Yard Flowers

1`

Zinnias from the Yard

August is winding down and the first chill of fall can be felt in the evening air.  I love fall but I also hate to see summer end.  One of  my favorite things about the summer is the beautiful flowers and vegetables you can grow in your garden.  The above floral arrangement is from some Zinnias I planted next to our new paver pathway in the back yard.  You can see the full details on that by clicking here.

The zinnias and marigolds I planted have really grown well. Here are some before and after pictures of this little garden area.

Newly Planted Zinnias and Marigolds (May 2012)



Area before pathway completion and flowers.

August 2012.



 

Pop Goes the Yellow!

A project that has been on my "to-do-list" for a long time now is to recover the outdoor cushions for my bistro deck chairs.  The bistro chairs and table came from a season-end clearance at  Lowes about three years back.  The set was outfitted with bright red seat cushions.  The cushions were never my favorite but after just one summer of sun-drenched days the cushions were in really pitiful shape. Last week, I found some bright & cheery yellow outdoor fabric 50% off at Hancock fabrics.  I only had to purchase 1-1/4 yards of fabric for this project.  With the discount, that was only $12 worth of material.  



Faded Out Cushions

I used the old fabric as the pattern for the new cushions.  The cushion fill and ties were in good shape (practically brand new actually) so I was able to reuse them.

(Original Cushion Fill) In great shape and ready to be reused.

I love this outdoor fabric.  It is from the "Dwell Studio" collection by Robert Allen.

I was able to reuse the black ties from the original cushions.

The original cushions had "tufting" which gave them a more tailored look.  The "tufting" was done by pulling yarn through and knotting it.  I am considering adding this detail to the new cushions, any thoughts?

Picking Flowers and Laying Pavers

This morning, I took my oldest son to go pick some wildflowers in the backyard (the other baby boy was still sleeping). We picked the flowers, brought them inside, and together we trimmed and arranged them.  The flowers are now brightening up the main floor bathroom.

This past weekend, the big project was operation "De-Weed" the yard and make a new paver pathway.  The new pathway is a shortcut to circumvent the long row of boxwood that lines the sidewalk to our front door.  My husband is an ole` pro now at laying a paver stone pathway.  You can see his first paver project with all of the "how-to" details by clicking here.



Our new shortcut to the front yard!



Digging Out the Path

Stomping Down the Paver Stone Bed



Adding the Sand



The Pavers are Down!

Digging Up Some Liriope from the other side of the yard.

The Liriope used to reside under this Hemlock tree where they didn't get much notice.

New Home for the Liriope aka "Monkey Grass" next to our new pathway.

Who knows what projects we will get into this coming weekend!  Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

A Great Birthday Gift!

"Impression of Little Hands"

My birthday was this past Friday.  I need not mention how old I am now.  For those of you who know please don't tell and those who don't please guess low.  Anyway, I felt very lucky to receive a piece of custom art that my husband and two boys created for me.  My husband secretly got my boys down to the basement to dip their hands in paint and stamp out their hand prints.  The clever/talented husband then added some abstract lines with some of the leftover spray paint from our garden bench project click here for more info on that project .  The end result is beautiful.  I feel very blessed.

Southern Living's 2012 Idea House

Southern Living Idea House 2012, Living Room

I am dreaming of a road trip to visit the 2012 Southern Living Idea House.  I love what I have seen of this house in pictures and I think it would be great to go see it in person.  I am including a link to the Idea House source list that you can find at the Southern Living Magazine website click here.  I am including a few of my favorite spaces.  All of the pictures below are from the Southern Living website.



Curtains over sidelights is a clever way to enjoy some natural light and privacy.

I could definitely relax here for a meal.

I love this rug.  I have been eyeing it for some time at www.ballarddesigns.com

I love all of the turquoise blue accents.  You can check out an outdoor turquoise project of mine, click here

Timeless Gallery Wall

"Free for All", Artwork

I was recently reading an article in the July issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine (one of my favorite magazines).  The article mentioned that the New York Public Library has a "digital gallery" where you can go and print artwork for free.     For a link to the site click here.  I went and checked out their website and found the above Octopus prints. I printed these out "for free" and then found some inexpensive frames at Big Lots.  My total investment is only $10 for both frames and now I have some artwork to look at in the master bath (shower room).  We haven't gotten around to renovating this space yet, so the wall paint color is not my favorite but now I at least have something nice to look at.

$5 "Big Lots" frames

Printout from New York Public Library "Digital Gallery"

Tip:  When searching the digital art gallery from the New York Public Library, be sure to put in a keyword topic to search.  There are literally thousands of images.  If you are looking for some "Jelly Fish" prints, just type this into the search window. 

Along the lines of nautical themed art, one day when I have more money saved up I would love to purchase these prints shown below from "Ballard Designs".  Maybe they will go on sale one day ( a girl can dream).

Here is a link to the Ballard Designs website for those of you who like the above prints as much as I do.  I am however, not  a fan of the frames.