m just so thrilled to have nice weather again! I worked on the deck and patio quite a bit this weekend -- moving things around, planting and working on little projects here and there. Loved it.

I got a bug to move some of the outdoor furniture around the other night and I love how it came together. I’ve mentioned before that I rarely move furniture around inside because our house layout just doesn’t allow for much of it. But it was so fun to tackle the outside – we’ve had it the same way for nine years now.

First of all, let’s have a moment of silence for our beautiful gazebo that used to be on the deck:

Sniff. It was so darn pretty.

Then this happened:

We got that dissembled last year and then things got boring. :)

We left the furniture over there with the fire pit and it’s been like that since early last year. We didn’t want to replace the gazebo just yet because I’m afraid the same will happen again. I’d like to do something more permanent like a pergola, but we’ll leave it as is until we figure out what we’re doing with possibly expanding the house.

So. This is how it looked Saturday morning:

Not bad! I was just craving a change. I’ve always wanted to move that table over where the gazebo used to be but never did since we liked having the seating area under there.

We built the deck in three sections that are on different levels – not sure I would do that again. But it does add some interest and makes the areas feel like different “rooms.” Since we don’t have any structures to work around now, I went for it and moved the table and chairs over to that bigger area and I LOVE it:

The old rug used to be red and white and now it is just…beige. ;) It didn’t hold up well so I grabbed a new one at Lowe’s. It’s a bit boring but I looked at Garden Ridge, Lowe’s and Home Depot and didn’t see a great selection of outdoor rugs this year. I figure it’s a good backdrop for more color anyway:

I LOVE having all that space around the table! Oh my goodness. The kids always play around the table and it always worried me in that middle spot before – with the chairs pulled out there wasn’t much room to walk around it.

Now I’m considering moving my DIY potting bench over next to the table since we use that to serve food and drinks at parties. I think it may work better up there and there’s plenty of room.

I was just going to move the furniture that was over where the table is now over to the middle section, but remembered the whole thing could make a big sectional. We never had it as one sofa under the gazebo – I realized it would be a perfect fit on the patio if I put it back together:

There’s still so much I want to do out here! Beyond some new plants and small projects I want to sand down that tabletop and restain it – the sun has not been kind. (You can see how I made that table here.)

But I really dig that sectional there – it’s a perfect fit!

I moved the sofa that was down on the patio up to the middle section on the deck with the fire pit:

It works so much better. I don’t worry about the kids now – especially over by the wide stairs going down to the patio.

Here’s a better look at the different levels on the deck:

I feel like this layout is so much more conducive to socializing and it flows much better out to the patio:

Every time we are out on the deck or patio one of us says how much we love it out there. We are so lucky to have this little peaceful oasis for our family.

It’s ready for summer and so am I!:

I think moving furniture around (inside or out!) is the cheapest way to make a space feel brand new. Do you have outdoor spaces that you’re prepping for the summer? Is it finally warming up where you are?

I shared my favorite “staycation” spot over at my friend Kate’s blog last week – can you guess where it is? ;)

Tour of our garden

Happy Memorial Day! How has your weekend been so far? We’ve had a great one and I’m looking forward to more of the same today. I’m hoping to get my vegetable garden planted if the rain holds off – I’m planting late this year so I hope it does well this year!

Speaking of gardens, I have to tell you, I’m SO excited about our backyard right now. We’ve had a ton of rain, the temps have been really mild and the plants are just BOOMING. I love this time of year – I actually love taking the dog out because I’ll take a walk around the backyard to see the progress of the plants. ;)

The older I get the more I truly love gardening, I just have so much to learn. The potential in our backyard gets me excited -- I pour over magazines with gorgeous gardens, trying to figure out what to do with ours. Part of me wants it done right now so we can just enjoy it, the other part of me is excited to do it bit by bit and watch it grow slowly. The latter wins out, mostly because of the pocket book, but I also like to take it slow and enjoy the process.

I thought I’d share how it looks now and hopefully by the end of the summer we’ll see some progress! :)

Our backyard is NOT big – we are in a suburban neighborhood where most of the yards are huge, but we chose a lot that backs up against a field, creek and some woods and the trade off was a small yard. Now before the deck and patio were installed it wasn’t bad as far as size really – it just has such a deep pitch to it, it wasn’t much fun to use just as a yard.

All of the changes we’ve made have made it smaller but much more usable. Does that make sense? We love it -- I would not change this spot for the world!

A couple of years ago we added the patio in the backyard, so we have very little actual grass left back there, compared to how it used to look. But it always cracks me up that our backyard is where the kids on the street come to play so often and they love it – even without a lot of grass and tons of space to run.

Anyway, the tour! I’ve got lost of pics so bear with me! We’ll start around the side of the house and move around the back. Welcome to my backyard! :)

I think this is one of my favorite shots of the back – I just love this view:

You can see my vegetable garden tucked in on the side there (I think I may move it over a bit next year but for now it’s staying). Next to that is my limelight hydrangea that still. won’t. bloom. It is bigger than ever, but no sign of flowers still. Grrrr.

The line of burning bushes on the left wrap around two trees – maples I think? They were actually planted in the front of the house and were growing all umpa-loompaish. Tall but spindly and lots of leaves at the top, but not growing out. We replaced them and replanted them on the side of the house about seven years ago. I babied them for a year or two and now they are HUGE. They still aren’t wide but for being so young they are SO tall now. I love them.

I love the bushes wrapping around the trees and the simplicity of it, but I want to bring in some more color there too. I’m coming up with a plan to add something else, just not sure what all will be there yet.

On the right past the deck stairs is one of my peony plants – I’ve been on “bloom watch” for weeks. Every morning I go out to see if today is the day and…NO. Seriously, slowest dang flowers EVER:

They are so close now though, I think tomorrow may be the day! (I say that every day.)

This area gets morning sun and I’m guessing the peony loves it because this one in particular is doing great.

Remember my hydrangea drama last year? Well, the plants I moved did much better last year, just not fantastic. I trimmed the stalks down last week (just the dead wood) and they are busting out now! One even has blooms on it…I have hope people!:

They are loving all the rain lately – I’ve only had to water them once so far this year.

Just past the hydrangea is my awesome knock out Knockout Rose bush. ;) This one in particular is doing SO well:

Again, morning sun, a bit of afternoon sun and it loves it. I’ve had this one for years and moved it to this spot a couple years ago and it’s doing fantastic:

If you don’t have a green thumb I highly recommend these knock out roses – they are so easy to grow. I do very little and they thrive. I don’t even trim them – are you supposed to? This one hasn’t ever been touched and it’s blooming like mad.

Across from that bush are a couple arborvitaes we had planted for some privacy:

Again, we’re in a neighborhood, so we wanted some “natural” screens. I do have to say though, I LOVE all of the backyards down the street on our side. Nobody has even put up fences because it’s so private and beautiful back there. I love love LOVE our backyard.

Straight ahead is an area I’m totally stoked about – a little spot where we had all the brush cleared away last year:

It’s a mess right now, we still need to mulch it all again and get the hammock put back in (the base is there) – but someday it will be an amazing little shade garden. It could be so cool and I’ve been dreaming it up for years now. I’m kind of obsessed with hostas so I’ve already put two back there, and I plan to add a bunch more.

I don’t know if the hammock will stay or not – I can’t decide if I want that there, or chairs, or a big umbrella or what. Things get…ahem…dirty back there, so I need something easy to clean.

If you turn around you’ll see the back of the fireplace, and I have grand ideas in my head for this area too:

For now there’s my pee gee hydrangea trees, which I love. I got the tiny little boxwoods for like a buck on clearance a couple years ago, and for boxwood standards they’re growing pretty fast. I do want something more substantial there though, so those may move. The tree rose in the middle did great for a couple of years and now it’s almost toast. I have realized I’m not good with a rose that requires much care. ;)

I’m also determined to get some natural coverage going on the back of the fireplace – I planted some ivy and a climbing hydrangea last year and both did nothing. Now they’re both taking off, finally!:

I wondered if the ivy would even grow, with all the morning sun, but it’s doing great now! It’s grown more in a month than it has all of last summer.

One thing I love SO much about the back is all of the huge rocks and pavers we had installed:

They put them in in a really organic way – not perfect, no equal spacing, and I love how they look. I also love the moss that grows on some of them. :)

The back of the patio is looking kind of sad. I got a few more hydrangea last year and they did pretty great at first, but they are slooooow going this year:

I think the one on the left is a goner. I’ve not had a ton of luck with them but I’ve never killed one, till now. :) We planted a version of a birch on the left last year hoping to give those guys some afternoon shade, but the “tree” is still very much a bush – waiting for that one to move upward.

We’re planting a few river birch back here soon and that back area is where I really want one for some shade on the patio.

Here’s another shot as you keep going around, I love the stones as a walkway:

I was a little concerned they would be slick when wet but they aren’t bad at all.

We also had big ones installed as steps off the patio:

And when I say “we” I mean our brilliant landscaper friend who had the idea. ;) He did the patio and hardscaping for us a couple of years ago.

Here’s that same spot from the patio – I’m DYING to get some kind of arbor for over this space:

Wouldn’t that be amazing?

To the side of that area are a couple more peonies:

These aren’t doing nearly as well as the other one. I’m guessing the hot afternoon sun is too much? I don’t know, I thought they loved sun! These only have a few small blooms so far so you know it will be August before they bloom. ;) For real – but everything is blooming late this year here.

Around that corner are three more knock outs:

I just planted them last year so they are small, but doing great.

I planted a few new annuals on the patio and deck already in preparation for the Home Depot shoot – these were just a hanging mixture from HD and they are taking off:

And I can’t remember what these plants are by the fireplace, but they are awesome!:

I thought they were annuals when I planted them last year but they are actually perennials – they lasted all winter. Any idea what these are?

I want to get more to plant in the landscaping:

This spot gets sun all day long so they are great for a sunny yard! I love all the colors in there – I’m going with a red, yellow and a little bit of purple theme on the patio (stealing it from the pillows) and they fit in perfectly. ;)

So there you go, a tour of our garden as it is now. I have grand plans for the space – I want it to be lush and English garden feeling, but not too busy. I think coming up with a plan for the outdoors takes as much finesse as decorating the inside, don’t you think? It takes time and some thought for sure!

What do you have growing that you love? I’m looking for lower ground cover and taller plants as well. I’d love some more color too!

A pumpkin wreath (on the patio)

Heya! I’m back today for the next par-tay in our fall link up series:

Today we’re linking up fall outdoor decor over at Rhoda’s place (Southern Hospitality).

Last year I shared how I dress up the front of our house this time of year:

This year I wanted to do something for the back of our house – we had an AWESOME patio put in off our deck last summer and we are thoroughly enjoying it. The best part of the whole backyard is the stone fireplace we had installed.

I wanted to create a wreath I could hang on the fireplace – but it had to be able to handle the elements. Cause let’s be honest…I never take the outdoor stuff in. Like…ever.

I use the fake pumpkins from Hob Lob in our window boxes every year, and they hold up year after year. So I figured I’d start there. I had a stick wreath (from Hobby Lobby…of course. You know by now all this stuff comes from there.):

I just started sticking in faux pumpkins. A few bigger ones first:

And then some smaller ones around those:

These all have a wire pic that comes out of the bottom of them, so I just stuck that into the wreath. NO GLUE baby. If the pic stuck out in the back I just bent it back into the wreath. Make sense?

I had most of the pumpkins already, but I did pick up some beady stuff (again, are you surprised??) on sale. They were in big bunches, so I took them apart:

And filled in between the pumpkins:

Three of the beady bunches (say that three times fast) were plenty for this size wreath.

It still needed some FLUFF, so I grabbed some feather jobbies as well (all this stuff is 40 percent off ALL the time at HL):

I had them in gold and brown and used both colors – I just snipped each one off the pic and stuck them in here and there:

And because I could NOT resist them…I added just a couple little butterfly pics too:

They matched too well not to. I tried to resist the butterfly cuteness but they won out. :)

It took about 20 minutes to stick everything in (no glue helps to speed things along), and I was THRILLED with how it came out:

I rigged it up around the top of the fireplace with some jute twine – I tried one of those sticky wall hooks but it didn’t stay up for two seconds on that stone. The addition of the feathering things may make it a little less weatherproof – but I SWEAR I’ll bring it in when it rains. I love it that much. ;)

It is the perfect fall addition to the patio!:

We spend more time out here in the fall than any other time of the year – for two reasons. 1. Summer is too hot for fires. ;) 2. Mosquitoes LOVE ME. I can’t even be outside after sunset or I’m eaten alive. Uck.

I added some mums for some more pops of color, but didn’t have any extra planters. So I hid the cheapy plastic pots with some burlapy fabric I had:

I just tore off a strip and wrapped some twine around it to keep it on there. I wanted those cute wood planters some of the mums come in, but the stinkin’ mums are more than DOUBLE the cost just for those simple little planters with them. Nah way.

Last year I had big mums in the pots, but the plants I put in there earlier this summer are doing so well I will leave them:

I have no idea what they are, but they grow big and full – love them! The petunias survived our drought summer -- the twisty evergreen trees I planted in the spring did not. :)

The placemat pillows have been out constantly for the past year (even some of the winter…told you I don’t take stuff in) and other than being a little faded, they are doing quite well!:

The patio is ready for plenty of crisp fall evenings – around here they usually consist of a fire, some wine, maybe some marshmallows and a barking (but adorable) dog:

When are you heading over? Bring an extra blanket and you’ll be set. ;)

Can’t wait to see all the outdoor spaces over at Rhoda’s!

Don’t forget the Show Us Your House shindig will be this Monday, the 24th (I moved it back this month.) This month’s space is basements, rec rooms, playrooms – anywhere you relax and have fun!

We’ll be back with a couple more fall posts to finish up this series next week!

Coral summer tablescape

**This giveaway and comments are now closed! Winners have been contacted via email.

Hello there! How are ya?

Well, it’s July, and I gotta be honest, usually July means I start thinking of the f.a.l.l. word. But the older I get, the more I try to embrace summer. I’m starting to dig it. When it’s not 105 degrees. ;)

We do have at least a few more weeks of summer, and I’m determined to bear hug it and make the most of it! (And then I can think about fall.)

The lovely folks at Target are helping me (and a few of you) to keep celebrating summer with their FUN coral stripe outdoor dinnerware. They sent me a set so I could create a summer-inspired vignette, and I gotta tell you…it was FUN.

I don’t often create tablescapes and it was a treat to take these bright colors and do something pretty and summery with them!

I set up a little coral shindig on our outdoor DIY table I showed you last summer. It sits under the pergola on our deck and we often find ourselves sitting on the carpet out there at the table.

I tried to use what I already had to create this vignette (other than flowers!) and I luuuuurve how it turned out! I started with my rattan chargers and added the plates, bowls and cups from Target:

The idea of sitting down to tea has always sounded so lovely to me, but I don’t like tea, darn it. Same goes with coffee by the way – a morning cup of Joe sounds so nice and relaxing, but I don’t like that either. ;)

So I created our own little (pink) lemonade party. I found a yummy recipe in one of the Bub’s Mickey Mouse books of all places! It called for maraschino cherries and juice and it. is. yummy!

It doesn’t hurt that the colors worked pretty darn perfectly with the dishes. I used the dip bowls for sugar, lemon slices and extra cherries:

 

I’ve been looking ALL summer for a beverage dispenser with a handle – and there. you. go. I love this one – beyond the handy handle (har), it’s sturdy and the spout actually works.

I dressed up the table with one of my favorite flowers, gerbera daises, and simple babies breath in my mason jars:

Babies breath all by itself is SO beautiful!

Altogether it made for a lovely, intimate little table setting that I LOVE!:

Isn’t that so perfect for summer? I had so much fun doing this!

It is so totally girly and bright and pretty!:

      

In celebration of Target’s Big Honkin’ Summer campaign, they are offering THREE of you the coral themed items for your own summer party! Three lucky chicks (or dudes?) will receive all of these outdoor items in a coral theme:

- Beverage dispenser with coral stripes
- Coral stripe dinner plate (4) 
- Coral stripe cereal bowl (4) 
- Coral Stripe tumblers (4) 
- Coral dip bowls with bamboo serving tray

WHOO! How cool is that?

All you have to do is leave a comment here. Easy peasy. :) What’s your favorite part of summer?

*Remember if you comment anonymously or you have a private blog, please include your email address, and spell it out with “at” and “dot” to avoid any spammy emails coming your way.

This giveaway is open to US residents only and will be open for a week – till Friday July 13 (oooooohh!) at noon EST.