Home: Outdoor Space

Good morning! How was your weekend? Mine, well mine was absolutely fabulous. The cat's out of the bag now, Caitlin's surprise location bachelorette party was in Newport, RI and it could not have gone any better. Details to come on Wednesday! Think I'll add Weddings to my Wednesday fashion rotation.

So let's get to today's post. More home planning!

As I mentioned last Monday, one of our priorities in our new home will be to reface the deck. We are very thankful that the frame of our future deck is in great shape, but the deck itself has started splintering and rotting. We'll be refacing it as soon as we can once moved in.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet on the blog, but our next home has an in-ground pool off of the deck. I am SO excited for this! Don't worry, I've already hired a pool boy. Having worked for a pool company for a few years during high school, J's resume checked out. He's totally qualified for the job. :)

With that said, having an outdoor space to entertain is extremely important to us! As in, we'll be spending our money on outdoor furniture before addressing a guest room most likely. I am really hoping we'll be spending many weekends hosting friends and family to pool parties and cookouts because A) we'll be broke from the move and won't be heading to the bars and B) I want everyone to feel welcome at our pool any and every time they'd like to come by! All seriousness there.

So, here are some ideas for our deck, where we hope to be dining and lounging for the next 4+ months.

Outdoor Space

1. Dining Space - we'd love to buy a 7 piece set. Even though a table that seats 6 wouldn't fit our extended families, I think it would be a great size for us.

via Pinterest / original source Home Depot

2. Outdoor Couch - wouldn't this be perfect? We are searching high and low for an affordable outdoor lounge set. Ideally, I would love a couch/loveseat and two chairs but this post really makes me want a huge sectional... 

via Home Depot

via Pinterest / original source: Denise McGaha

3. Greenery - I honestly have no idea if I'm a gardener or not. I can't say that I've had all that much experience outside of helping my mom weed once and a while growing up. I am horrible at keeping house plants alive, but I'm hoping I have better luck outdoors. I am dreaming of the day where we have fresh herbs and tomatoes growing on our back deck, and possibly a small vegetable garden at some point down the road. How gorgeous is this terrace space?

via Fig and Plum

4. Shade from the sun - this one is a someday idea....but we would love to enclose part of the deck into a screened porch. We will be living in a fairly wooded area...meaning lots of mosquitos. Help me! But until that day, how about a DIY pergola to shield some of the deck space from the sun?

via Pinterest / original source Houzz

via Pinterest / original source The Handmade Home

5. Lights - I love those string globe lights. Hopefully we'll be able to incorporate a few strands into our outdoor space.

via Pinterest / original source Home Depot

via Pinterest / original source unknown

What about you? What would you include in your ideal outdoor space? 

If you like this post please let me know by leaving a comment or liking my Facebook page. You can also follow along on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Let's stay in touch!

Fun Fact Friday

1. It's Caitlin's bachelorette party weekend! One last fling before the ring! Buy her a shot, she's tying the knot! Cait's last single weekend! There are so many funny sayings out there now. Innocent details to come next week.

2. So, I pulled what I'm calling a redneck mani. Maybe that's not the right term.....a quick nail tune up perhaps. I planned on re-painting my nails last night since A) the polish had started to chip and B) my nails were getting way too long for my liking. Well, I trimmed them while still polished and what'dya know, they look freshly painted again! So I'll be leaving them alone thank you very much. My newest nail color? Essie's Play Date. Love me some purple.

3. Last weekend we stayed overnight in the burbs. Tucker was awesome and hung out with all of us, laid out in the yard sunning himself, fetching a frisbee, eating sticks, and just loving all the freedom. Once we got back to the city, the dog seriously didn't move for hours. So tired. I'll be dropping him off at my parents home tomorrow for a second weekend in the burbs. This time, to play with his bff Bruno all weekend long. I'm not so sure he'll survive.....I guess this is good practice for the suburban life he'll have by the end of the month.

Sunday is this handsome fella's 3rd birthday. Where did the time go?!

4. This post is so so spot on. And I'm glad someone finally addressed it. It can be so overwhelming!

5. Speaking of Pinterest, I've been browsing it from time to time for inspiration for our new home. It's interesting though, there are so many bloggers out there moving and/or renovating that I tend to enjoy following blogs more and pinning what I want to Pinterest, rather than scanning through the already pinned ideas. Looking for some inspiration out in blogworld? Well, let's see: 

• YHL just bought a house (what the what?!), 
• House*Tweaking gutted one, 
• Design Dump is building a brand-new (and gorgeous!) home that I am learning so much from,
• Pure Style Home is renovating a home (so my style!), 
• Chris Loves Julia is starting a master bath reno, 
• Apartment Therapy and Houzz always have great ideas,
• And did you know that Home Depot has a blog?

I need to work less and read more blogs. Wouldn't that be lovely?

Wrapping today up at 5 facts for Friday. How is it possibly May already?!

Have a great weekend!

If you like this post please let me know by leaving a comment or liking my Facebook page. You can also follow along on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Let's stay in touch!

A Bridal Shower Brunch

It's official, 2013's wedding season has begun! Remember when I said I had no plans this past weekend? I totally lied (muhaha)! Cait's surprise bridal shower was Saturday and it was such a great event.

First off, Cait's bridesmaids are so incredibly thoughtful! They had the best plans for her. Friday afternoon, Cait came home from work to a bouquet of flowers and a fun little poem telling her to be ready Saturday morning for her bridal shower, her groom-to-be was her chariot. How sweet is that?!

And then, they put all of this together. It was so sweet and well planned.

Caitlin & Luke

Cait asked her bridesmaids to be part of her wedding over homemade donuts.

 Luke asked Cait to marry him over S'mores. Love this!

 Every table had a little sign with a hashtag to use throughout the wedding events to help Caitlin & Luke remember their big day. So fun!

 I have had this pinned forever, I was SO excited to see it done! Use golf tees to "plant" balloons in the grass. Here comes the bride to be!

 I just love this photo. Such pure joy and excitement.

Love these girls! Nothing better than friends forever.

 

Can I just say that level of excitement Caitlin expressed with every gift she opened was incredible. Cait is one of the sweetest girls I know and her excitement for life is basically contagious. She was so grateful for every single gift she opened, so sincere too!

Did I mention how thoughtful the bridesmaids are? Cait's last gift was a fun poem informing her that this coming weekend we'll be heading out for her bachelorette party! Wahoo! It's at an undisclosed location still so my lips are sealed. But I'll be sharing details afterwards of course. 

Can you tell they're related? ;)

MOB, Bride, MOH, Aunt - looking forward to celebrating this weekend with these lovely ladies!

Bride with some of her bridesmaids - gorgeous!

And one last photo of the bride-to-be.

One month to go before Cait's wedding! I am so excited!! (Check out bridesmaid Amelia's recap here!)

Welcome back to Wedding posts my friends. We're going to have a very fun year.