Outdoor Dreaming

The weather here is beautiful. I had the windows and patio door open all day yesterday! The warm weather and cool breeze gave me the urge to design our patio. We're lucky to have a wrap around patio on our 1 bedroom apartment. It gives us the opportunity to add another living space to enjoy during the spring and summer.

I designed this space first and foremost to be very budget friendly, but also chic and sophisticated. If you know me, I love neutrals so of course this is the direction I went..




The patio set is a steal at $228 and has great reviews. It looks very comfortable too! The size is great for an apartment patio as well.

Our patio flooring is cold, scratchy concrete. So I would love to get this Dash & Albert rug to put underfoot. A 3x5 at $84 is the perfect size for the larger part of the patio.

On top of the rug, I'd put this new chaise from Ikea. Doesn't it look like the perfect place to read a book or old Domino?


I'd make some throw pillows in this outdoor fabric I found.

Some of my favorite things are hanging lanterns...





I found these, three for $39, I'd hang them from the top of our patio.



They'd be perfect with pillar candles!

The entire space is under $600. I think this would be a good investment, don't you? ;)

Ikea Saves The Summer

To me, Ikea is fun to look at but I rarely purchase anything from them. (unless it's small stuff like votive holders, etc).

But they blew me away with their summer collection! I finally think I can outfit our backyard for pennies, just in time for the weather to get "outdoor dining" ready!











Steals and Deals I'm putting on my wish list:


Outdoor Dining Set - $139


Folding Table - $20


Black & White Chair Pad - $29


Outdoor Lanterns - $15


There are so many more great things - check it out here.

Happy Friday!

We are spending the majority of the weekend working on our backyard, so to inspire me, here are some great outdoor spaces from myhomeideas.com:










(I actually want to try doing this: This roofless, 10-foot-square room uses translucent mosquito netting for walls. Bamboo poles slip into sleeves centered in four large flowerpots -- one at each corner -- and tie to horizontal rods supporting the netting. You can build it in a weekend.)

Let's talk about the weather...

I know that weather-related topics are probably one of the most dull things I can blog about - but I promise I have good intentions!

Yesterday was 4 degrees shy of breaking a heat record in our little Orange County town. It was SO HOT! Here are the stats, thanks to accuweather.com:

High Temperature:
Actual: 97°F
Normal: 76°F
Record: 100°F

Matt and I are very stubborn when it comes to putting on the AC, so to help us cool off rather than kicking it on we headed down 20 minutes to Laguna Beach. Apparently in Laguna, they DID hit a record:

High Temperature:
Actual: 95°F
Normal: 73°F
Record: 95°F

but thanks to ocean breezes, it was a beautiful day. Grabbing a Starbucks and plopping down on a bench at the beach to people watch makes the HCOL worth it sometimes.

So on to more exciting things... Matt and I bought a patio set yesterday! The heat wave was definitely a wake-up call that we needed to start getting our outdoor living area actually livable. The set was only $175 thanks to Bed, Bath & Beyond's 20% coupon mailers. Here it is:


This set is a great start to my plans of re-vamping the backyard. Even though it's not actually a dining set, we still managed to eat outside last night with our plates on our laps.

Thankfully, the weather gods realized it's not August and the upcoming weather will be much better:



This weekend's weather will be perfect to work on the landscaping.

Our First Garden

Today Matt and I planted our very first garden! I don't have pictures yet and we still have a lot to do... but I love how it looks so far. I love flowers and I am crossing my fingers I can keep them alive!

In lieu of pictures, I'll leave you with this....

Inexpensive Design

I love finding great design at great prices. I just added this to my Birthday Wish List (on the side of my blog, It's two months away but hey never too early to start wishing!).

I love the modern lines of the chairs - and the price! At Wal-Mart it's $179 and I've seen it in a BB&B Mailer for around $125.

I think it will be a great first piece for our patio.



I can just imagine it with a white long tablecloth that touches the ground, a lantern in the middle with candles and some nice juicy steaks with our best friends on a warm summer night.

Here is a little inspiration for future nights outside:




From gardenrooms.typepad.com

Outdoor Update

I changed a couple things on my Outdoor Idea Board... sorry to be repetitive to my readers :)

I can't wait to start developing an outdoor living area!



And again, here is a picture of our space. It's since become overgrown (this is the seller's photo), but Matt and I are slowly but surely fixing it up. How do you keep a hill from becoming overgrown? It's not an easy task :/

Dreaming about Outdoor Living

I've been dreaming about outdoor living! The weather here in Southern California has been a little finicky, BUT we've had some 78 degree days. This just makes me yearn for an outdoor living space.

We have the space, we just need the "stuff!".

I've been surfing online, and found a few very reasonably priced pieces that would really be great for our space:



Outdoor Lounges (Set of 2): $199.00
Ikea Dining Table & Chairs : $150.00 (Okay, so this isn't made for outdoor. BUT this table comes unfinished - I would paint it black with outdoor paint/stain and seal it).
Outdoor Wine Rack & Storage: $150 (This would be SO great for parties! It holds wine glasses and wine bottles.
Houndstooth Outdoor Rug: $69 (this is the best find so far - what a great price and how chic is this? I may have to order it right away before I have anything else).

Pro/Con

Pro: M and I have a to-die-for backyard, especially by Southern CA standards. We are more than lucky. I'd say embarrassingly spoiled.

Con: We have no money to turn it into a FUNCTIONAL backyard. Sometimes on warm sunny days I go and lay on the concrete.

So in honor of spring being around the corner (come on, Spring!), here is some backyard inspiration. SOMEDAY we can hopefully have something as half as nice...















Images curtsy of HGTV's Rate My Space