Tag: Outside

Decorating for a Cute and Casual Backyard Party

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I was in charge of decorating for a party this past weekend. (Friends! Family! Put me in charge of these things — I love it.) It was a casual get together, but we still wanted to make the space cute.

I got everything we needed from Target, mixing it in with everyday white plates, silverware, and glass tumblers. Once the basics are covered, I think of decorating for a party (especially one without a strict theme) the same way I would for any room, in terms of pattern, color, and texture.

Pattern

The main pattern came in through the rope-print tablecloth and coordinating napkins. From there, I added a couple of substantial vases in stripes and zigzags, and even a patterned pillow that you’ll see a few pictures down.

Tablecloth • Napkins • Wooden Bowl

Color

The tablecloth had a white background with a pattern in navy that was so dark it almost looked black. It covered a table with a weathered gray fence behind it, and we used simple dishes on the table, so to bring in a little more color, I picked up a fun set of triangular serving dishes. A black and white vase with a green top matched one of the dishes, along with the green striped paper straws. A coral candle matched another, and then I hung two strands of colorful raffia tassels along the top of the fence.

Wooden Footed Bowl • Geometric Vase • Striped Vase • Serving Bowl • Candle • Wooden Candle Holder

Rattan Chair • Rattan Stool • Panama Hat • Shirt Dress • Cheese Board • Triangle Serving Dishes

Ignore the crazy hair under my hat. Right now it’s at the baby bangs and borderline mullet growing-it-out phase. (A haircut has been scheduled for next week. Grow it out? Keep it short? Ah, the perpetual struggle of the pixie cut. Hence, the hat!)

Texture

We needed extra seating, so I brought this rattan chair and matching stool outside. The shape and details are great, and they were nice and sturdy — heavier than I expected!

Rattan Chair • Rattan Stool • Black and White Pillow

The rattan was repeated in a tray that corralled drinks, and I also brought in some natural wood with turned candleholders and a footed decorative bowl. (Note that the bowl is not food safe. I placed a plate inside to use it for serving.) Wood and rattan are contrasted with smooth ceramic dishes, serving trays, and a white pitcher, and then the vases added even more depth with matte finishes and details. Plants and flowers are always a must, and of course the tassels in the background were a nice way to bring in even more texture.

The weather cooperated for us and it was so nice to be able to spend time with everyone outside. (Hopefully there’s no more snow to be seen until winter now!) I’d like to think that the decorations added to everyone’s enjoyment too. And I’ll leave you with this pro tip: make sure any adorable dogs present are suitably attired in a bandana to match your party decor.

(Such a party animal.)

April 19, 2016
Swing!

Last summer, I was thinking about adding a porch swing out front. I searched out my favorites and was getting ready to make a purchase, but added expenses with our second floor remodel put decorating on hold. It got pushed back a year, but we’ve got a swing chair now, and it is wonderful.

There was a new model out this year that I preferred the look of, but the one I chose was more comfortable. The seat is deeper, and there are cup holders and pockets along the sides for magazines.

When I was pregnant, I would imagine how nice it would be to swing gently on the porch, baby in my arms. The reality surpasses the expectation.

We could have found a stud in the porch ceiling, but with the added height, the swing would have had room to bang into the house or the railing. The kids and their friends spend a lot of time playing on our front porch, and that seemed like an inevitable cause of injury, damage to the house, or both! I bought the matching stand so that the pivot point would be lowered, and the swing didn’t have as far to move. It gives us added flexibility too, so if we want to rearrange the porch or move the swing somewhere else (like the backyard), we could.

July 17, 2015
All Tree, All Shade

Clearly I do not know how to prune roses properly because ours, especially the climbing ones, are looking leggy. I’ve been reading up about how to correct them, and it sounds like late winter is the time to do any major reshaping. They are blooming at least, but not in the pretty, profuse way they were when we first moved in.

The trellis that they’re growing on fell over a little while back. We tried to right it as much as possible, but it’s not easy with all of the thorns! It’s up, mostly, and tied to the porch for more support.

In other garden news, the boxwoods got a big trimming. Please, please, please fill in, hedges! I’ve read up a lot about them being able to bounce back, even after drastic pruning, but I could never find any information on how long it takes and I do know that in general, they’re slow-growing. Also, the right side is much taller than the left but I’m afraid to trim off the top. I figure I’ll wait to see how they fare after this first attempt at cutting them back.

(You can see the leggy climbing roses in the background, along the left side of our porch. And our stroller really complements the color scheme, does it not?)

We’re giving a little attention to the lawn too. There’s a beautiful mature ash tree out front, but it throws more shade than the ladies on Drag Race. (That was contrived and cheesy and for that, I’m sorry. Not sorry enough to delete though.)

We got a quote for new sod, which was something like $600, and there’s no guarantee it would take. We could do the labor part ourselves to bring the cost down, but again there’s no guarantee it would actually grow, so we passed on that and overseeded the lawn with shade-tolerant fescue.

It has been about two weeks and we’ve watered every day that the rain didn’t do it for us. I don’t think it’s doing much, but those little spindly blades may turn into something if we’re patient, right? That’s the hope, anyway.

June 3, 2015
Getting Outside to Explore in the Garden

Sponsored by Mrs. Meyer’s

This is what the garden looked like on the day we bought the house, in late August of last year. Almost no grass (there’s a small patch out front), but plenty of greenery.

Aside from the snow we had last week, spring is pretty much here (yay!). Trees don’t start getting their buds until now in Chicago though, and the earliest spring flowers and plants are just starting to push their way up through the soil. After we raked our yard, we were left with a few patches of green shoots and a whole lot of dirt.

Oh, and antique objects, likely collected from flea markets. A spinning stone wheel, upon which we can sharpen our broadsword? Check. Antique washing machines? Yep, we’ve got a couple. Old street signs, spotlights, and various child impaling artifacts? Check, check, and check!

Some of it is cool. Some is dangerous. We’ll have to pare down.

We were out there all weekend, cleaning up the front and back yards. The kids loved to help, which basically consisted of them digging holes. (Great job, guys!) We got good and dirty playing and exploring outside, and then the kids fell asleep.

Ha! I wish we still got naps out of them sometimes. Nah, we finished up outside and then went in to wash our hands and get cleaned up before dinner. Lemon Verbena is our usual soap, but when I switched to Basil, Eleanor actually commented on it (“something smells yummy!“).

Switching gears to talk about that sink for a second… Have you lived with double taps before? Some people can’t stand using them, but I don’t mind at all. You just have to get used to using a stopper, and then it’s no big deal. And the antique sink here is my favorite because not only is it adorable, it’s an inch or two lower than usual and the height feels really good. Maybe it’s not so great for taller folk, but I love it and the kids can wash their hands without needing a step stool.

But back to the garden. We’ve heard from neighbors that the previous owners spent a lot of time outside, tending to the garden. There are mature boxwood hedges, peonies, roses, hydrangeas, various hostas, several trees and bushes, and at least three types of vines. I know enough to recognize some of it, but the rest will be a surprise. It will be interesting to see what pops up throughout the spring and summer!

One more shot from last year…

Sponsored by Mrs. Meyer’s

Mrs. Meyer’s is hosting a giveaway, and the Grand Prize Outdoor Contest winner will receive a custom-designed pre-fabricated greenhouse by Studio Shed, along with everything you need to start your very own vegetable garden. Once installed, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day will help you celebrate the tradition of homegrown food with a catered farm-to-table dinner party for you and 30 of your closest friends.

Visit getmessycontest.com for more details, and to enter.

April 22, 2014
The New House

I’d been waiting to share the house with you until everything was in order. We’re still waiting on the financing though, and that’s waiting on the appraisal. I believe it’s scheduled for this week, and then there will be further processing time after that. We were pre-approved for a larger mortgage than we would actually want or need, but pre-approval is different from underwriting. Our broker has been confident that we won’t have any problems, but I worry anyway.

I figure I can worry and share the house at the same time.

Part of me can’t believe that we’re getting this house. Part of me is still waiting for that other (financing) shoe to drop. We sold our house to buy this one. I have cried over it, not from worry or stress, but because I never thought I would live in a house so beautiful, that I loved so much. I’m being terribly schmaltzy, I know! I love it though. I love it.

One month after touring houses on the Wright Plus Housewalk and thinking about starting to look for a new house, we bought one. It turns out that the open house I stopped in on my way home — the house I talked to Brandon about in a wouldn’t it be nice if we could find a house like that kind of way — is the one we’ll be moving to at the end of August. We hope.

I shared plenty of photos from the MLS listings from two of the other houses we had considered buying. Both of those were estate sales though, so the homes were vacant. The house that we are buying is still occupied by the current owners, and out of respect for them, I won’t be showing detailed photos of the interior yet. It is gorgeous, but even staged to sell it is still filled with their art, furnishings, and personality. We’re scheduled to close on the house in late August, and I’ll go through and take plenty of pictures then (too many pictures, I’m sure!) to share.

The exterior is fair game though, right? Because whoa, the exterior.

July 15, 2013
A Few Updates for the Front Porch
The nice weather kind of happened all at once here, and now I’m realizing that the front porch needs a little sprucing up. New pillows, a few new planters, and a wire bunny I’ve had for a while will do the trick. I’m going to spend the day out there cleaning, and also tending to some landscaping out front.
May 16, 2013