common ground : potting bench

Showing posts with label potting bench. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Cozying Up the Back Porch for Late Fall

We're heading into my favorite time of the year. Late Fall's brilliant color, cool days, and cozy nights have always been the season that renews my mind and heart. I always enjoy the change of seasons; winter to spring is my next favorite time of the year. But the brilliance of the leaves in late fall paints a canvas that undeniably lifts me body, mind and soul.

Creating A Potting Bench with Reclaimed Wood

Hi Friends, welcome to the October edition of the Lifestyle of Love blog gathering where a few of us share our love for decorating with vintage items. This month our topic is using and decorating with items created with reclaimed wood. Our blogging bud Cindy from County Road 407 is our host and creator of this fun get together. If you're coming from Lora's Blog, Create and Ponder, thanks so much for continuing the Hop!

Summer to Fall Garden Florals in Vintage Containers

Today I thought I'd share a few pics and posts with my garden grown Hydrangeas from this house. I've really enjoyed the large lush bush out front and start snipping those blooms in late June for display and drying. After a few weeks of enjoying the fresh cuttings, they can be dried into lovely delicate dried specimens that range from delicate pinks and greens to darker mauves and purples in the Fall.

Vintage Cottage Weekend: Seasons on the Potting Bench

I shared the Potting Bench on the back porch a few days ago, so I thought I'd have a look back at a few other seasonal potting bench posts. I love having this outside spot to keep my gardening tools and necessities corralled. It's an anchor piece for one of the seating areas, where we enjoy a break during the day and evening.

If you missed my last post you can find it HERE

Back Porch Potting Bench

When the weather starts getting warmer and planting time is here it's time to get out on the back porch, do some clean up, and put together the potting bench. With all the trees around, our back porch can turn into a bit of a leaf dump. Starting in early April we get a variety of "tree droppings", which can get a bit overwhelming to stay on top of. Oaks and walnut trees are lovely except when they're dropping helicopters, fringe-y seeds, peapods, pollen... nuts, and oh and leaves.

Wooden Christmas Star on the Potting Bench

Hey There Friends, you know me, there's always a last minute bit of holiday fun that I want to share. My sister brought by my Christmas gift last weekend so we could enjoy it a bit before Christmas this week.

Vintage Step Ladder on the Back Porch

Hi Friends, so glad you're here today. First off, I could subtitle this post as

"One Vintage Ladder- Two Seasons for Fun Vintage Decor".

Our friend Cindy from County Road 407 has created this fun vintage Hop, where we join in to share our vintage pieces in fun ways and to hopefully bring some great inspiration. Today there's a small group of us showing how we've used this month's topic which is.... drum roll please... vintage ladders!

Cozying Up the Back Porch for Fall

November is here and it's time to bring out the warm snuggly blankets, long underwear, and cups of yummy hot cider. My wish for cooler, sweater weather has arrived and plunked itself down right here in Southern Missouri. It seems like each year the summers get longer, but then poof... overnight we plunge from the upper 80's into the 50's with an overnight jet stream.

Foraging for Fall on the Potting Bench

Hello friends, hope you're having a lovely Fall weekend! Earlier in the week I shared my meager Fall Cottage Front Porch with a few fall accents, mums and pumpkins. So today I want to show how I foraged around my yard to put together a couple of floral arrangements gleaned from bushes and the last of the summer flower containers. I'm out on the covered patio out back with the Potting Bench.

Backyard Naturals Bouquet

One of the reasons I love Fall so very much is the change in the coloring of leaves, flowers, and shrubbery. Where Spring is full of greens and lovely pastel shades of flowers and buds, Fall can be just as amazing visually with all the glorious brilliant color.

Potting Bench, the Back Porch and New Landscape

I got a late start on the back porch and container planters this year. My cervical spine surgery really put the kibosh on my fun this Spring. We had a cold and rainy May this year which didn't help getting things put together on top of everything else. My husband and I finally got around to doing some outside clean up and then for Mother's Day he helped me pot some sun-loving plants to get the back yard up to speed.

(cast iron rabbit on the back porch retaining wall)

Back Porch and the Potting Bench

This has been the week to finally share my outside spaces... good and not so good. Earlier in the week I posted my front porch that's in the middle of a facelift. That post is a kind of a cringe-worthy "before photo", but I know it's going to get better. So now to the back of the house. I'll show you the potting bench first, since it's the most fun to look at.

Potting Bench and Patio

Seems like it takes me forever to get a task completed lately, I guess that's because it actually does. I've been wanting to finish up here on the patio for weeks now, but I still needed to find a fern and a few other plants for the urns. I have to wait for Hubbs to help me out, so that means the weekend. And at that point, if it's rainy, forget it... another weekend down the drain.

Cottage Journal Collector's Shed

Many of you subscribe to or purchase The Cottage Journal,

but did you know they have a website/blog that is frequently updated

with wonderful feature layouts and stories?

You can go to their site and sign up in email for the blog.

I thought you might enjoy seeing these photos from a recent entry

on a garden shed that's filled with all the vintage essentials.

Patio Seating Area

Hi, Everyone, hope you had a great Mother's Day weekend,

mine was nice, but pretty quiet.

My goal last week was to finally get the lower level patio sitting area cleaned and put together so we can have a place to sit and relax. This is under the deck, so it's somewhat covered, but not waterproof. I found the two seat cushions and bench cushion online at Lowe's, and they were just what I wanted. They're outdoor friendly and have the look of heavy linen or hemp in a dark khaki/taupe color. I wanted something neutral, that would match most of my pillows and quilts, and not show pollen/dirt/or grunge and I think these will work out fine.

Potting Bench Progress

Hi Everyone, hope you all had a great weekend...

I've spent most of my time outside this last week. First, working on getting the container planters filled with flowers for the deck, patio and front yard, then coming up with more things for the potting bench area.

Potting Bench Beginnings

Over the weekend we were able to get alot accomplished by renting a U-Haul trailer, and with the help of our son-in-law, we emptied out one whole unit and then combined the last two. We started this a year ago with 4 big units that are climate controlled, so we were spending big bucks each month just to store all our stuff.

source

Sunroom Ideas for the New House

We've been busy packing and cleaning and updating this last six months at our old house, but I've needed to allow myself some "dream" time to think and gather some inspiration for what I'd like in our next home. I loved my little sunporch; it was a place I expressed myself and had fun. It was a place I could play and decorate and change up for whatever holiday and when the mood would strike. Color and pattern and lots of vintage goodies made it my own special play room.

May 2013

(Following images can be found on my Pinterest boards,

Planked Walls and Potting Benches.)

I know that I'd love to have a bigger space in this next house, but it needs to be a sunroom. Not just a porch. It was often too cold in the winter months to fully enjoy it, so I really want this new space to be part of the house, and hopefully right off the kitchen like before.

These are inspiration pics of what I'd like to do with the shape of the room and the planked walls. I love the look of an old home, maybe added on to over time, and think that the "cathedral" or arched ceiling with planks and beams would be perfect for that vintage vibe. My first love has always been vintage garden goods, so I thought it would be fun to have the sunroom also have the look of a potting or garden shed.

LOVE those beams! These pics are just to get an idea of the ceiling and walls. I want a white or neutral backdrop for all the vintage pieces and elements to show.