A Warm Welcome

After a few weeks of waiting out Mother Nature, I was finally able to get painting and staining the front porch checked off my list. When we last visited the porch as a whole, it looked like this:

What a snoozer, huh??

The floor needed re-staining to prevent it from getting any worse (it's already pretty bad), and all the white parts needed to be scrubbed, primed, and repainted also in order to preserve against chipping paint and future wood rot.

The previous light was no gem either.  It was actually worse than I expected- completely rusted out when I went to take it down.

I have to say, the new view UP is my favorite part.  A new light blue ceiling with the existing trim pieces painted out in white make it feel like a much more special space than the gray box it was before.  (Not to mention the new light that I can't stop making googly eyes at)

For the floor, I chose a reddish brown to match some remnants of stain that I think the porch use to be a few decades ago (probably the last time anyone stained it).

In addition to the painted chairs and table, the mailbox also got a shot of spraypaint.

You may notice that the floor is now rather close in color to the front door, and you know me well enough by now to realize this won't stay for long.  Sea Glass Green (the middle one) is totally happening in the next few days.

So what do you think of my cute little porch revamp?  So much more warm and welcoming now!

Patio Sanctuary

My garden is happy.  When my garden's happy, I'm happy.

I'm still on the hunt for the right bench to add some needed lounging space, but mulching, planting, pruning, and trimming is all done!!

It may be a tiny yard, but it meets and exceeds our current yard needs (and it was the first thing we fell in love with when we saw the house!)

After 3 summers of moving around plants, adding and subtracting plants, and generally making the landscape work for us, I couldn't be happier!

The 'planted' pots by the fence are our herb garden.  It's directly in line with our kitchen/back door (easy access for cooking) and the pots serve to chorale the more invasive herbs, plus they look cool in my opinion.

The yard has totally become my little sanctuary.  I wish you could hear the birds chirping- it's so peaceful.

Where's your happy place?

Patio Mission

I'll admit, I'm kind of at a loss about what to write today.  I have several project in progress, but no finished results to show yet.  The yard is being cleaned out and mulched, the porch will be getting paint in the very near future, chalkboard spray paint is being sprayed, and I've been spending a lot of time on Craiglist. I always pop onto Craigslist to look for cheap treasures, but currently, I'm on a mission.

Craigslist Mission- Find a bench for the pack patio.

Our back yard is all patio and gardens.  We have a table and chairs and a grill (which escaped the instagram shot below- its just outside the frame on the right).  We had old wicker chairs there previously, but they disintegrated this year after spending the winter outside.

Lately I've been thinking that with the English garden feel of the space, a nice bench in front of the giant hydrangea would look amazing.  So I've been scouring Craigslist and not quite finding what I want.

I love this one, but Hubby doesn't.  It also might be a bit too much.

I keep toying with the idea of buying a bench like this

or this

and painting it to protect it from the elements, but I just can't bring myself to put such a gorgeous piece of furniture outside.  Plus everything seems to be about an hour away.

What I really want is a teak(ish) bench made for outside that has some design interest too it.  How dare Craigslist not have exactly what I want when I want it! #firstwordproblems

It's been less than a week hunting on Craigslist, but I'm about to ragequit and drop just a little bit more money to get something new at HomeGoods.  I'm going to try and hold off on my impatience and give Craigslist another chance.

Have you had any Craigslist luck lately?