We’ve hit that stage of pregnancy- the glorious urge to nest. It’s when all the deep cleaning in our life happens. With Charlotte I insisted that the bathroom ceiling needed to be scrubbed. Needless to say, Mark was not happy to find my very large self perched on top of a chair in our tiny bathroom trying to reach the corners.
Charlotte and G were both winter babies and Will was born at the beginning of spring, so I’ve never hit the nesting stage in warm weather before, and I have to say, I am a fan. Outdoor nesting projects are proving to be far more fun than the indoor ones, and prettier too (side note, but definitely related, the inside of our house is very, very, very messy right now).
So we bought our house last spring, and spent the summer enjoying the yard and watching the gardens to see what popped up, wanting to wait a year before we made any big changes. We put a few plants in that we had brought with us, but haven’t anything major to the outside of the house until now. The previous owner was a single, older woman, and we certainly weren’t surprised to see that the gardens needed work- I honestly can’t even imagine keeping the inside of the house up by myself, much less the outside.
The front beds were in need of some extra love- and had way too many bushes for my taste, and also no summer color, which seemed like a huge shame. So my mom, an avid gardener, and I picked out some plants from Detroit Abloom, a local urban garden center (if you’re at all local, you must check them out), and have spent hours weeding, mulching, planting, and removing bushes (Mark did most of the heavy lifting on the bush removal).
In the backyard, I’ve been glorying in working on our patio. With the Mary grotto finished and in place, I knew I wanted the space to feel more cohesive, so I set about with my cans of spray paint. Spray paint is such fun by the way. My aunt and uncle had brought us this beautiful metal patio set that belonged to my great-grandfather, but it needed a new coat of paint. I chose a series of blues to match the grotto, and painted the table and chairs, along with our large patio table, and several of our pots (soon to be full of colorful annuals).
Then, because my desire to nest was still in high gear after 2 days of spray painting furniture, I decided that since everything was disassembled and moved anyways, I would just clear the rest of the patio and power wash it. Which might be my new favorite thing. It’s so incredibly rewarding, and the results are immediately visible. Our patio looks brand new. Plus, you get to play with water.
That’s all from us now, but I’m sure I’ll have more projects to share as the summer progresses, at least until I get so big and so hot that I finally slow down. I’m sure that’s coming soon.
I’m linking up with Kelly this week, so head on over for the other quick takes.