Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Spring was in the air

 The weather for the last couple weeks has been really incredible, unseasonally warm and even so hot we had to put the air conditioning on...rare at this time of year in these parts...of course now we could use the heat back on it's so cold once again. While it was lovely I put the bathroom project on hold and focused on some outdoor projects. I stained the top of our deck with Austrailian timber oil in Jarrah Brown and painted the fascia white. I can't believe how much better it looks.

 I was able to get started on staining the fence white with Cabot's siding stain in case anyone wants to know what I used. It takes two coats..it looks so much better and as I had always invisioned.

 We had set up the settee and chairs we bought last year and I realized we weren't utilizing very much of this deck, so much was just wasted space. We had planned or I had planned for this deck to be a sun deck since it is the sunniest spot in the yard but we realized this is our main entertaining area because it is sunny and it is also private and we are drawn to this spot....I thought we should really maximize our seating so I ordered this sectional from Sears...I love it...it is very flexible and very confortable and now we can seat 8 comfortably...we just need some more warm weather so we can enjoy it again. We plan to run a gas line out to this deck for a fire bowl/pit that we will install here when we complete our backyard.
 This is my new sweet spot to lounge.
 I was digging through the garage to see what I could purge and to see what I could make over...I know this lantern looked like it could be trash but a little spray paint and it is as good as new...I just removed the glass scraped all the flaky rust off and gave it 2-3 coats of satin black...now it has a whole new life.
 I put the string lights on a timer this year...
 The dogs love the new sectional of course..this spot behind the garage at the back of our yard is such a cozy spot with the tree we had planted the birds just love it too, we have a couple of bird feeders and a little bird bath to encourage visitors.
 One more incredible lantern makeover...it looks brand new doesn't it? I think a wall of lanterns behind the sofa might be really fun.

We are thinking about the details for our backyard and I was so drawn to this pergola I found on Pinterest...after I saw it I stopped looking for designs...I want to have a pergola off our garage to create an outdoor bbq area and bar for hanging out. I would like a pull out rain cover to tuck under the pergola for rain and if shade is needed.

 Thinking about pergola's got me thinking about the pergola we built at our old home...it made such a huge difference to feel of the backyard, we loved it.
 I think this is the best option for our backyard design, it gives us everything we are looking for a firepit area with lots of seating, dining close to the house and a proper BBQ area with bar/counter seating. and lots of plantings. I use an app called Home outside palette .
 Enough about the outside because it is just too cold to even deal with that right now...bring on the heat spring.... I need to get back to finishing up Sophie's bathroom...I added the foot detail and lots of drawers but since I was doing all this spray painting in the garage I couldn't cut wood to start the door building...but I am ready to wrap it up now, today I will paint the face frame and kick plate and install the rest of the tile already...hopefully the doors will get started really soon.

 We are still deciding on the door style...I think just simple shaker is a safe choice.
So what have you been up to lately???

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