We love grilling dinners, eating outside, and just having a beer on a great patio. And now, we happen to have a GREAT patio! Once it warmed up we gave it some attention to make it extra pretty and inviting. Now it's perfect for relaxing outdoor dinners, as long as those damn gnats stay away from us. Thanks, Patio! [...anyone get my slightly obscure reference? anyone? take your guess in the comments and win extra cool points with me - don't get too excited here - Megan cool points are worth literally nothing]
So last I showed a glimpse of the patio, it was right after we got new gutters, and it looked like this:
TONS of potential, but kinda sad [granted, it was early early spring, so nothing was green and it was just kind of dead and blah]
And now, after a lot of cleaning, furniture buying, plant planting, light stringing, it looks like this:
!!!!!!!
I seriously love it. Probably should have swept up the extra leaves, and weeded the bed of rocks, but I'll just call it an 'approachable' yard. Nothing can be too perfect, eh?
I wanted to stay true to the late 60s/early 70s feel of the house [which Brandon and I just so happen to love anyway, so that worked] and have this eclectic, comfortable boho feel. Hence the sweet double-decker macrame plant hanger that belonged to my Grandma, and the fun acacia wood plant stands I found at an estate sale for $6 a pop [and after 4 coats of tung oil they were water resistant]
The lounge chairs are from Lowes, and they're just PERFECT, in my humble opinion. Beautiful and comfortable, just like me.
The tables are for resting your cold beer or a hand-squeezed margarita, and were a little DIY solution/substitution to a ceramic garden stool [which I love, but I don't love spending $100+ on a ceramic stool] I got these big planters on sale for $35 each, turned 'em upside down [with little rubber furniture protector tabs on the bottom so the glaze won't rub off on the concrete] and added a porcelain floor tile from Lowes [for a whole $1.68] on the top. Done and done. And if I change my mind [or if I find some really cool vintage wire tables somewhere] I can flip them back over and I have big planters! Which I love filling up with plants and stuff.
The ivy has greened up and filled out nicely since weather has warmed, so I love that little corner [and of course I have a dog stuck in there! I'm the crazy dog lady, remember?]
Separate from the lounging area, we have a nice little dining area, with a gorgeous handmade vessel holding - my favorite - succulents:
I'm excited to see these plants mature - the purple queen [in the bottom level of the hanging planter] will get really long, and there's rosemary in the white planter in the pick on the right, so that'll get taller [I think it should, anyway]
And looking to the right from the patio, into the weed-riddled rock bed, is a hillside full of this green grassy stuff that sprang up in April. Which it turns out, is all daylilies. And it is FULL of buds, ready to go any day:
I'll post updates as my yard explodes into color, and also, as the outside of the house changes - we're officially on the calendar to get the house repainted! I can't even describe the feeling of knowing that the view of the house will be significantly less yellow! Stay tuned!
