Turn Your Backyard Into A Permanent Outdoor Living Space Oasis

 The backyard, whether its large or small, can be a fun place to hang out during the summer months.  Its a great space to personalize and reinvent each year!

If you invest in the right essentials for your backyard it will be money well spent and years of joy during those summer months.  Here are items I would include: 

Invest in a few quality furniture pieces that you enough seating for those impromptu get-togethers with neighbors and friends.  You want comfortable sofas and chairs.  I would treat your space like  a living room or family room and use the area footage appropriately.  If you have a large space try a sectional!  Its all about the cushions.  You want to feel relaxed so you need soft upholstery.  Thanks to new outdoor fabric options made from acrylic fibers that are fade resistant and waterproof, there are a ton of choices!  You can change out pillows and reupholster cushions as often as like!

*TIP: buy an outdoor storage bin to hold your cushions so you do not need to find space in your home for them.

Gather pots and planters of different looks and heights (throw in a few colorful ones with weathered terra cotta for a unique look), and fill them with different plants and flowers.  Do this in hard square corners, entry ways and along back walls.  This will soften the area and create a sensual garden feel.  I love how the designer used plants to soften the harsh look of the outdoor kitchen in the photo above.

Evenings are great times to enjoy your backyard.  Through mood lighting you can create a soft glow that is relaxing.  I'm talking about adding outdoor lanterns, candles, string lights and of course, a fire pit!

Try buying a bulk of lanterns in different sizes and placing them along pathways, on table tops, and within your seating area.  The soft light will be calming and beautiful!   Pier 1 has LED candles that are not only made for outdoors but has a remote that can control all of them!  

Fire pits are fun to have, romantic to look at, and can give off a little heat.  I like the idea of a self contained fire pit that has a lip around it to set food on.  Its a fire pit and coffee table in one!  Frontgate offers some nice options.  

Water features produce a sense of relaxation like being on vacation.  The sound is soothing.  You can choose from hundreds of options!  They can be large focal points or portable self contained fountains that are plugged into an outlet.

Best of luck with your backyard project.  I had fun putting this post together! :)

Pink Living Room Becomes a Classic Library

I am sitting back on my sofa with my computer on my lap.  Next to me is a giant slice of pumpkin pie that I made  earlier tonight with my daughter (we used the easy recipe on the back of a can of Farmers Market Organic Canned Pumpkin I picked up at Walmart while getting Halloween candy (p.s. i used a pre-made graham cracker crust-mmmm & easy).  I am blogging and catching up on all the Nate Berkus Show segments I missed.  Nate is my long time crush and I am so impressed with how many wonderful ideas and creative designs he showcases through fellow designers, decorators, and DIYers everyday.  If you haven't seen his show, it deserves your attention.   Even if it is just to check out his 'sweet as sugar' smile.

Speaking of grins, I wrapped up a living room renovation for a client, transforming it into a library that makes me so happy.  This room has been through so much.  This wasn't just a face lift; it was a head to toe surgery going from a traditional front living room that was never used, into a room that feels the love everyday!  If you don't have a purpose for a room it becomes a dumping ground-poor room.  

I had so much fun working with Linda and Wayne on this project.  Afterward Linda and I sat in the library and chatted for a long time.  The comfy seating, the glow of the fireplace and the ambient lighting made me want to stay, perched in the wing chair, then the leather sofa, all day.  During the reno process I blogged about the materials used- click here to see the materials used "We Are So Over Our Living Room".  

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

The inspiration for the room became the oversized wingback chair floral fabric.  When it came to designing the window treatments, I did not want to use anything that would compete with them.  So we brought in these gorgeous powder blue criss cross chanille pattern fabric drapes with medallion fringe dot embellishments.  Then pulled them back with 14" jeweled tassle tie backs.

A giant personal touch in the library is the display of beautiful plants photographed by Linda and Waynes' daughter.

This space needed to be fitted for the gas fireplace so it was really important to add architectural detail around it so it felt like it had always been there.  When it arrived it was long and had a 2' mantle BUT the niche we created above it fills in the emptiness and adds drama.  The water feature was something Linda and Wayne always wanted.  It is all the little soothing touches like this, the variety of lighting, the warm tones of the wood, and softness of the furniture, that makes you want to be in this room......and feel mmmmmmmm.