My magical garden plan takes shape

 This year's goal for the outside is to pull together different ideas I have conjured up for the outdoor

spaces and get it all to come together.  Last year we created a small peagravel courtyard that is 

accessed by the french doors we added off of our dining room.  When you do everything yourself, it sometimes takes longer to come together, and that has been the hardest part I think.

 That entire project was a dramatic win for me and hubs.  We all use the french doors daily

 as our main access.  So now I really want to finish the courtyard details.  

(Oh....that is my mother in law's Cape with the yellow shutters in the background,

 and now we can go from back door to back door with ease.)

 On the left side of the courtyard I had a hedge of knockout roses which all died, probably due to the digging we did for the courtyard, and then the cold snowless winter.  GAH!  So that means it will need to be replanted (the dead rose garden is out of screen shot on the left).  I think we will skip the roses as our dog seems to love the challenge of chewing and fighting with thorny branches for some bizarre reason...so instead I think it will be a narrow perennial bed, more like a cutting garden for household bouquets.  The iron day bed will be moving to the upper level of the garden next to a garden shed I hope to restore and turn it into a folly.  The gas grill will move closer to the french doors so I don't have to walk across the courtyard to cook dinner, which is almost a nightly occurrence during the summer.  The other changes will include moving the arbor to the upper level as an entrance to my imagined vintage garden space which will contain our garden folly, the kitchen garden (which is essentially tomatoes and basil plants), and the old daybed.  

 The vintage garden area will have vintage garden things of course. 

 Like this day bed, and those old fashioned flower baskets which I just bought

 from a gal who is selling a lot of stuff (more on this later). 

 I imagine filling the flower baskets with garden cuttings, 

or big mounds of mint or whatever is growing. 

 When we move the arbor to the upper level, I want to have hubs and sons dig up one of the arborvitaes in the center so I can squeeze the arbor in the middle of the hedgerow.  Kind of like a secret garden entrance...and the other exciting thing for me and Colby, is that a fence company is coming to install a white spindle picket fence with gates on the lower level (kind of where my dog is posed) so he can have a free run space, instead of always being on a lead if we are outdoors.  This should all be done by July, and I will be blogging about this incessantly step by step.  Haahah.

 In other news, I recently saw a FB notice about a gal selling some things, one of which was the flower basket collection.  I drove up to New Hampshire to pick them up, as well as a french style magazine rack when we got to talking and she mentioned she had purple transferware after I told her I collect it....say what???? She told me to hold on and she went into her house and came back out to the garage where I was waiting. 

 She had a milk crate with a dinner set for 8, almost complete, with a platter and vegetable serving bowl.  Oh boy!! Needless to say, this set came home with me, and I put it into action straight away. 

 Oh, and this was the beautiful cane magazine rack she had....I fell in love with this thing!

 So last night we had a dinner for 8, with some cousins of my husbands, and I happily set the table using the new old transferware set, Tonquin, by Royal Staffordshire. The pattern was designed by Clarice Cliff, who was the first woman designer who was a signed artist for Royal Staffordshire, which I think is a cool little factoid.  In the background you can see my dog and my doors to the courtyard.

 The flowers are in a porcelain watering can that belonged to my mom, 

and when she and dad moved, she gave it to me (I had always admired it). 

 It has held many flowers from her Martha's Vineyard garden, and now it will hold

 my garden flowers.  Its not old or anything like that, but it is very charming I think.

Next week I hope to accompany Matthew Mead to a photo shoot for this amazing stylist.

I will reveal who it is when I share on the blog...if it happens (fingers crossed).

I saw first hand how beautifully she creates spaces at Brimfield, as this was her booth.

If I get to go on the shoot, we will do one of our videos to share 

with you all on our YouTube channel.  

But aside from that I am busy trying to pull together my outdoor spaces.

Over on Instagram I have been obsessing over all kinds of lovely 

garden spaces and sheds, culling my ideas from many different sources.  

This one is just magical and has a mix of the wild and orderly style that I love. 

 Thanks to Country Living  Magazine for sharing it....

if you want to follow me on Instagram, my name is @amymaisondecor

No big surprise there.