Seasonal Simplicity Home Tour – Our Outdoor Spaces

Only two more weeks until it’s officially summer!  Although I’ve been calling it summer ever since my boys got out of school a few weeks ago because it definitely already feels like summer around here; Long sunny days, bbq’s, sprinklers, baseball, and all of the other fun stuff that comes along in summer time. I love summer! How about you?

 Today, I’m joining some blogging friends for our week long Summer addition to the Seasonal Simplicity Home Tours, hosted byApril and Krista. At the end of this post you can find all of the other bloggers links, so if you’re anything like me and love to peek inside other peoples homes to see how they decorate for the seasons, then you’ll definitely want to follow along. 

If you are already following along on the tour then you are probably stopping by from one of my favorite blogs,  Nina Hendrick. Nina has such a lovely home.

So Welcome! Here is our sweet little 1924 cottage home. It’s located on a quaint tree-lined street surrounded by several other charming homes. I adore our little cottage, but  I do dream about painting it white one day. We are also looking into remodeling the front porch and sidewalks sometime soon. 

One of my favorite things about summer is that the warm weather lets us expand our living spaces, allowing the backyard to become a bonus room.  We spend a lot of time outside during summer, and so for this tour, I thought I’d do something a little different and share with you our outdoor spaces.  And then you can come back in a week or so where I’ll be sharing a tour of the interior of our home. Be sure you are following me by e-mail, Instagram, or Facebook so you don’t miss out.

Now let’s head around the house to our backyard.

This is where you can find my boys playing, running through the sprinklers, or just relaxing in the hammock.

I got THIS hammock last year and it’s been a really nice addition to our backyard.  This area on our patio is always shaded so it makes for the perfect napping spot.

  Back by our garage, I have set up a potting station where I can store all of my gardening tools.

It’s so nice to have everything I need to re-plant a plant or do some gardening together in one spot.

Our picnic table is located conveniently next to the back door.  We love to dine outside a lot during the summer. You probably remember when I gave this picnic table a new look. You can re-visit that postHERE.

We live near the city park and love to walk over there almost every day.  I hung up my boy’s tennis rackets so that they are easy to grab on their way over, while a  jar or fresh cold water awaits them for when they return.

Our backyard also has a patio with a hot tub. Last summer I stained all of the deck as well as painted our hot tub.  You can find those post here andhere. You won’t believe the before and after!

It’s really enjoyable to sit in the hot tub and look out into the rest of the backyard. At night time all of the solar power lanterns light up which is really fun. 

I also have a large collection of wind chimes. I just love the sound they all make on a breezy day.

This playhouse was in the backyard when we bought our home, and because I have two boys, it really made the home feel like it was meant to be ours.

Up top you will find a couple of bean bag chairs and bins that hold summer toys like water guns and bubbles, while down below I’ve created a relaxing seating area with some old wicker furniture that I recently spray painted black.

I’ll probably post a before and after of the wicker furniture sometime soon.  The black paint made such a difference. Before the pieces all looked mixed matched, but now it looks like a set.

This is a great little spot to sit down with a cup of coffee in the morning, or a glass of wine in the evening and take a moment to relax and enjoy the peacefulness of our backyard.

I brought out my beautiful fauxorchid arrangement from inside and couldn’t believe how much it liven up the space.

And that concluded the tour of our outdoor spaces.

I hope that I have inspired you in some way or another to fix up your outdoor spaces too.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them in a comment below, or come chat with me onInstagram or Facebook.

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

Next up on the tour is the gorgeous home of my friend, Alicia, from A Burst of  Beautiful.  I’m excited to see it too, so let’s head on over together 🙂

Enjoy the tour!

Monday

House by Hoff / House of Wood / Refresh Restyle / Cassie Bustamante / That’s My Letter 

Tuesday 

The Happy Housie /  Simplicity in the South / at HOME with the barkers / Sincerely, Sara D.

Wednesday 

Nina Hendrick Design Co. / The Wicker House / A Burst of Beautiful / Paint Me Pink / Town and Country Living 

Thursday

At Charlotte’s House / Just a Girl and Her Blog / House 214 Design / Robb Restyle 

Friday 

My Fabuless Life / The Turquoise Home / Erin Spain / Place of My Taste / Cherished Bliss