Weekend Wrap-Up

The theme for this past weekend: beautify the outdoors!

Since moving into our home almost a year ago, we have spent the majority of our time and funds on getting the indoors rooms completed.  Minus a few small items remaining on my wishlist (someone please tell me where I can find a gorgeous, unique, and affordable china cabinet or hutch?!), we're almost done.

As the weather continues to grow more and more lovely and warm each day, we've been inspired to amp up our outdoor living areas a little more.

Saturday started off with a trip to Lowe's, where we had quite a list of items to purchase. 

First up: replace the grandma-esque fan globes from our screened porch fan.


Before



It really is amazing how this simple switch-out can make such a difference. 

... (I'll pause here while you run around your house looking for outdated globes) ...

The previous globes on the fan were frosted with a scalloped edge, and they were fitted with huge bright light bulbs.

Down they came, and they were switched out for four of these clear glass beauties which were under $3.00/each at Lowes.  

We also switched out the large, opaque lightbulbs for smaller crystal clear bulbs.

After

For less than $12, I think it makes a heck of a difference, don't you?

We did a lot more work in the screened porch as well, and I'll be showing it off soon.  Just a few more finishing touches before it's brag-worthy!

Another easy switch-out was for our den lamp.  I wasn't crazy about this one we had before, but practicality ruled, and it stayed.  Being all metal and glass, we decided it would be a perfect addition to our screened porch.

We replaced the lamp with this one below, also from Lowe's.  I'm crazy about it!

After a long day of moving patio furniture around, assembling new purchases, repotting flowers, painting, laying down a rug and fighting to flatten it out -- we gladly packed up some items to take to our friends' home to grill out.

It was the perfect night.  Burgers on the grill, margaritas and wine, lots of chatting, and Taboo.

Sunday was another house-beautification day, but we took a break when my mother-in-law stopped by on the way from the beach to the mountains.  She came with her dogs in tow, and Drake loved the opportunity to hang with his doggie-cousins.

After the visit and a trip to a few stores for outdoor decor, I was whooped.  It was 6pm, and this girl deserved a cocktail, a little blog reading, and the sound of birds chirping.

I kept dinner simple and quick -- homemade barbeque chicken pizza.  Because there was still plenty of light outside (and let's face it, we wanted to fully enjoy the fruits of our weekend labor), we dined al fresco and enjoyed every minute of it.

And we even had a little impromptu photo session.



At night when we are just about to drift off to sleep, Ian and I always mention what the highlight of our day was.  Last night it was unanimous: we both couldn't imagine a more perfect way to send off the weekend than to enjoy a wonderful dinner together in the great outdoors.