House Tour: Gravel Patio

The gravel patio was one of the first projects I took on this summer.  We had a corner of our yard that was a little scary.  There were piles of leaves, weeds, and a lot ugly bugs!  I've been working on cleaning up the area since we've been married, but this year I finally had a vision for what the space could be.  After doing some research on Pinterest, or course, I decided to turn it into a gravel patio where we could have a fire pit.

I added some potted plants for color.

I love plants with interesting foliage.  Coleus is one of my favorites for adding to summer pots.  I also have some impatiens, caladium, and asparagus fern.  Caladium has a tuber.  I'm going to try to dig it up and save it over the winter.  I'll try to overwinter my asparagus fern too.  

Here I have a different variety of calladium with an ornamental perennial grass.  I'll stick him in the ground over the winter.  I have a spider plant with a fuchsia.

I just love the bright pink, bell-like flowers of the fuchsia.  I wish it were a perennial.  Larissa tells me I can save it over the winter.

These adirondack chairs are a great place to enjoy the fire!

I created this chandelier out of a hanging plant basket and some beads.  I spray painted them a pretty turquoise color.  The inspiration came from this website. I left it a little more open so I can add a tap light to the chandelier when it gets dark outside.

I hope you enjoyed the little tour!  Let me know what you think in the comments!

Linking up with: DIY By Design

Scenes from Summer: Part II

Well friends, summer is coming to a close.  I thought I'd share some scenes from summer that didn't make it into an official blog post.  I hope you enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Larissa's Garden

Last week I had the opportunity to briefly visit my sister.  When I say brief, I mean that I was at her house a total of about 12 hours.  In what little time I spent there, I knew I needed to take some pictures of her lovely garden to share with you!

Check out her limelight hydrangea.  It looks gorgeous.  I was thinking of getting a few, but I think this variety is a little too big for the space I need to fill.

Her shade garden looks great.  I would love to have a shade garden but I don't have the patience to cut through tree roots.

Larissa's dahlia's are beautiful.  She really take a lot of pride in them, and it shows.  They are one of her favorite flowers.

I call this her kitchen garden.  She has herbs, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Her hanging baskets are gorgeous, too.  I love the fuchsia in this basket.  She gave me a small fuchsia that I have in my a pot on my patio.

Here's a shot of the front of her house.  It's a cute little Cape Cod.

Thanks for letting me share your garden!  It looks beautiful as usual!

Scenes from Summer: Part I

Well friends, summer is coming to a close.  I start back to work this week.  I thought I'd share some scenes from summer that didn't make it into an official blog post.  I hope you enjoy!

Enjoy the weekend!

House Tour: Porch

Hello!  I hope you are having a fabulous week.  We had some rough weather at the beginning of the week, but today is absolutely gorgeous.  Today I'm going to begin to share our outdoor space with you.  I've decided to break it up into a few posts and the first is the porch.  It's not really a porch.  It's a breezeway that we've taken full advantage of.

I picked up this faux wicker loveseat at JC Penney last year.  It was seriously discounted.  I think it was a leftover from the previous year, and it's just the right size for this small space.  The garden stools came from Ross, as did the rug.  The rug is not an outdoor rug.  The area is covered so the rug is fine, but I think I'll go for an outdoor rug next time.

We store our grill in the breezeway, and roll it out when we cook.  The wire chairs came from my favorite local antique shop and I spray painted them mint green.  The side table came from another vintage shop.

The rattan hanging light also came from The Antique Marketplace in Lemoyne.

Potted plants are a great accessory to any outdoor space.  I love coleus.  I have two varieties here, as well as some impatients, oxalis, and a fern.

This wind chime is the newest addition to the porch.  I love that it hangs right outside the kitchen.  I can open a window to let some fresh air in and listen to the sound of it as it blows in the breeze.

What do you think?  Do you have a shady outdoor space you can enjoy?

Linking up: Suburbs Mama, The Tablescaper, Flamingo Toes, Nifty Thrifty Things, DIY by Design

Field Trip: Lititz

A few weeks ago a friend and I had the chance to visit the charming little Central Pennsylvania town of Lititz.  The town offers a variety of unique shops and restaurants that make it the perfect place to take the day and explore.

We got there around lunch time.  We decided to have lunch at Tomato Pie Cafe.  I had to have the tomato pie.  It was served with a small salad.  It was the perfect way to start our visit.

One of my favorite shops in Lititz is called Olio.  You can taste and shop for a variety of flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

I took home a bottle of scallion olive oil and lemon balsamic vinegar.

Lititz has several consignment and vintage shops that we had fun exploring.

I hope you have the chance to check out downtown Lititz sometime soon.  It's a fun way to spend an afternoon.