Day 421

Something really awesome is starting to take shape on my front porch...

Treehouse Point

These amazing structures in the Snoqualmie Valley of Washington state give a whole new meaning to the word "treehouse"!









Photos by Treehouse Point. Found via Sunset.

Garden smut: Rock, plants, water

Location: San Luis Obispo, California
Landscape architect: Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture

Garden smut: Blue green aspen

Location: three homes in Aspen, Colorado
Landscape architect: Blue Green

Patio color palettes

I'm still at the daydreaming stage for my backyard. I can't do much other than that until we get the stucco done, which they'll hopefully start in a week or two. In the meantime, I'm searching high and low for inspiring photos. Here are a few I found a while back on Coco + Kelley, organized by color palette or by their contemporary vibe. If you have a favorite patio photo you'd like to share, please let me know!

Big Fork, Montana guest house

The outdoor "living room" at this Montana guest house is bigger than the indoor living room. That's my kind of place. The house was built using a lot of reclaimed material.



I could sit for hours on this porch.



Followed by hours on this daybed by the fireplace.



And here's a fun detail that shows how you can salvage just about anything. These wood baseboards come from an old corral. Anyone who's ever had a horse will recognize the half moon shapes in the top of the wood caused by a bored horse spending hours chewing on the boards. What a clever use of them!

From Mountain Living.

The Linen Works

I'm really digging these table linens from UK company The Linen Works.

Rehabbed Airstream

A while back I saw some old Airstream trailers that had been completely refinished inside. Coupled with my desire for a cute trailer to take camping, it seemed like a great idea: Buy a dump of an old trailer, refurbish it, and hit the road and do some exploring.

The husband nixed the idea. He doesn't like being limited to seeing places that are accessible to Airstream trailers.

So I tucked it away in the back of my brain, and then, a few days ago, Faryl over at City Lady Country Girl, started posting about her own little infatuation with Airstream trailers. And now it's on the front of my brain again. And so when a post about this refurbished trailer came up this morning, I knew it MUST be a sign that I am meant to have one!









So as soon as I finish the house remodel, I'll be on the lookout for an old dump of a trailer to refinish. And then I'll give it to my husband as a birthday or anniversary present, and that way he can't say no. Hee hee.

This gorgeous trailer is from MoCo LoCo, via Dude Craft.

Outdoor shed/studio

My new letterpress is (sadly) still sitting on the trailer, waiting to go for its soda blasting treatment, which means I have more time to fantasize about a little studio that it can call home.

I'm fascinated with this outdoor shed/studio designed by Joseph Sandy using reclaimed redwood fencing.






Found via Remodelista.

Smell the air

I am ready to sit in the grass under a tree strung with candles in mason jars. And do nothing but relax and smell the air.

Photo by One Love Photo, found via Veiled Vows via Style Me Pretty.

Water features

We're planning to include a water feature once we finally get around to the landscaping in our backyard. Here are a few of my favorite ideas that I've collected.

I love the idea of water that comes right up to the house. It isn't practical for our current house, but maybe someday...

From Turnbull Griffin Haesloop Architects via Materialicious.



A house in Key West via Lime in the Coconut.



I also love natural looking ponds, with or without a little creek, that are lined with boulders of all sizes. I think we'll probably do something like this if we can find the time, energy, and enthusiasm.

Another photo from Key West via Lime in the Coconut.

I absolutely love this one, found on Cyndee's blog, The Journey.

This one, from Sunset, combines the patio and water feature, and the water goes under the patio. I love that.

Another stunning creation found on Sunset.

More March favorites

A few more from my random collection of favorite things that have been lurking on my computer for awhile.

Great exposed beams. That rug seems so snuggly. I'm sure my dog would love it... From Livingetc.



I love this calming bathroom and all that natural light. And I of course love the photo with all the beautiful bottles with lotions and liquids and other goodies. Almost too good to be true packed in that old wood box. Both from Alexia Biggs.

I could spend all day in this space, which is built on a rooftop! From Mountain Living.

And I'd love to sit around one of these copper fire pits one night this summer. From Smith & Hawken.

Sandy Koepke garden

This is just gorgeous. I could spend a lot of hours in a place like this.

By Sandy Koepke via Desire to Inspire via Snippet & Ink.

Garden bunnies

This is the kind of bunny, made from cast iron, that I wouldn't mind seeing in my garden. From plantstuff.com.

I also love this copper urn from the same place.

Make a little birdhouse in your soul

My thumb is starting to turn green just thinking about spring.

I'm starting to plan the layout of the garden and all our landscaping projects, but it's such a challenge to have a giant blank slate to deal with. I want to make the best use of every square inch of the area!

I need to have it figured out soon because I'm hoping to start some seeds in the next few weeks.

I can hear my mom's heart starting to beat faster. She's probably locking her door right now. Two years ago I was at her house over New Year's. We were snowed in, so I thought "What better time to start some seeds?" (In her neck of the woods, a better time would have been March or April, but I digress...). I went nuts. I planted tomatoes, zucchini, cantaloupe, a variety of herbs, and a few other things that I've blocked from memory. I set up trays with those little compressed peat moss disks in them. They were in every window sill in every room in her house. They started to grow. And then some of them just really took off. Pretty soon she was transplanting the tomato plants into pots. Then she moved them to bigger pots. Then she brought folding tables into her bedroom to hold all the pots. When they were so big that they could attack her in her sleep, I knew I had messed up.

By early May, she couldn't stand it anymore. Against her better judgment, she finally planted them outside. I think they lasted for about two days before most of them were killed by a late frost. I learned my lesson.

To prevent any premature seed sprouting, I'm distracting myself by looking for fun "yard art" for the garden. My father-in-law's property is covered in bird houses (by a previous owner with a great sense of humor), and it is so much fun to walk around and discover them. The other day when I was rummaging around on the Origin Crafts site, I found these fun little abodes for my feathered friends.


I love the covered porch on the one in the middle, below.




These little tin houses are so cheery. I love the curly monkey tails.





This house is for the no-nonsense bird.






This house is probably the weekend retreat for the city birds.



I'll probably need a few feeders like these to encourage the birds to stick around.


Origin Crafts has a lot of other great birdhouses in all price ranges on their website.

Stone patio

I just love this patio at a small inn and spa in Mallorca, Spain! I found the photo, along with several others from this property, over at Remodelista. The refurbished building used to be a decaying rustic farmhouse and olive oil mill dating back to the 18th century. I would give my two front teeth to have a property like this and the means to refurbish it. Just looking at the photo makes me feel relaxed, and I can't wait to get to work on my own patio this spring.