Backyard Makeover

When we moved into our house over 3 years ago, our backyard left a lot to the imagination.  There was no fence, no plants, an unsecured old deck, and weeds galore.  My father, Justin and I constructed the fence piece by piece during the first summer, and that was pretty much all we had done back there!  The rest was very uninspiring.

This summer Justin and I made it our goal to add some eye appeal and get more use out of our outdoor space.

Here are some embarrassing before shots of our backyard:

And the progress:

 It took lots of water and power to get this deck clean!

Can you say filthy?!?

After a fresh paint job with some leftover paint from my Dad :) (thanks Dad!)

After we added the lattice... much better, right?  {{On a sidenote... painting lattice is the WORST!!!!}}

Over on this side of the yard, I found a shade to match my brick color and painted my utility meter so it blended more with our house.  I also built a lattice enclosure to disguise our AC unit (more painted lattice...!!)  We still have some work to do over here but it is looking a lot better.

Ready for some pretty after shots?

Bright Shot Photography

 

After cleaning our concrete patio, we placed the perfect tribal print rug to define the space, then added a love seat and chair along with our bistro set.  You can get a great deal on these pieces at Target right now!  I found the perfect pillows to add more shades of blue to the space.  In the center we added a small fire-pit.  I hope to add a removable coffee table top to the frame of the pit to get more use out of it.  We spray painted the little side table an oil-rubbed bronze color and added some planters with poles to hold (my favorite) cafe lights.

 

Bright Shot Photography

Bright Shot Photography

I will have a tutorial on how we fastened our lights and how we were able to get drainage and weight in our planter pots--so check back!

And here are some more cafe light shots in all their glory:

 

 

Over to the side deck area:

Bright Shot Photography

We sold our orange cushions on CL and went with a blue floral.  The striped umbrella mimics the colors found in the decorative patio pillows. 

Bright Shot Photography

Now it's the perfect spot for dinner al fresco!

Bright Shot Photography

We also continued the blue theme on our front porch.  We added an adorable bench and ceramic stool and updated the pillows:

Source List

Patio:

Wicker Loveseat:  Target (on sale!!)

Wicker Club Chair:  Target (on sale!!)

Outdoor Tribal Rug:  Target

Fire Pit:  Walmart

Bistro Set:  old!

Accent Table:  old!

Decorative Pillows:  Lowes (here and here)

Owl planter pot:  gifted

Large planter pots:  Lowes

Cafe Lights:  Target 

Side Deck:

Patio Set:  Craigslist

Patio cushions:  Target

Umbrella:  Lowes

Solar Lanterns:  Target

Front Porch:

Rocking Chairs:  old

Bench:  Walmart (on clearance!!!)

**Highly recommend this piece... it looks so expensive and is such a great price!**

Pillows:  Here, here, and here

Ceramic Stool:  Homegoods

We still have a lot we would like to do to the outside but we are happy with the way it is looking so far.  Thanks for checking it out!  Now if we could only get rid of the mosquitos and the crazy hot/rainy weather :)

Happy Sunday!

Emily

Wall Decor | Tying It All Together

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's been pretty quiet over here... but I'm happy to say that I'm BACK with a new post :-)

Justin and I have lived in our home for 3 YEARS now and slowly but surely I've finally hung some artwork.  Our living room, in particular, has been a challenge for me.  BIG BLANK WALLS!

Here's a BEFORE picture of our living room when we first bought the house:

The wall on the right is where I have our TV gallery wall that you've seen in a past post.  Soon I will do an updated post on how those frames are looking today (hint: they all actually have art in them-hooray!)  The wall on the left stayed blank for a very long time.  I have a little cove with a wet bar next to the entrance of the living room and I could never decide how to connect all of these spaces in a seamless and eye-pleasing way... but I think I've finally figured it out.

Here is a before shot of the wet bar:

Eeeeeek!  Don't worry, it is looking better these days :) but it is still a work in progress.

I immediately decided to paint the cabinets white and leaned a large mirror on the counter and this is how it looked for a couple years:

I always dreamed of a big statement mirror on the blank wall but I already had a big mirror over the wet bar!  I eventually decided to sell the wet bar mirror.  I had some grass-cloth installed on the back wall to add some texture and I plan to eventually put up some shelving.

 

Here is how the wet bar looks today:

 Obviously some of those items will go on the shelves once they are installed :)  And the ski leaning against the wall is a shotski my husband made me for my birthday last year (Big WWHL fan over here-duhhh!)  I also want to change the lighting situation.  It gets very dark in that little cove so a can light just won't cut it.  Still on the hunt, so let me know if you see anything fabulous!

To solve the blank wall situation, I decided to hang a grid of identical frames all the way down the wall.  And of course I had to have this gorgeous mirror be a part of it.

When I saw this mirror that the fabulous, Dina, from Honey & Fitz, used in a client's dining room I knew I had to have it.  I'd MAKE a place for it! (side-note:  I just saw that it is now sold out-boo!). 

Here are some wide shots so you can see how it flows:

 On the other end of the wall is the only area of our home where we get fantastic sunlight.  Therefore it is our plant zone!  Full of green:

Frames - Michaels | Inner Matting - Amazon | Brass Owl - Momoderne | Tray - Nate Berkus for Target

I found the bamboo console (along with my matching coffee table) on Craigslist.  I love the grid of frames over the console.  I did a double matting and sprayed the inside matting gold so it would POP!


I wanted to have a coordinating set of artwork in all 10 of the frames so I once again sought inspiration from a link I bookmarked on Dina's blog (you seriously need to follow her!)  It is a collection of over 96,000 F-R-E-E vintage illustrations.  There are tons of beautiful and colorful butterfly images that I quickly settled on as my theme.  Butterflies (or papillons- in French) remind me of my adorable little pup Wylie.  He is a papillon breed and they're named for their butterfly-like ears!!

He's so darn cute!  Thanks for the inspiration, buddy!

Here are some more shots!

I just love it!

I saved the images for the butterfly images I used in case you are interested in using them in your own home!

Aren't the colors great?  So what do you think?  Does it all tie together now?  I'd love to hear your comments or questions.  I will keep you updated as I continue to work on the wet bar.

Thanks for reading and HAPPY FRIDAY!
Emily