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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New: Cupola installation, Bohemian rug runner, and Cabana curtains

This post is all about DIY projects that have finally been completed. 

Way off in the distance, do you spy our new cupola? 

 It is incredibly darling, don't you agree?

I am overjoyed with how it enhances the shed, and our gardens. 

 The shed is almost hidden by the large arborvitaes that create the private area that holds a

small tomato garden and the garden shed.  So adding the cupola makes it more visible from

the lower levels of the yard and courtyard, and even from the street.  

A dog weathervane in Piper's likeness sits atop this small wooden cupola I found on a FB yardsale site after a quick search.  The family that never used it, sold it to me and coincidentally they had 5 golden retrievers themselves, one being an English Cream, like Piper. It was meant to be...

Mr. Maison Decor had a friend who crafted a spinner piece so the weathervane will move with the wind.  Originally it was made to be a decorative piece and attached in one permanent direction.

This was the moment he placed it on the top of the tiny shed, and my heart skipped a beat.  I have been in love with cupolas forever, and finally I have one to call my own.  Yippee!

The other thing that finally happened was installing black and white cabana curtains to frame the cellar entrance that leads to my son's apartment.  Our house sits sideways on the lot, and this side faces the front of the street so it was nice to enhance it a little bit.

The entry to our house is accessed by the old granite stairs at the far end.  The cabana curtains add a decorator flair to the house, where once there was none.

A porch swing my dad made decades ago hangs in the enclosed space.  

These are all part of the things I have been doing to get ready for the book shoot with Nora Murphy. The feeling I have is that if its going to be captured forever in the pages of a book, I would hate to not try my best to get projects completed that have been in the "to do list" in my head.  My wish list, as it were.  We all have them....and maybe they get put off, and ignored.  So the book shoot has made them come alive and give me sleepless nights.  Can I get this or that done before Nora??  Life is busy and full at our house, and so getting projects done is more daunting because of my other jobs at home.  So any that I do get finished gives me a sense of fulfillment, because I know how hard it was to pull it off.  Piper and Colby are fast friends, with Piper taking the lead in the house. No doubt about it, she is a confident dog, and its been fun to watch her play with Colby.  He is so gentle with her, and they have their routine down pat now, leaping from dog bed to dog bed, chasing toys and tug of war.  

Another thing on my to do wish list, was to have a carpet runner installed to the third floor.  For one reason, it helps the dogs to safely navigate the stairs, and since Piper is growing like a weed, we won't be carrying her up and down much longer.  I found this pretty bohemian patterned rug at Joss and Main (online store) and ordered two 12' runners.  We had them professionally installed and it really finished off the space.  A collection of vintage art work hangs on one side, and it makes for a pretty walk up to bed each night. 

So life in the country is simply grand around here....

and after the book shoot I think I will relax so I can enjoy the 

entire month of August  with the hubs and kids and 
with little or NO projects at all!

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A French Style Courtyard Comes to Life

What a dump!  

Seriously, our "back yard" did not exist just a couple years ago. It was 

behind the house and a very narrow strip with only one window on the lower level. A totally

awkward space that became the spot to dump things.  Husband was amassing a pile of granite boulders and little did I know that they would become the foundation for a French Country Courtyard.  Courtyards are narrow, and usually made of stone, and over time I put a vision and a wish list together.  We ended up with a space that the entire family loves!

Starting with French doors that replaced the lone window in our dining room, this door is now the most used entry in the house.  The rest of the facade was blank space and so a pair of vinyl trellises added some detail and architectural interest.  The fireplace vent was hidden by a birdhouse constructed from an old wooden crate that we added a simple roof and cedar shingles.  A few holes drilled out for the birds, and a big post was all it took to make it look like it belonged in the flower bed.  That vent bugged the heck out of me, and I just had to figure out someway to hide it.  It turned out to be a very good solution.  In the fall when it comes time to vent the fireplace, we will take it down and store it in the shed until the spring.  

 This shows how the birdhouse was attached to the house. We used an L bracket in addition to attaching the post to the base with wood.  Below you can see the birdhouse in its raw formation.

The crate we used was an old one that fit over the vent nicely.  You could build one out of scrap wood if you need to construct one from scratch.  I love that we made this just using things around the house and the yard.  The moldings are old painted moldings I had from my Maison Decor workshop days, and then the tiny roof overhangs were made by cutting the corners off of a rectangular wooden photo frame.  We glued all the moldings in place with wood glue and when it dried, we painted it in a shabby fashion with white Chalk Paint. Easy to do, it took us about two hours. 

 This is a closer view of the rustic table I created, simply by laying barn board planks on top of the old iron lattice patio table that I have had for years.  (You can see the iron set in the before photo sitting on the lawn.)Hubs drilled a hole in the center of one of the wider boards so the umbrella could slide through, and then the other random width planks were set side by side and we screwed it together underneath on each end to unify it.  This is SO EASY!! And it completely changed the feeling in the courtyard.  The next thing on my list for the rustic dining space was to get rid of the iron patio chairs and replace with all weather wicker chairs.  I wanted a greyish wicker, but none were to be found. At least in my price range...

 Then this set at Lowes caught my eye, and I snapped up 6 of them at $60 a piece.  Not a bad price for all weather wicker with steel construction.  They are so comfortable and I love the way they look with the wood table as well as the color of the rustic iron daybed. I only needed four for the table, but I knew I would be kicking myself if I didn't get two more to use in the conversation area opposite the daybed.  I bet they will be going on sale any minute now, but I had to have them for the photo shoot that was about to take place, and I thought the price was pretty good even not on sale. 

All of the changes combined to create this wonderful European style space behind the house.  Matthew Mead shot the courtyard for his spring issue UPSTYLED HOME magazine.  We spent the day yesterday fluffing and styling it to perfection!

Matthew has such an array of props, whenever he shoots he offers to bring some of his stash, and I am always in LOVE with what he pulls out of his pickup truck.  Like these purple linen embroidered placemats and napkins.  They looked beautiful with the wood top and vintage china  I had for the table setting.  Some newer glassware in purple and green with gold embossed details came from HomeGoods.  We used rustic galvanized pots and tubs and pails to hold the bushels of flowers he brought for the shoot.

My mora clock came outside for a bit of whimsy and in the end we decided to nix it, and it ended up propped up against the fence until it went back into the dining room.  Stacks of purple transferware and scattered plums decorated the tabletop.

Matthew brought old purple toile bedspreads and we used them to dress up the daybed for the shoot.

I adored them!! You can also see my idea for a "coffee table" was a cube shaped granite block.  I normally put a tole tray on it, but for the shoot we used my gigantic turkey platter in purple transferware.  A bottle of purple clad champagne for Costco worked nicely too.

The other large undertaking was the completion of the shed and vegetable garden area on the upper terrace.  Just the day before the shoot two of my sons and husband spread about 5 tons of pea gravel over a weed barrier all around the shed and the little vegetable garden.  Wow, what a difference that made!  Its an enchanting little spot now.  Pea gravel is the key element to creating that French style courtyard space, and its inexpensive and pretty easy to do do yourself.  So have some delivered and get out your wheelbarrow and make a precious little space for your own enjoyment.  That spot that no one uses or looks ugly....could it be transformed somehow?  Take a second look around your own home and yard and see if you can create a courtyard for yourself.  I wish I had thought of this sooner, as it has been ten years now that we have lived here. 

Without makeup and fancy clothes...we met in the courtyard bright and early so Matthew could capture everything.  What a fun and exhausting day.  I can't wait to see it come to life in the pages of a magazine.

I hope this gives you ideas on how to UPSTYLE things to use in your outdoor spaces.  

Oh, and I couldn't resist hanging my old shop sign above the back door.  

The kids thought it would look awful, but they all loved it when it got hung up....and so did I.  

Its now Maison Decor, the restaurant, serving only family and friends, of course. 

And who doesn't love a good before and after?

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French door for the shed and filming with Matthew Mead

 So much progress to talk about in regards to the ramshackle shed project!

As you can see its looking quite finished, which it practically is now.

Instead of using just an old screen door I had from Brimfield, I spotted a pair of

old french doors for sale on a Facebook yardsale page, so I ran off to buy them.

I hoped I could have the pair of them on the shed, but together they were too wide,

so we settled for one.  I painted it black and hubs installed it for me with my help.

Its quite darling, and since the shed is very tiny and has no windows, this glass

door seems to be the perfect solution for both adding style and light to the structure.

 Since I hate heights, even the shortest of heights, Justin did the entire roof 

with the cedar shingles.  Topping it off with a cedar shingle ridge treatment,

it is finished and basically waterproof now! 

 The idea to stain the exterior with a solid white was so it would go along with the house and the white arbor.  Using a big fat 5" wide brush made short work of painting the siding.  I still have two sides left to do, and that will likely be done next week.

 It is really adorable and I can't wait to clean up the site, put away the saws and ladders and all the tools.  Then move in my rakes and shovels and gardeny stuff.  The interior is not going to be all dolled up, its just going to be a utilitarian garden shed.  Over time that may change, but I have a small tomato garden that is going gangbusters and I just want to keep up with the watering and weeding and staking of the plants. 

The arbor needs a coat of the same stain, so I have been tackling that as well.

I also whipped up a new umbrella cover using Sunbrella Cabana Classic in black and white

which looks pretty with the black door and the white siding of the shed.

I will post more on how I did that project, but in essence it was simply taking off the umbrella

fabric (did you know you can do that?) and then copying it as a pattern to cut new fabric pieces

and then sew them together. Much quicker and cheaper than buying a new umbrella!

 So the shed is part of the backyard transformation, and it is really 

looking cute back here in the courtyard.  After I get all the tools put

away I will share some pics.

 In other news I have been doing a few things with Matthew Mead.  Yesterday he came out 

to the house to photograph my office studio for the magazine, Where Women Create.  

He brings flowers for the shoots he does, and they are an essential ingredient to a room looking as 

pretty as it can possibly be....and so after it was over I put one of the arrangements on the 

dining room table and I just loved how pretty it looked in the room.
Flowers really bring a room to life.

 Colby has recovered from being neutered and is just being terrific.  He is getting more affectionate as he gets older, and his one year birthday is coming next week, so we will be celebrating with a steak dinner for all!! 

The other fun thing I did last week was appear in a short film that Matthew Mead is 

preparing for the Haven Conference in August.  Haven is a conference for bloggers.  Yup,

like most industries with their conferences, blogging has several, and Haven is a big one.

While I was in a lot of the film with Matthew, sometimes I was watching him

 shoot his bits, and so I filmed a bit of the behind the scenes.  

Wouldn't it be fun to see more of this?  

He is so much fun to hang with, 

and some of this will be on our next Youtube video. 

 Stay tuned for that...and the shed....

and Colby's birthday party!

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