So I have an awful lot to pack into one post today.
First of all, you may remember that last week Tiffany and I kicked off Summer School: Blogging Etiquette. Last week the subject was comments. This week we are back with a new topic: traffic/following. Hop over to Tiffany’s blog today to read what she has to say with commentary from me. Hopefully this will help you learn more about gaining more traffic.
Also, I am over at Remodelaholic today talking about one of my most favorite and easiest products to use! Hop on over to see what it is!
And now, let’s talk about some fun summer decor projects!
First of all, I have my “summer mantle” set up with the paintings Ali and I created while she was visiting. Yep, she let me keep hers! I also strung my white pom pom garland that I got from her shop. Here is a picture of it all that I took on instagram. And pardon the wires to the right- we plan on creating small built ins on either side, but for now, we will live with it!
Sunday I shared with you my summer goals as far as the house goes. Don’t worry, I have not achieved one already. 🙂
One of my goals is to create an outdoor dining area on our porch. I am hoping to find a long and narrow rustic farm table and pair it with some mismatched chairs. For now though I went ahead and set up a temporary table.
I have a small old farm table that was the first antique purchase I ever made on my own. Chris and I were living in Austin, TX, and my parents came to visit. We took a trip to New Braunfels and I found this table at an antique shop for $93. At the time I drove a VW Jetta, and this table fit in the trunk with the legs off, so I could take it home which made it all the more appealing. It was already painted as is.
When we moved to Louisiana and bought our first house, my mom found a set of antique ladderback chairs and painted them and wove the seats for us as a housewarming gift.
This set travelled with us to our last home and we used it on our sunporch. Here it is in that house:
When we moved here, we did not have a spot for this little set, so it has been stored in the garage. Now that the kids are out of school, I really wanted a place for us to sit and have lunch on the porch. So today, while they made “inventions” by stacking trucks outside, I pulled it out and cleaned it off. Before I show it to you, let’s take a look at what I had on the porch in this area…
Here is the cute little $5 flower cart.
I also clipped some flowers from our garden and put them in a vintage enamel piece for a little more charm.
And while I was doing that, the kids were doing this…. getting every single outdoor toy out!
I didn’t mind though. Because it was the first official day of Summer break and they were getting along beautifully. They were playing together, being creative together, digging in the dirt together….. it was nice to watch and listen.
And now we look forward to having many lunches and dinners outside on the porch, watching for bunnies and butterflies while we dine!
