DIY ~ Outdoor Furntiture

So, it's that time again where I shout out to Ana White with how much I love her tutorials. Someday I'm going to make my husband build me all sorts of fun things.

I love her Simple Outdoor Dining Table, Chairs, and Bench. Plans can be found here. Here is a pic from her site, and you can also see pictures of the finished product that other readers have built.

Reminds me of this one below. I would probably stain mine a dark ebony like this as well.

West Elm

Ana also has plans to build a sectional in a small or large configuration.

Again the inspired by piece.

West Elm

Now I know it's way easier to buy furniture, but the cost to build vs. buy is vastly different and quite frankly building my own would be in my budget... even if we could afford to buy the designer sets... I don't think we would because we'd want to put that money elsewhere, plus I like the satisfaction of doing something with my hands.

Also, if you start looking into building your own and you look into making cushions you should buy outdoor foam so it will dry out after being exposed to the elements, and outdoor fabric. Outdoor foam can get expensive, but still much cheaper than buying the designer set. And making your own cushions allows you to fully customize your look.

~Risa~

The Outdoor Room

How would you dress up your outdoor room? Do you have a beautiful outdoor space to share? What do you love most about spending time outdoors?

My idea of the perfect outdoor room has a dining set, a seating area and a fire pit.

Living Etc.

Living Etc.

Do you like colorful eclectic outdoor spaces?

Living Etc.

pinterest

Or more classic spaces?

House Beautiful

pinterest

~Risa~

SIP's

It all started when I was cleaning up my back patio, which is little and enclosed in brick. It's big enough for a table and chairs and for Little Red to have a little fun out there but pretty small. I was looking around and started thinking about how I could make it better, and then I started thinking about gardening.

Well then I spent my daughter's entire nap time looking up gardening in urban settings and learned about SIP's, or sub-irrigated planters. There is a lot of information out there and a few ways to do it, but basically you are growing things in planters instead of in the ground and you are watering them from the bottom up so the roots take in what they need and you use less water with better results. You can even grow big plants in them.

Here are a few pics and a website to check out.

the vegetable revolution

inside urban green

earthtainer


Two great websites to check out are:
earthtainer.org
insideurbangreen.org

Here's what I did with my new found knowledge. Mine looks a lot like the first picture above. I used three sections of corrugated and perforated drain pipe on the bottom, the middle drain pipe has a hole for the PVC pipe (which is where I add water to the plant), and then the soil and plant are added. There is also a drainage hole drilled into the container to allow water to escape, which prevents over watering and allows the soil to get oxygen.



I planted a hydrangea because they grow very well in this area and are shade loving flowers... which is good because my patio only gets a couple hours of sun where this planter is sitting.


Are you an avid gardener or just starting out? Either way I hope this was somewhat inspiring, informative and helpful.

~Risa~

Patios and Glow Stones

With spring here I have outdoor living on the brain. Sure I've been organizing my closets and cleaning my house, but I'd much rather be working on my flower pots and sitting on my patio reading. I have so many things I want to do and wish I could do that I'm going to be posting outdoor living ideas all month.

Have you seen these two pins on pinterest?

stone mold


glow stone - original pin source
buy it here

I love that cement mold and after watching the video on the HSN website I love it even more. Plus when I watched the video the host/sales guy was talking about what to fill the cracks with and when he said grass I had a vision.

This mold is amazing because I think it would cost less than pavers, you don't have to make sure your ground is completely level, you can tint your cement, and it can be done in an afternoon. If our far-into-the-future home doesn't have a patio or deck I want to use this mold for the patio portion and then fill the cracks with grass to tie it in with the lawn. My husband says this won't be so fun to keep trimmed but that's okay right?

A few pics to back up my idea... in case you need a visual.


Appletree Staging

Now combine that idea with the glow stone and I think we'd have an amazing outdoor area going on.

In no way was this a sponsored post... I'm just sold on these products and kind of dramatic!

~Risa~