Deck furniture

Our deck furniture is obviously rather pitiful, and frankly, not very functional.  Eventually, we hope to lay a patio down where the BBQ is, and put our cheapy Adirondack chairs down there.  So the deck will be the table-and-chairs spot - it's sooo nice to have dinner out there in the warm months.

I want to use this door slab as a table top...

...to make a trestle table with legs like these.

Beautiful, right?  I think clear poly the top and paint the legs.  These outdoor chairs from IKEA would finish it off nicely...

I tried them out - they are quite comfortable, plus they allegedly stack - bonus!

The Great Outdoors

Our house sits on a pretty weird lot - it's super long and skinny, most of which is the backyard.  It backs up to a ravine/creek, so the majority of said backyard is rather untamed at the moment.  But in the 2+ years we've lived here, Niko has spent countless hours back there, and has made some serious progress.

Here's what I could scrounge together for Before/During pics:

And now:

We've come a long way, but there's still LOTS to do.

Roman shade porn

Some more living room curtain pics for ya...

Aren't they great??  Life-changing, for us.  No longer on display, on display, on display...

Plans

Well the IKEA trip was a bust.  Ok maybe not entirely - I did get this:

But my coveted yellow and white pillows were nowhere to be found.  And yes, I did check online before we left and was told they were "probably" in stock - what is that shizz??

Anyways, my disappointment was somewhat assuaged by this:

Remember when I told you I was saving for a lovely new sofa from Room and Board?  Unfortunately, our house had other plans and we ended up buying this:

Thrilling right?  Well I guess it sort of is, but I sure had my heart set on that couch.  Wouldn't you, if this was yours?

Ugh I'm so embarrassed - I really can't be sure what I was thinking.  It wasn't even that long ago!  Anyway, so I happened to spy this couch on the IKEA website.

Here's my reasoning:
- Even as I lusted after the R&B couch, I had started having pangs about spending so much money on a couch with a chaise - I can't see myself wanting that configuration of couch for years to come, you know?  I'd rather invest in a traditional 3-seater.
- This lady is the right size, color, configuration, price (under $1K!), AND has removable, cleanable covers (I'll be honest - the washability is what really sold me).

So I took it for a test run, and it really is comfy!  I'm giving it some serious thought...

Joy

Just wanted to share these quick pics of the hotly anticipated (well, by Niko and I anyway) new living room curtains.  I love them so, so, so, SO much!

More, and better, pics soon.  THANK YOU MOM!

Porch time

Sorry for the delay - the weather was rather un-cooperative this past week or so.  Oh, and P.S. I have discovered Instagram... :)

We are totally loving it - I can't tell you how charming it is with the lights on at dusk.  I'm still looking for some sort of side table to go next to the rocking chair - maybe this guy from West Elm, in white:

There's an IKEA trip in my future too, for these pillows:

Ahh, the yellow and white stripe.

So what do you think??