“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
Nothing deep, nothing fancy…just something I feel compelled to do. Something I think I can not do because I do not know how to, but to blog, I must begin, because if I do not begin, I will never know how to do it. So here is to my first blog ever…
I love summertime! It brings a churning in my spirit to pull my outdoor spaces together and check that off my list. My home is not your ordinary floor plan. Our kitchen, which is upstairs on the second level of our home, has a small deck off the front where I love to rest and reflect. That is why this spot is so important to me. It is the spot where I have a cup of coffee in the morning. It is the spot where I sit at sweet hour and reflect after a busy day.
It is a spot where I hang out with my adult children, my husband or occasionally a friend. Sometimes it is the place where I hang out while I’m cooking dinner, just sitting here waiting for the buzzer on the oven to beep, or something on the stove in the kitchen to simmer. Sometimes, I’m spending a little time with my dog, sometimes I’m doing a bible study or reading a book. Sometimes I’m chatting on the phone with someone and sometimes I am doing nothing at all. It’s a great spot. It is my spot. It is a small extension of me and an extension of the inside of my home.
It sits up high like a tree house. It has the elements of inside, yet it is outside. A place where I can bring the outside in and take the inside out. I’m quirky like that!
To do this, it is important for me to add elements to make it feel inviting. This meant adding simple things like a rug, a coffee table, an overhead fan so I can feel the breeze of the outdoors even when it is hot and muggy, and last but not least a place for my plants. Plants make me happy. They remind me to take care of them. They remind me we are all growing. They are a gentle reminder that the areas we feed are the areas where we see growth, not just with plants but in our lives. This is my spot, nothing too fancy, but a place where I contemplate doing the things that feed my soul and remind me of just how blessed I am and how much I love summertime!
Summer outdoor space ideas will help you realize how you can make the outdoors just as cozy as the indoors so you and your family can enjoy your own spot outside too. People are always asking me, “Do you leave your cushions outside in the rain?” The answer is “Yes, yes I do!” Every now and then I may bring them in if it is going to rain for days, but for the most part, if they get wet, the sun comes back out and dries them up. The same for the rug. If it gets wet, it will dry. If they get too dirty, I’ll take them to the laundromat on my lunch hour and throw them in a big oversized washer or I’ll pull out our pressure washer on a warm Saturday and power wash them. Usually, they clean right up, if they come our thread born from the power washer, I take that as a sign it is time for something new and I take a trip to my favorite home stores.
How have you decorated your outdoor spaces this Summer?!
Sources:
Rug-World Market
Stripe pillows- Old Time Pottery
Fan- Home Depot – Allen and Roth
White tray – At Home
Berry Basket and Colander – CVS
Umbrella – At Home
Furniture is several years old and came from a local junk store called A lot Less in Kingston, TN
