Friday, June 12, 2015

Step Outside

With Summer in the air (at least according to the calendar) thoughts of cookouts,  gardening and soaking in the sun have been filling my mind. We have a deck area off the small porch at our back door.  Mr. built it about 10 years ago and we have enjoyed it.



We just power washed the deck and painted it with a product called Restore. It is not as thick as other products but did seal the splintering deck boards. Our table and chairs are there and we have a small cast iron chiminea . (I ruined the suspension on my last car lugging that thing home from the Cape one summer!) We really do like to sit out during the summer but when the sun starts going down the mosquitoes make it impossible to stay out.

Don't you love plastic summer dishes from Big Lots! 

Looking at the back yard from the newly painted deck.



Once the porch was screened in last year it was really too late to worry about furnishing or decorating  it. The stores had packed up all their summer stuff by then and we were out of money. We had gotten two rattan chairs and a nice table for FREE from the same place I had gotten our lamps that I upcycled and we made do. The chairs were very straight backed and not very comfortable for relaxing on the porch but they looked nice.


We picked it back up this year with a fresh coat of porch cement paint. The ugly gray cement looks much nicer now!   I purchased an indoor/outdoor rug with lots of colors at the Christmas Tree Shops.  The stuff you can find in these stores-dangerous!!  I walk in there for one thing and before I get five feet in the door I am distracted and totally loosing focus. I found two chairs at Lowes. They have the wicker/rattan look but they are a poly or plastic. I found the cushions there, also and they had all the same colors as the rug! Yay!






The two lanterns I found on a local Facebook yard sale page for a small fraction of the price for new. (Melted candles included!)

Join me for some lemonade?



All put together it is a lovely addition to our outdoor living space; a nice room outside but protected from the sun or bugs in the evening.  It is nice for coffee  and a quiet place to read in the morning.  Maybe it will be where I start writing blog posts from, at least for the summer. If you ring the doorbell and I don't answer come around back-that's probably where you'll find me.



21 comments:

  1. That is a nice outdoor area to enjoy. We are trying to decide what deck paint to use on ours since there are several. So you used the Rustoleum product and said it's just o.k. We are thinking about using the Sherwin Williams one. Enjoy those pretty outdoor spaces.

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    1. Hi Kim! I have followed your blog for quite some time and was so excited to see that you had visited today. We did use the Rustoleum Restore product. It did do what it was supposed to do. We really hadn't done much to care for the deck area since we installed it. We probably could have gone with one of the thicker products and got better coverage/filling in but neither of us was up for the extra work. This product just rolled on. It did leave a texture, which I like, as it won't be slippery in inclement weather like our front porch that just received an opaque stain. With the thicker product it is my understanding that it leaves a heavier texture that is not so nice to walk barefoot on; requiring you to brush it out after rolling it on to knock down some of the texture before it dries. Too much work for this girl! Thanks again for the visit and will watch to see what you decide with your deck. ~Jolena

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  2. Hi Jolena, I just found your blog, and became a follower, your outdoor areas are just beautiful. love the view from your deck!

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    1. Thank you for visiting, Debra! We love the view, also-we are very blessed, indeed.

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  3. Beautiful place for drink lemonade :)Hugs from Serbia,
    Cale

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    1. Serbia! Oh my So glad you stopped by Cale. I am humbled and amazed at small the world has become courtesy of the internet.

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  4. We just finished painting our front porch-and will be doing our deck soon! I've heard that Restore paint works well-and I love how your deck turned out! Thank you so much for sharing! LOVE your blog!

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    1. Hi C.D. very happy for your visit, today and that you liked view here!

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  5. Your outdoor spaces look great! LOVE the changes you made to your screened-in porch...so pretty!

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  6. What a lovely spot to enjoy. :) I bet you'll have tons of blogging inspiration sitting on your new porch.
    Thanks for linking up at Project Inspire{d}!! You'll be featured this weekend. :)

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    1. Hi Diane, thank you stopping by and for sharing my post! I will watch for it this weekend!

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  7. This is beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing. It's an inspiration to me. Linda @Crafts a la mode

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    2. Glad you dropped by, Linda. I love that we can inspire each other! I always find fun things at your place.

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  8. Such a sweet space to enjoy the great summer months! I am seriously loving your umbrella and the rug in your screened in patio.

    Lovely!

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  9. I love this look. I so could get so much work done on that porch. Thanks for linking up at #HomeMattersParty this week hope you will come back next week to link up again.

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  10. I love the look of your porch now, Jolena! The ambience looks very relaxing, and the newly painted deck looks great! I'm sure you're always having a good time being here, eating, or maybe drinking a cup of tea. It also makes a great venue for gatherings. You sure did a really great job! :-)

    Max Hall @ Schafer Construction Inc.

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  11. Hi Max, thanks for visiting my blog and for the compliment. It is a great place to gather. I am always intrigued when I see construction businesses comment on the blog. I wonder where this little blog has been to garner the attention of professional builders. I guess ya just never know who is going to stop by.

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