I Want to Be Here Right Now

Source

The busier I get, the more I don't want to do anything but sit at a table, outside, under some lights. Without a single cell phone in sight and absolutely no way to access my email.

This news is brought to you by a seven-deadline week. Five down, two to go.

(Note: does that count as complaining about work? If so, well...not complaining might be the hardest resolution, in the history of resolutions, to keep.)

Rose Season

I had my first glass of the pink stuff last night. I'm ready. And here's where I want to drink it:

Proving that even when your yard includes a messy wall, it can be pretty. (Source)

Yes, it's a restaurant. But...that green would work anywhere, right? (Source)

Those chairs seem impractical as hell...but I love them. Also, the blue and white curtains. (Source)

Teensy colorful patio surrounded by greenery and a pond? Very rose-friendly. (Source)

Besides the obvious downside (bugs dropping in your wine), I so love the idea of a ceiling of plants. (Source)

This little urban space is completely do-able, really. If you can just find some friends to help you drape all that fabric. (Source)

Cheers to rose! And spring!

Happy Hour Friday: Go Outside

It's that time of year again, when I want to close out every day with a drink in my yard.

Needless to day, I'm feeling this print, which has been alllll over Pinterest

(from ExLibris Journals on Etsy):

House Beautiful agrees with me.
They must, since last week's newsletter included a slideshow of about a million outdoor rooms. 

Doesn't this look like a nice weeknight dinner spot?

Hello, yellow chairs! I love how sunny this looks:

It's probably just as well that I don't have anything like this at my house,

since if I did, I wouldn't get any work done. Ever.

It's going to rain all weekend, so make sure you get out and have a drink outside today!

Backyard Evolution: From Jungle to Patio

Now that summer is here, and I'm all fired up about going outside, I'm so, so thankful for our yard. Not just our yard, either - I'm thankful that last fall, we made the very good decision to have a patio built in our side yard. We've been using it a ton, in kind of a "if you build it, we will use it" way.

When we moved into our house, the side yard (well, most of the whole yard, actually) was a big overgrown mess. Once Cooper started pulling stuff out of the ground, just to clean it up, we realized we had a lot of space on our hands.

The view from our front porch, pre-patio. It was a jungle back there.

One day, our friend/landscaper Chuck came over and we started talking about putting in a little patio - just enough space for a couple chairs and a firepit. Next thing you know, we had much grander plans.

Kyle & Mary's dog Mia was a fan of the construction phase. We had a Bobcat in our yard for, oh, two months. There was a lot to clear (plus, it rained about every other day last fall, making it hard to get anything done).

After some discussion, Cooper and Chuck and I agreed that if we were going to put in a patio, we might as well go big. For a long time, I've had a thing about dinner parties at long tables (evidence here and here). So why not put in a patio that could house a super long table? So that's what we did.

Plus, there's a retaining wall and a walkway and some excellent landscaping (Chuck is great). All of the stone is local and the plants are fairly low maintenance, so we get to enjoy the patio without too much extra work.

Last March, when we used this space for the first time, we comfortably fit about 15 people around the fire. The rock wall adds extra seating - and the rocks retain the warmth from the fire, which means we can use this space most of the year.

This is the view towards the front yard - that's the door Dixon's standing by in the very first picture and the tree to the right is the fig tree that stands outside the window above my kitchen sink (and produces comical amounts of fruit each year).

Next project - which is already underway - is for Cooper to build me that long table. Over Memorial Day weekend, we bought some beautiful sycamore from a guy in Harford County and Cooper has begun the sanding process. Soon, I'll have a ten foot long table, plus benches. Add a few lights in the trees and some pretty table linens and I will be hosting the al fresco dinner party I've been daydreaming about for years!

Go Outside

Memorial Day weekend! Summer! Finally!

After the past few rainy weeks, the heat and humidity of the past few days has kind of been a relief. Will I feel the same way in August? Doubtful. But for right now, the air outside is a reminder that summer is upon us, which means it's prime time for al fresco dining.

If the 90+ degrees (and 90+% humidity) aren't enough to get you in the mood, maybe these will do the trick:


If I lived in a more temperate climate, I would 100% have an outdoor room like this one. How great are those stripes?



After I saw this space, I thought for a minute about asking Cooper if we could put a greenhouse in the backyard, just so we could have year-round dinner parties. Would it be practical? No, on so many levels. Even in the winter it would probably be too warm to hang out. But still - pretty!

This outoorish space used to belong to Tony Duquette - now his friend Hutton Wilkinson lives there and maintains it. It caught my eye months ago and I can't stop thinking about it - all that lush greenery and those amazing red chairs.

And this is a table, set by Wilkinson. Hello, maximalism! It's totally unlike any table I ever actually set at my house, but that's why I love it. The patterns, the colors, the crystals! Would I knock over a glass immediately upon sitting down? Probably. But even with red wine spilled all over my dress, I'm sure I'd enjoy any dinner served at this table.

[Photo credits: Top from Lonny. The rest from various issues of Veranda, which I used to think of as stuffy, but now I love it.]