While I'm still waiting to move my entire wardrobe and office into the boy's place (or "our" place as he keeps reminding me) I decided that the little deck needed a major makeover in honor of this style (e)scapes week! Since we live in Seattle, and won't be using it year-round, I need to do a quick makeover on a tiny budget. And yes, it was completely empty when I started... but as of yesterday?
Done and done! As I mentioned earlier, it's important to think about how you're going to be using a space before creating it. For us, it's Sunday morning coffee and late afternoon drinks on the patio. We won't be doing tons of entertaining, and the space isn't really large enough to accommodate that many people anyway, so I didn't want to crowd it with unnecessary pieces. I created a little 'seating area' by throwing down one of those cheap-o beach mats (instead of splurging on an outdoor rug) and think it makes a huge difference in completing the space!
The palette actually came from the plants I chose (backwards again!) We hit Lowe's to load up on plants, and I went for a palette of dark leafy beauties with bright flowers and a few splashes of intense bright green. I found the wicker chairs on sale at Cost Plus, and the cushions there just happened to be perfect! The pale grey pots are all Ikea, while the aqua I found at Ross. I decided to protect the stools a bit by putting down bright dishes from Urban Outfitters for an extra splash of color under the pots.
The red side table was a piece I already had. A hand-me-down bamboo style that I lacquered up in bright red! The ice bucket is one I've also had forever, and will hopefully soon be filled with ice cold beers, wine and champagne! As for the stools - I wanted to purchase a few small ceramic ones to prop those plants up on, but couldn't find any in my budget that I loved. I found these stools at Target for $15, and love that we could actually use them for seating if we want to! Now, I can't wait to sit back enjoy the results!
