Completing Your Outdoor Space

We are excited to have been selected by the International Housewares Association to contribute to their Inspired Home blog. We have been compensated for our time, but our opinions are, of course, our own.

So a couple of years ago, we designed and built a backyard area that we love, and this week, we got to do this fun story for IHA's Inspired Home blog. The deal for the update was lights everywhere, feather-print everything, and a better entryway than just a forlorn table all alone. We love the results!

Blogging can be a trip, though, for things are rarely what they appear. We set it all up on a sweltering Sunday evening all the while wishing we were really having a party that night. Our cute new stuff sure made the scene look great, and we were pining to share it with others. But 90+ temps after dark may be pushing it when it comes to a relaxing evening for all. One day soon, it'll happen, and we'll be ready.

The second reason blogging is a funny thing is that we're going ahead with a forced renovation (okay, complete gutting) of our original kitchen inside due to a dishwasher leak, a little water wreaking havoc as it can do. But it's hard to undersell how lovely was it to get away from the craziness (all closets emptied, stuff in places that makes no sense for said stuff to be stored, a ripped-out floor, complete chaos so widespread that we can only roll with it and make fun of it) for a night.

It was good just to focus on making one thing that we already love better. Now we're preparing for what's got to be a much calmer and less eventful fall. We'll get creative and see what we can cook in the meantime! We'll let you know how it goes…