Outdoor Planters

hey y'all (i'm watching the cmt music awards as i write this so it feels appropriate 😉)! yesterday i was excited to share my collab with one kings lane and their new melamine plates. check out the blog post here featuring yours truly and a few other bloggers. shop the whole look by clicking on the photo in the "shop the feed" section to the right or i've also linked it here. we are more than ready for outdoor eating around here.

floral plate | gingham plate | placemat (similar) | runner | napkin

flatware | gold glass | tray | pitcher | chair | table (similar)

and speaking of the great outdoors, i saw a few outdoor planters that caught my eye and would really freshen up the outside of any house. ratty planters (and ugly house numbers!) can really deter from the overall look of a home. give these a try!

top row: left | middle | right

middle row: left | middle | right

bottom row: left | middle | right

and of course some inspo images to get those creative juices flowing :)

via @lavinlabel

via @the_fox_group

via @homebunch

via better homes & gardens

Weekend Happenings

and just like that it's already getting toward the end of april. how did that happen?! happy patriot's day new englanders! our super historic town as a parade every year but i'm bummed because this year it looks like a wash out :(

so it seems that i have been on an unlucky streak lately - after the coffee table fail, i met with our contractor on friday who said our shutters had come in. i was so excited! buuut then when he brought them to the house, we saw that they were not the style that we had ordered. fail #2. we can have them re-made but the lead time is like 4 weeks which is just annoying. and last but not least, i woke up early and went with my mom to target for the lilly pulitzer collection release. we walked in the door at 8:02am and everything was GONE. empty racks, crazy lines, i even saw a little tiff! the store supposedly opens at 8 but they had to have opened early - guess we missed the memo. clearly not the end of the world but just my luck as of late. oh! but if you have to have something - check out ebay where things are going for triple the prices and more!

we did make some progress outside though - special thanks to mimi and pop pop for coming up and being great babysitters (of the human and canine variety) and the very best gardener (mimi). hydrangeas dead headed and grasses cut back!

mr. r and i also put up new house numbers which were just a teensy weensy bit hard to make even and straight but in the end they really look good. huge improvement over what was slapped up there before!

and lastly, i finally opened up a roll of that serena & lily wallpaper that i feel like i practically stole and held it up in various places in the entry and stairs. i really love the pattern and color but i'm still not convinced that it works with the runner. trying to decide if there is another spot for it. :)

and that's that for today!

Outdoor Planters

now that it's warm i can officially start working on the outside of our house instead of just dreaming about it! i talked before about our plans to spruce up the outside of our house with shutters, lighting, and some new landscaping. on the more minor side, our planters have bit the dust this year so i started looking at pinterest for some inspiration on shape, size, and color. found lots of eye candy :)

Tax Free Weekend Score!

in massachusetts we have this little thing called tax-free weekend where they waive the sales tax on anything under $2,500. so we took full advantage and bought a mattress for one of my little ones (already had a mattress for one), a dresser for the other little one, and as it happens an outdoor console (remember this post?). i saw online that the console was on sale but to get tax free you have to purchase from a store. so i called our local pottery barn who happened to be having a floor model sale and the console that i loved so much was 20% off. eh, ok not great but i asked if they could do any better and they took another $100 off. plus i had a handy little 15% off up my sleeve which in total knocked it down to 40% off. ok now we're talking! when i factored in no tax and no shipping, which is always a disgusting amount, it seemed too good to pass up. even mr. r agreed. ;)

i think i talked a lot about our new outside table but never really shared it here. well here it is!

have a great weekend - can't believe it's the end of august!!

Outdoor Console Table

our new outdoor table came last week and we are loving the extra space! we cleaned the porch up yesterday (for the 18th time this year - damn pollen) and had dinner outside. it's just so nice. especially with the globe lights on :)

anyway, we have this really old piece of furniture that serves as a catch all for anything that we don't want to put on the table - like a drink tub. but i noticed last weekend that it's completely rotted! totally unsalvageable which is annoying because it's nice to have a little storage out there. i keep seeing great outdoor console tables/bars that would be nice to have one day (but first we need to save up and prioritize - like the boys' rooms!).

the most basic option - and also very small - would be an outdoor bar cart like this one from west elm. bar carts are so in - inside or out!

this one is from serena and lily and the top slides off and there is a built in drink storage area inside.

this is from west elm again and has more storage but it's an actual bar and the counter overhangs in the back so you can pull up stools. wouldn't really work for my needs but it's pretty.

this one is from pottery barn and i like the concrete top - breaks up some of the wood.

here is another built in drink tub with plenty of space for other stuff too. from crate and barrel.

what other options or ideas have you seen? these are all from the "expected" sources but i keep thinking home goods would have something, well, good. ;)

Werk. And Some Porch Lights.

work is back to being in a bad bad place. sorry for the silence. no time for blogging or even just relaxing really. sucks. and just to show how much i've lost my mind...i walked into tj maxx/home goods last week wearing this.

yep not even close and the thing is they actually feel really different on!! but i didn't even realize until i tried on a pair of shoes (jack rogers wedges actually that were pretty cute) and then went to put my shoes back on. i literally said out loud "why are there two different shoes here?" like totally dumbfounded. explains a weird look i got in the parking lot!

but getting to the point... a while ago we strung some outdoor globe lights on our porch and we've been loving how it looks, especially at night, so i thought i'd share!

the ceiling fan is a bit of an eye sore but so worth it! anyway, you can find these lights lots of places and some of the prices i've seen are insane - like $100+ for one string! i opted for the target version which are $15 (or maybe $20 max) for a string of 25!

the string part is green like christmas tree lights which isn't really my favorite and makes it stick out against our white ceiling. we used little white hooks to hang the strings so at least those disappear. i strung the lights completely randomly so they crossed over and under a bunch. and obviously kept clear of the fan :) at night it really does look magical! from inside...

and from outside...

Hello!

hello there. i'm tired and busy and have no time thus a very random post for today.. but we did have a good weekend! pool, playing, and ice cream for the boys. and some lounging and wine for the adults :)

a few weeks ago i painted a little table red for C's room (posted it on ig) but i decided it was too bright red. unfortunately in order to repaint it i had to sand the whole thing down first which was my project yesterday. i hate sanding bleh. but it's done so this week i can try out a new color (and this time test it on something first!).

we also somehow ended up getting a new outdoor table. actually this was a sanctioned purchase and something we needed. our current table squeezes 6 but if you want to put any food on it then good luck. we had some people over a few weekends ago and it was embarrassing trying to fit everyone. the new one can seat up to 10 but the best part is that it's an extension table and the two leaves fold up in the table so there's no hassle with taking them out and storing them. like this...

in my haste on friday, i forgot to include one of the best sales going on - serena and lily! my mom is getting new twins beds for their guest room and ordered the new balboa headboards. love.

there are so many things on my wishlist from s&l. their summer catalog makes me want to pick up and move to california like yesterday.

Take The Mint Out!!

like immediately. my total lack of knowledge in the garden is showing! a friend of mine texted me at 8:15 yesterday morning and said "take the mint out of your planter!!" so thankful she read my post! apparently mint is very strong and will take over the whole bed. so i ran out and got a smaller pot where it can live happily without killing it's neighbors. (thank you for the tip LB!!)

now i'm almost afraid to show what i did in the planters - but here goes! (last year's here)

the tall purple flowers are actually perennials which i now know means that they are meant to be planted in the ground and come up every year. so after this summer i can give them a new home somewhere in one of our beds. most importantly i was looking for flowers that can take full sun and all of these claim to.

in other news the woodpecker was back at our bedroom wall, this time before 6am. and the kids slept through the night so it's not like i was not awake anyway which is doubly infuriating. drilling a hole into the side of our house is one thing but messing with our sleep is a totally different story. beware woodpecker.

My Weekend

hey hey hey. you guys. we have a woodpecker and it's mistaking our house for a tree. for two mornings in a row now at 6 am it has started pounding into the siding. it literally sounds like a jackhammer. it's crazy! how do we get it to stop?!

anyway, how was your long weekend? all weekends should be 3 days. mine was very nice - i held a 5 day old infant which was sooo nice especially when you aren't awake all night with them (!), had a toddler playdate which is always comical and inevitably ends in someone crying over sharing :), and enjoyed some long, late dinners.

we were also super productive and did a bunch of things outside like setting up our veggie planter, patching up a few places in the lawn that were destroyed over the winter, and filling up the planters purty flowers. only thing was that the weather kinda blew up here in ne. it's late may. 50s are not cool.

so with the garden bed i ended up going with the first option in this post made by gronomics. two day free shipping from amazon! i realllly loved the metal one (third one in the post) but my mom made a great point that it might get hot sitting out in the sun which didn't seem like a great idea with little ones, or anyone with hands who might touch it for that matter. the gronomics planter was a cinch to build, especially since the hubby did the building ;), and i planted three kinds of tomatoes, basil, thyme, rosemary, and mint. you may have seen on instagram:

i really hope i can remember to water regularly. ;) it's tuesday already yay!

Crate And Barrel Is Killing It Too!

ok clearly i need a new title :) but the summer planters and plants at crate & barrel are awesome! loving their stuff! bought a few things for our mantle (not a major decorating project so i'm not in violation!) but it would be easy to go crazy with all of their stuff outside too!

have a great - and warm(er) - weekend!!

Raised Garden Beds

opinions needed! i'm looking for a raised garden bed to plant some tomatoes, herbs, and whatever else looks fun this summer with the boys. i've found a bunch of options and hoped that someone with a (much) greener thumb than me can give some opinions on what's best!

the one that everyone (like home depot, target, crate and barrel, etc) seems to carry is by gronomics. i like the simple design.

then there's the vegtrug that has more of a v shape and fits up against a wall (though i don't know how much i care about that).

what about a shelf? would it be helpful to have a shelf below? i found this metal version with wheels that i love because you could easily move it around.

then there's a cedar version with a shelf.

so many options! help!