Courtyard Planters and French Daybed

Sprucing up the courtyard after the long winter has been underway for several weeks.

 A fresh coat of black paint was needed for a few scuff marks on the French doors,

and I decided to paint the iron urns, as they have been in their original rust

form ever since I got them.

 One on the left just painted, the one on the right still in ancient rust finish.

I was loving the look of the fresh black paint!

Valspar Duramax in Kettle Black was what I used for both the wooden doors and the iron urns. 

It is made for the outdoors and it was really nice to work with. (Not a sponsored post)

Look at how nice everything looked with a fresh coat of paint!

Pretty Piper and Sylvia posed for my Memorial Day flag Instagram post here.

 After trying to install a greenhouse in the courtyard and enduring an epic fail,

I was left with the wood landscape timber platform that was supposed to be the 

base for the greenhouse.  

The platform built for the briefly existing greenhouse....

Because it was chintzy and the wind took it away!!
Anyway,  instead of ripping it apart and removing all the stone,

the solution was to turn it into a destination spot~

 a raised platform for the French daybed and a pair of bistro chairs.

In the meantime the vegetable garden is underway up above in front of

the garden shed and I have to figure out how to get the water up there

in a more attractive manner.  In the meantime the new courtyard layout

is actually pretty nice, and we can have a number of people and still 

be able to practice social distancing easily!

The daybed  is decorated in a French bohemian style.

A mosaic birdhouse in pink adorns the ironwork.

We really enjoy gathering outdoors, and the weather has finally turned for 

the better.  This courtyard is really an entertaining solution right now

during this Covid 19 pandemic.  It hasn't been easy to isolate,

and we are looking forward to seeing loved ones in a safe way out here

during the summer months ahead.

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A White Vinyl Arbor for the Roses

Something was missing.  Ever since last winter when a big windstorm

blew apart our old white wooden arbor, the entrance to the 

upper level where the garden shed sits seemed quite bare.

 Looking out our bedroom window you can best see the 

layout of the garden shed and the row of

arborvitaes that flanked the wooden arbor.

After a nasty storm blew it to bits hubs put two of the peacock

chairs at the entryway, one of which was used to prop up the 

climbing rose that was formerly on the arbor.

Anyway as time passed and spring and summer arrived, I felt the 

desire to rebuild or replace the broken arbor.

 After searching online and reading many reviews of vinyl arbors, 

I selected the Vienna Arbor by New England Arbors company. 

Vinyl can look cheesy and this one seemed to get very good reviews and it

looked fairly substantial. 

 This was definitely a two person job, and hubs took the lead in

assembling the thing, while I held onto various parts as he drilled the set screws.

 After about one hour we took the assembled arch and side posts out to the lawn.

 And then I spotted a big hornets nest right in the middle of one of the arborvitaes!!

 There were so many hornets going in and out and crawling all around the paper nest.

I was more than a little nervous we were going to get stung!

We positioned the arbor a bit further out from the hedge, than it originally sat,

so we could avoid disrupting the hornets to get the darn thing in place.

 The arbor comes with heavy duty inserts for each post leg that get buried below the earth.

You can also choose to put 2x4's inside the legs and set in cement, but we just buried them.

 Its quite nice! Not difficult to assemble if you have someone who is handy

with a drill gun. The screws are the self drilling type, which means you must

firmly push the drill without the screw flying off, and hubs was good at that.

And you need two people holding various parts as it all gets put together. 

 After we set it up, I trained the roses to it and stepped back to admire it!

This company has various styles of arbors in different sizes as well as pergolas and 

other outdoor accents.  This is not a sponsored post, just sharing a good product with you all.

Since we plan to move, the cost of doing this was acceptable and I won't shed a tear to leave it 

behind. Can you believe it was less than $200? And it arrived in just a couple of days!

This Vienna Arbor by New England Arbors was purchased on Amazon.

Easy Peasy!

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Our Home Tour 2017

Our Home Tour 
I recently updated the photos to show how our home looks now.
My rooms are always being redecorated for one season or occasion,
or simply because I am rearranging my furniture!  
Can you relate? 
I hope you enjoy the tour of our home~
From the courtyard and garden shed, to our small front yard,
take a walk around and come on in!

 French Courtyard

Garden tool shed 

Rose arbor and wire bench

White picket fence for the dogs

Our new addition,  little Piper, an English Cream Golden Retriever

Living room image via Romantic Country Magazine Spring 2017

A piano, painted white, is played by our son.

French chair in living room in my favorite toile!

Antique and rare, our blue opaline chandelier drops and goblets.

We use these goblets on Easter to celebrate.

Dining room, french romantic style. 

Purple transferware is my obsession,
as is antique lighting.

 One of many sets of curtains for the dining room, these in pink linen

Our two year old boy, Colby

Purple transferware on the hutch, decked out for Christmas with greens

 French settee I purchased from Designer Matthew Mead, 
which led to our friendship and many adventures

It sits underneath cabinet doors removed from an old built in.

Hallway in the kitchen with an old green bench.

Our cottage kitchen, accents of green

Green and purple do so well together

Piper in the tv room, underneath a landscape mural I painted

A sisal runner in grey for our busy household 

 Our master bed with pretty Belgian spread,
aquamarine is the order of the day.

My favorite antique~this painted table

A restful escape at the end of long days.

Master bathroom countertop has touches of aquamarine as well.

The painted cabinets are a pale Duck Egg blue with gold hardware

His and hers, sinks and chandeliers!

Thanks for visiting! 

Photographs by Matthew Mead and Amy Chalmers. Please do not use without permission.

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