Making it Lovely

Category: Outside

  • Outdoor Dining Chair Options

    Outdoor Dining Chair Options

    Now that the weather has (mostly) warmed up, I’m eager to get to work outside. I’m still looking for a matching set of dining chairs for the backyard. I would love to own any of these, but buying eight of them would be pretty pricey:

    Here’s what we’ll likely end up with:

    I haven’t sat in the Blankö chair (my IKEA doesn’t have it yet), but Brandon and I both like the simple lines of it. I’ve considered the Urban chair before, but I always think it looks a little funny in person. Maybe out of the store and in the context of my garden it would look more stylish? They look sharp in this photo that ran in Blueprint:

    Which chair would you choose?

  • Elephant Plant Stand

    Elephant Plant Stand

    I’ve found another new version of a thrifted item that I have. This time it’s an elephant plant stand.* It’s a little kooky, no? Sometimes I like a little touch of the bizarre (or even a little ugly) in decor. It keeps things interesting!

    * I found a couple of other options here and here.

  • Evergreens Needed

    Evergreens Needed

    I took a photo of our snowy backyard this morning, and I’ve been using it to plan for some new additions. The garden has come a long way since we moved in three years ago (it was essentially a blank slate), but it is still lacking the year-round color and structure that evergreens would provide.

    Evergreens Needed

    I don’t know which evergreens to use, but at least I have an idea of where I want them to go. I love mountain laurel, but it’s not available here. Rhododendrons don’t grow well in my soil. Arborvitae, pine, yew, and juniper seem so common and boring, but I suppose that’s because they thrive in Chicago. I do like boxwood, but as someone warned me when I planted them, they are “going to bite it”. I didn’t heed the warning and indeed they aren’t doing so well (yet I want to add another?). I still have about two months before it will be warm enough to actually plant something, so I have a little time to figure something out.

  • Braxton Lighting

    Braxton Lighting

    We’re going to add lights to the front and back porches. Hooray, we’ll be able to see as we walk down the stairs! I’ve ordered a flushmount and sconce from Restoration Hardware’s Braxton Lighting Collection.

    Braxton Lights

    Look at what the electrician left us with in the kitchen though. Are there better looking light switches that go one above the other? There is not enough room for the standard side by side switches that I was expecting, and I would like something, you know, less ugly. The electrician said that he could replace the switches with white ones, and I suppose a new switch plate and some touch up paint will help. Still, I miss the simple standard switch that we used to have.

  • Garden Growth

    I could tell that the flowers in my garden had grown, but I hadn’t realized how much until I looked at a photo from last year. This is what they look like now:

    Our Yard

    This is the same area, last July:

    Another Little Garden

    A huge difference, no? And here now, from a different angle:

    Our Yard

    The area to the left of the egg chair is looking a little bare, but there are hydrangeas that just need to fill in. Any idea how long that will take? I’m thinking years and years. *Sigh.*

    Kinda Bare Here

  • Jolly Green Giants

    The giant green planters that I had originally bought to flank our front door have found their place on the patio. The first is over by the egg chair.

    Our Yard

    I love the way the garden is filling in over there, but I think I like it more for the potential I see. There are hydrangeas planted to the left of the chair, but you can’t even see them in the photo because they are so teeny tiny! They’ll be beautiful when they eventually fill in, but I have a feeling it’s going to take a looong time.

    The other planter is near the back stairs.

    Our Yard

    That area needs a little work. I want a boxwood in that white pot, and eventually we would like to close off the opening under the stairs with a gate (so we can still access the space for storage). It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time because it would look so much nicer, but next year it will be a safety issue when Eleanor plays in the yard.

    Anyway, don’t the planters look nice out on the patio? I’m almost glad they didn’t pan out for the front porch. Almost.