living in the garden

I love my outdoor spaces. The gardens, the porch, the deck, the patio. Every since I have made a home, a good outdoor spot was priority. From our first house on Fletcher Chapel Road we built the girls a “plug house” up in the tree and I dressed out a cute front stoop. From there, in our larger family home, across the entire back of the house was a series of patio, decks, screened porch and outdoor shower so that we could enjoy every bit of warm weather morning, noon and night. There were campouts on the screen porch and late night stargazing from the hot tub. We coaxed raccoons onto the decks and I couldn’t get enough of my gardens.

When we moved to the 1920 bungalow six years ago, it was our desire to downsize land mass and maintenance so that we could enjoy our outdoor spaces even more. I finally realized my dream of a big front porch, and with some hard work, the back deck and patio were transformed.

I have to know that my outdoor spaces are good for any number of circumstances. Morning coffee privacy, morning neighbor chatting. Afternoon sunning, afternoon napping. Late day glass of wine and magazines, Evening dinner in the shade, talking around the fire pit. I have to fuss and decorate and make these spaces just as welcoming as any inside space…the right pillows, furniture, lighting.

I was missing a sense of “room,” however. The coziness that comes from having a roof over your head. So I had a vision, and I finally convinced JR to buy and set up a canopy over our deck. We built it last night, and I was busy fussing and decorating , and dreaming up a funky chandelier and wondering what color to paint some of the chairs. I couldn’t wait to get out there this morning to have coffee before I went to work. I can’t wait to get home tonight to make it “just so.” We'll spend a lot of time under that canopy, no doubt. And then one day, maybe I’ll convince JR that we need a more permanent sense of “room” by building a framework, roof and screens. Maybe one day.

But for now, I like it. I like it a lot. Next mini project?
Some outdoor pillows.