An Unplanned Project

Last week we had a big messy tree cut down.

We had no idea that cutting down the tree would lead to such a big project and a fun change.

June 16 our tree man took down the big tree, but we asked him to leave the schefflera tree.

The schefflera tree (I planted a little 3" plant 20 years ago) didn't look so good without the big tree so on January 17 Steve borrowed a chain saw and took it down himself.

Once I saw that space with just soil, I remembered photos I had saved, but never really dreamed of doing anything like them at our house.

June 18 I laid out a border and planted a few flowers.

The next few days we were busy digging up rocks and tossing them into the fire pit, weeding the area and laying down weed fabric before we spread  9 bags of pea gravel.

On June 22, 7 days after the tree came down, we were finished laying 12 more bags of pea gravel and I set out chairs, but there was just too much blue.

I have always liked vintage chairs like this one I found on the side of the road (it finally fell apart), but a favorite shop downtown, B on Main, sells reproduction versions.

I called the shop and they brought the chairs out the back door to me - surprisingly, I passed on a red chair and chose yellow and aqua.

 Monday afternoon, this little corner of the garden was ready for me to "decorate".

The bicycle got a basket of lavender, the frame was brought down from the attic and I made a wire heart with air plants, but it blends in with the fence.

I want to find a different table, but this will do for now.

While we were working, we kept saying, "we're too old to be doing this", but we are proud of ourselves for tackling the project on our own.

The pea gravel section is 10' x 12' and that's prime real estate in our limited amount of space.

After the messy tree, we can't get over how clean the area stays.

For now there are petunias sitting in the fire pit, but with no tree hanging over the pit, we will be out there many nights enjoying a fire.

The jungle was colorful, but we are so happy to have another nice place to sit in the garden.

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I've joined the party at Shabby Art Boutique

Outdoor Living

I am happy to once again be joining a fun group of bloggers for a Pinterest Challenge.

Thanks Cindy of County Road 407 for hosting each Pinterest Challenge.

If you are visiting in order, then you were just at the home of my friend Julie who is full of inspiration.

Th inspiration photo for the month of May is from Brie Hammel Interiors.

Our porch is tiny with no room for sitting so I wasn't sure about joining the challenge this month,

but we do have a strip of flat concrete where our old garden bench sits.

 I decided to focus on 3 elements in the photo - the tree, the bench and the table.

The only thing I bought for the challenge was a plant because a tree would become too heavy to lift - the bucket is sitting on top of the can I use to hide our hose.

 We made a coffee table out of an orange crate (from my childhood when I lived on an orange grove property), but it was too low so it's been sitting in the shed.

We have had the bench for years - free from a neighbor.

I know it's time for patriotic colors, but I wanted to use these pillows I recently made out of an old tablecloth.

The other thing I wanted to use was my Colorku game board - I love color and balls so of course I love the look, but it's also relaxing and will be nice to play outside.

The window above the bench got a bucket full of blooms and faux greenery - yes faux because climbing on the bench to change out the greenery every other day is a pain.

I wasn't sure what Steve's reaction would be to the change, but we both are enjoying having a table.

I really love all the blue and yellow in the garden right now,

but Memorial Day arrived and I needed to see red, white and blue.

It was a quiet day here on Memorial Day.

We sat on the bench after a walk on the beach 

and the table was great for drinks while we read in the garden.

Our outdoor space is the biggest "room" in our house -

can you tell that we like to spend our days outside?

I love the yellow and blue pillows, but they shout spring and Memorial Day always feels like Opening Day for summer.

So, red, white and blue will be hanging around for quite awhile.

And now I send you off to the home of my friend Lora who is always up to something fun.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Making the Most of My Time

Due to my age and severe asthma, I'm "Sheltering In Place" for the long haul, but I'm making the most of my time at home.

I feel badly for all the small shop owners I have gotten to know, so I've been trying to buy from those who do curbside pickup.  

I was excited to find out that Karen of @whimsyantiques still had the blue buffet available and we picked it curbside- boy would I have liked to stroll through the shop.

Another friend with a shop, Donna of Lily Fields Vintage, posted an old newel post in her stories and I have wanted a chunky column for a long time.

I spotted the large urn at @abeautifulday.ventura a week before the SIP order and was so happy to see on Instagram that Jocelyn was doing curbside pickup - I didn't know she had 2 sizes.

I just love the big urn - this is the view I see from my window seat perch when the door is open.

The smaller urn is perfect for flowers from the garden.

I miss going to Trader Joe's for fresh flowers, but this greenery I purchased from Purple Rose Home paired with dried roses is keeping me happy for now.

I also bought this Lamb's Ear garland from Purple Rose Home to dress up the headboard in the guest room.

Within days of staying home, I decided it was time to replace our Rugs USA jute rug - the Boss agreed.

We went with navy jute this time and of course furniture got moved around.

As you can see, the Boss likes the new arrangement.

My set of bistro chairs got bumped to the hallway when I was rearranging furniture in the living room.

The newel post from Lily Fields Vintage is standing by the chairs for now.

Yes, I'm aware that birds don't have 4 legs, but in my attempt to do 3 things at once I broke one of the rockers off the bird - I guess even a rocking bird is strange.

I have spent most of my time the last 9 weeks working in the garden and we were excited to buy a dwarf Meyer Lemon tree.

We moved the tree around the garden to find the right spot and yesterday we finally got it into a pot where it gets sun about 10 hours a day.

Today I plan to play with these seed packets and our old wheelbarrow.

The blooms in the wheelbarrow are looking pretty scruffy.

But with this view from my chaise, it's possible I will just sit in the garden and read.