Shortly after moving into my new home, I learned that people here love to make outdoor rooms–on screened porches and, sometimes, literally outdoors on a patio or some other hard outdoor surface, like, maybe, the upper part of a driveway.
Here’s a picture of the screened porch on the back of the house just after I moved in.
I brought the wood Adirondack chairs and the round table from Maine when I knew I’d have a porch for them–and, also, the Sunbrella cushions I had for the chairs, which came many years ago from LL Bean. These chairs were made locally in Maine and are so sturdy.
The little dark brown pottery pitcher has been with me for decades and decades now. It last sat on my beloved Reynolds, Georgia, grandmother’s back steps. It was probably locally made way way way back in the day. Grandmother loved all the shades of brown, and so it reminds me of her. And, it reminds me that she loved her gardens and worked in them a lot. They were famous in her small Georgia town.
The big blue pot was the only one I brought from Maine. At one time I had so many container pots and planted them in early spring so that the Maine house was surrounded by flowers all summer.
“You might like an outdoor rug on that screened porch,” DIL Tami said. “You might like to make an outdoor room to enjoy most of the year.” And realtor/friend Lisa Hartley said “I found an outdoor rug at Target a few years back that is wearing outside beautifully. We just hosed it off this spring and it looks like new.”
Target ships right to your house for free, and prices are super reasonable. I spent many hours pouring over pictures of outdoor rugs. And when I identified three I liked, both Tami and granddaughter Talula picked the same rug from the three I showed them–separately, not together. So I ordered it.
The two new navy blue Adirondack cushions came from LLBean. And the throw pillows from Target. The pillows were cheaper than anything I could make. I do bring them inside if I know it is going to rain–as the rain can blow well into the porch.
Next I found a very reasonably priced wooden outdoor coffee table that Target shipped to me. I put it together myself–which was very satisfying. Fake flowers from Target went into my grandmother’s brown pitcher–they are meant to be feathery, like beach grass. Bryan trimmed the long metal stems for me with a wire cutter. I am not a fan of fake flowers, but these will stand up to the outdoor weather. The green plant in its white holder came from realtor-friend Lisa when I moved into the house. The white cyclamen came from builder D. R. Horton to welcome me to my new home. And shells I’ve found on the beach are filling up the straw basket on the coffee table.
I did borrow two small conch shells from the buckets of shells at Bryan and Corinne’s the other day–breaking my rule of only bringing home what I have found on the beach. They were just too cute to resist.
I ordered one more piece from Target–a round wooden outdoor table that will go under Lisa’s plant and will be somewhat like the table on the other side of the double seat that I brought from Maine. It came and I put it together too. These Target pieces of furniture will weather grey in time, but I do wipe them off when they get wet.
I planted the big blue pot with rosemary, which is really hardy here. I have already clipped some for a roasted butternut squash dish.
As shown in yesterday’s post, the blinds ordered from Best Buy Blinds, Inc, the folks who did the plantation shutters in the house, were delivered and installed Thursday, so my outdoor room is finished. I am so enjoying it, and I eat lunch while reading out there most days. Sometimes I sit out there and hand sew or knit. This outdoor room is just a lovely place to sit and spend some time outdoors.
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