Outdoor Livin'

I've been leaving out a lot of details lately.  I've been called out, and now I need to redeem myself and give Justin some slaps on the back.

 

That guy, I'm so proud of him.  He's been working his tush off in the yard.  Every. Single. Day.  Snow, rain, shine, or 90 degree weather, he's digging trenches and cleaning out the overgrowth.  All by his lonesome.  Our neighbors must think I'm the deadbeat.  I'm sure they think I'm in front of the TV letting my man do all the work. 

 

He's done so much work to the yard, and I didn't take one "before" picture of the front yard prior to him starting the work several months ago.  Well, now that his work is now moving to the back yard, I can share some updates (since I finally got my crap together and snapped some before pictures).

 

We inherited a lot of great features with this house.  Great features that haven't really been cared for in the past few years.  Like this pergola. 

 

I love pergolas.  And I've been dreaming of creating one.  So kinda nice that this house already had one. 

 

As we started to live with it, we began to dislike it.  For one, we didn't like the paint color.  But the vines make it difficult to repaint or strip the wood and restain.  And then the vines grew out of control, choking nearby plants (I said a silent prayer for the peonies).  And some old ivy was now dead, but layered underneath newer growth. 

 

It was clear that we also needed to create a line between the landscaping and the grass. Grass, weeds, and bushes all blended together in one ugly little backyard jungle. 

 

 

 

It definitely wasn't the pergola I had dreamt about.  

 

 

But, nothing hard work couldn't fix. 

 

Justin created a divider, extended the landscaping bed and curved it around 2 sides of the pergola.  He removed the dead ivy and cut back the live vines.  Weeded, and added fresh soil, then mulched the beds.  We added three flowering bushes, and trimmed back the plants already growing.

 

That space is our oasis.  It's where you'll find us at dinner time.  And breakfast, brunch, lunch, and after dinner drinks on the weekends.

We lit it up with bistro lights for some drama at night.  Lights I got for 80% off after Christmas.

Added a new outdoor fan to create a soft breeze...and keep the bugs away.

Made a table, and went shopping for some chairs.

The chairs were a lucky find at Target.  I got them for 60% off!  I was originally just going to get two, one for each end and do benches on the sides.  But once I found them marked down 60%, I couldn't walk out of the store with out their entire stock of these.  Sorry Michigan... I'm pretty sure I got every last one of these.  I'm so glad I grabbed six, they're super comfortable and everyone is happy to hang out all night.

The chairs remind me of ones I might find at Potterybarn, but for a fraction of the cost.  I just hope they hold up well over time. 

 



And how about that table? I custom made her (with the help of my friend, Jimmy... who thankfully knows what the hash after the 1/2 mark is on a measuring tape) from Ana White's plan.  I made a few adjustments to make this an outdoor table, and I'll talk about those in another post.  The table is so sturdy, I'm convinced it'll last a lifetime.

The pergola is pretty darn gorgeous now during the daytime.  But my favorite time to enjoy it is at night.

 

Eat your heart out, Napa Valley.

We just love having another cozy spot to enjoy a meal together.  In the shade especially! 

And as long as the weather is nice, we'll be sipping Coronas and chowing down under the shade of our little pergola.

 

Our next steps out here will be to replace the stepping stones and pebbles around the pergola leading to the house, garage, driveway, and where I'm standing while taking the picture below.

 

 

In the meantime, you know where to find me.