Let’s Look

Hello! It’s the second Wednesday of the month, so Shay and Erika are hosting their Let’s Look link up.

• In January, we looked at our coffee bars (I shared my favorite coffee mugs)
• In February, we looked at our love languages.
• In March, we looked at the perfect night in.
• In April, the topic was: fridge and pantry.

This month’s topics is: outdoor organization.

Well, kind of like when I shared my recent spring cleaning post, I should probably just let Travis write this post. I’m not sure the method to his madness, but he does have our garage and outside area pretty organized.

Today, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share our outdoor spaces.

Warning: photo overload. I will never have to do a yard post ever again 😂

We took this photo on Mother’s Day, and I love it because my Mother’s Day gifts can be seen. The kids and I are so far away that I joked with Travis that he wanted everyone to see the planter boxes he had made for my gift! Every year, I ask for a card and two hanging ferns, but this year, I got the bonus of the beautiful planters and flowers!

Here are the kids picking out my ferns last year:

Someone at Trav’s work made the planters.

We also got new cushions for the front porch chairs. The front porch is great for sitting in the afternoon and evening.

I love the button detail on the back cushion, and the accent pillow is my favorite color palette. I found them at the At Home store….and I was lucky to find these because the outdoor section looked like a patio cushion graveyard!

(Do you spy Homer?) 😉

Every spring these pretty bushes bloom, and the flowers smell so pretty. I know nothing about flowers (again, that’s Trav’s expertise), but they are such a pretty surprise each spring.

Every spring, Travis plants New Guinea impatiens in the front. Last year, Hadley helped him!

I have a feeling Travis will fuss at me for showing this area. Every year, he plants something new over here, and this area is just getting started for spring 2021.

In our backyard, we have our fire pit. When we moved in, we had a massive tree in the front yard that was dying, so we had it cut down. We used some of the wood from the trunk for seating around the fire pit.

S’mores roasting last spring…

In June/July the day lilies bloom, and they are so pretty against our fence line.

We try to use our patio as often as possible, and the lights make it feel extra cozy at night.

Travis power washed the patio last weekend. I wish I had taken a “before” photo because the difference is always amazing!

Here it is freshly power washed with flowers and new cushions.

The Japanese Maple is one of my favorite parts of the back yard. The kids climbed on it each time we looked at this house when it was for sale.

They’ve continued to play in it and climb up in through the years…

These green cushions were on our front porch chairs. They are in great condition because our front porch is covered, so we are using them out back now.

While at the At Home store, I picked up the yellow pillows and the riser on the table.

The planters on each side of the loveseat are from Pier One and were on our 2005 wedding registry. They are perfect for the patio.

**We usually put a smaller pot of flowers on the bottom rack of each planter, but last year, Homer snagged the flowers and ran around the yard with them in his mouth! So, the small ones, in the white pots on the table, are going to be a test for Homer 😉

We’ve had this table and chairs since 2004 when we moved into our first home. This set has sat on three patios in the last seventeen years. The are black, and Travis just recently spray painted them to bring them back to life. I kind of rolled my eyes when he said he was going to do that, but they look so great! I can’t believe I forgot that spray paint can fix anything! haha

The seat cushions are new from At Home as well. All of our cushions were at least 5-7 years old, so we’d penciled in replacing them as a “to do” for this spring. Also, the ones before these, were just the seat cushion, and a few had been #homered over the past two summers.

My “home” flower pot is one that I ordered from Etsy last year. I’ve shared the shop in previous posts.

The pots are hand painted and so pretty! We’ve used them as teacher and birthday gifts in the past year.

Speaking of spray paint, this little table was from my childhood backyard. I’ve had it for years, and at one point, I spray painted it green. This year, I wanted to put pots of various sizes and flowers of various colors on it.

Besides peonies, hydrangeas are my favorite flower. We had a hydrangea plant at our last house, and Travis planted another one when we moved into our current house. Also, our hostas get bigger and bigger every year!

I love pink and purple flowers in the spring!

In one week, this will be my view as I sip my morning coffee! I’m pleased with how it turned out.

Next month’s topics is: summer bucket list.

Last summer’s bucket list included: baking, tie dye, vacation, going canoeing, drawing, and golf lessons. I guess I need to get the kids thinking about what they want to do this summer.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by and reading today’s post! Make sure to check out the other ladies’ posts too!

Take care,