© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Front Porch Sources | 22 comments

We really like spending time out here. Eleanor and I start out most mornings by sitting on this side of the porch, watching neighbors and cars go by.

Some of the ferns are a little out of control…

But it makes the porch feel lush and green.

Tomorrow, I’ll post a design board with sources listed for everything.

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as The Front Porch as it is Now | 29 comments

And they are delicious.

I’d better get moving on the rest of my list though. I have less than two months to go and still 19 items to complete. Yikes. And here I thought I was making good progress…

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Homegrown Tomatoes | 41 comments

Except IKEA seems to have discontinued it.

But my local store still has some in stock! So now I’m planning to head out there today and buy a bunch. At first I thought I’d just want three. Then I thought I could get two more to put a couple of plants on. Then I was thinking that I should buy about ten of them because they’re discontinued and what if they don’t have them anymore and mine get ruined because they’re not really supposed to be outside or what if I find another use for them and then I can’t find them anymore!? Then I realized that that was hoarder mentality and I should not be so crazy. So I’m back down to five. I think.

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as FROSTA | 44 comments

My mom has two small children of her own, and they’re living on just her husband’s salary while she stays home with the kids (my very young brother and sister) and goes back to school to switch careers (she has always wanted to be a teacher). My mom and I both fell for gardening in the last couple of years, and she has turned her backyard from barren and weedy to something lush and beautiful. The only problem is that she doesn’t have a lot of extra money right now, and she only had two little chairs for her entire yard. I thought that the table and chairs and bench from our porch would look really cute in her yard, and in that way I’m able to share with her some of the opportunities that I’ve had through the blog.

I don’t know if my mom is going to paint the pink set (I told her to go ahead — my feelings will not be hurt), but doesn’t it look great in her yard? And I love that she added a cushion to the bench to tie it in with the chairs that she already had.

(Love you, mom.)

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Our Furniture in my Mom’s Backyard | 23 comments

I got as far as putting new benches on each end of the porch before stalling out and moving on to other projects. Summer is short though, and I want to finish so I’m back on the job! I think I just need to add a chair, a little side table or maybe a coffee table, plus plants. I’ve always liked this Soleil Lounge Chair, but I recently realized that I have a similarly shaped chair already. It was from Pier 1 (a long time ago). Here it is in a photo from a few years back:

I know it’s not an exact match, but it’s free. I’m considering spray painting it, though I don’t know what color. In white I think the lines of the chair would make it a decent substitute for the Soleil, but why limit myself to white? I mean, there’s always pink. Or yellow. Or green. Or…

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Substituting for the Soleil Chair | 20 comments

I feel like there’s more pressure to make the front of the house look nice because that’s the public part that everyone sees. I’ve been having fun experimenting with the garden in the back, adding and subtracting, moving and rearranging plants as I see fit. And it’s looking pretty cute back there!

But the front? Nope. The front has remained bare because I’m too afraid to put the wrong plants in. Yeah, well guess what I did.

I went to the nursery looking for some flowers and a bush. I got five astilbes (good choice!), but then I also got an Ivory Halo dogwood (wrong choice). The flowers are excellent in the shade, which is what the front of the house gets. The bush is supposed to be in full sun. I didn’t even look at the tag because we have three of the dogwoods in the backyard getting partial sun, and I thought I remembered them being OK in part sun to shade. Wrong. So now I’m not sure if I should move it (to where, I don’t know), or take my chances and hope it survives.

Oh, and the front of the house still looks pretty bare.

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Landscape the Front of the House | 40 comments

We were able to get four of the chairs through Craigslist (thanks to some helpful readers!), and we picked up the other four Urban chairs at IKEA. They’re working out nicely.

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Urban Chairs | 34 comments

roof
room
loom
loop
coop

In this case, it’s called linking two unrelated ideas together for a brief update. (Ba dum bum.)

Our new white roof is excellent. People were asking for photos, but there are none to share… We only replaced the flat roof on our home’s addition, which is not visible from below. It has made a huge immediate difference in the temperature of the second floor though! We’re so glad we went with white.

And the chicken coop? I’m still keen on the idea, but Brandon is most certainly not. Therefore we will not be adding chickens to our household. Maybe when Eleanor is older (maybe?), but definitely not in the near future.

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Roof :: Coop | 23 comments

Unfortunately they’re all on the pricey side. Sure I could spring for one, but what I really want is a whole grouping. I do already own a set of similar planters from CB2 though, seen in this photo from three years ago…

The problem? They tip over really easily. And maybe that’s a problem with the others too, but I think they look sturdier. Another problem? The white paint is flaking off and the planters have become chipped and rusted. That’s not such a problem though because that gives me the opportunity to go ahead and spray paint them guilt-free. They’re already less than perfect, so I can only improve them by painting them!

I’m thinking yellow.

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Modern Plant Stands | 24 comments