Bring Your Indoors to Your Outdoors – Revisited

Greetings friends. It’s so nice to be back home in Lexington for a few days.  I spent a week at Jordan’s helping her paint the kitchen cabinets.  From there I drove to my parents’ home to help out while my dad recovered from surgery.  Then I headed to Cleveland and met up with Mr. Right, our son, his wife, and her parents and had an amazing week-end.  Our daughter-in-law is a documentary film maker.  (She has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won an Emmy Award.)  Her latest feature documentary, which she and her company worked on for over three years, premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival Saturday night.  We know how much love and labor went into the project, and we are so proud of Josie.  Not only was she the director and producer, but she was also the narrator.  Afterwards, we along with her parents, some of the film crew, and friends all went out for a celebration dinner at Butcher and the Brewer, which I highly recommend if you live in Cleveland or are visiting there. (And I’m not even a meat eater.)

 

Since the first day of April fell on a Friday which is our recipe day, we decided to hold off on our blog post revisit from last April till today.  We are going to revisit a post that’s loaded with great outdoor information.  We hope you enjoy seeing it again.

In most of the country it’s porch weather, and we all want to take advantage of those precious moments we get to spend outdoors.  Since we are on our porches, decks, patios, or courtyards so much in the warm months, we also want them to be as comfortable as possible.  We have some great tips for how you can bring some of the comforts of your indoors to your outdoors.  They are simple and might just require you to do a little moving around of furniture or accessories to make your outdoor space work better for you.

 

(Note – All photos were taken with an iphone so excuse the quality.)

 

Our first suggestion is to hang curtains outside.  Look how cozy the curtains make the double porches on this historic horse farm house look here in Kentucky.

 

 

 

The curtains can be as fancy as you want them to be.  These are made of a neutral colored burlap and trimmed with the same fabric in black.  You could also use painters’ drop cloths, or buy sheers or drapes.  Many on-line sources have ready-made outdoor curtains that are reasonably priced.  The curtains can provide privacy, protection from the sun, hold in the heat on a cool evening, or just soften the space a little.

 

 

 

 

Our second suggestion is to bring the look of indoor fabrics outdoors.  This is a typical old porch style wicker chair, but it would fit in any room of the house dressed up in this beautiful equestrian toile.  Of course, if you need to be concerned with rain, mildew, and dampness, then you might want to select one of the really nice indoor/outdoor fabrics that are available.  You can also bring your indoor throws out so you can be warm if the temps drop.  They also are a way to add another color to your space.

 

 

 

Suggestion number three is to use beautiful pillows in your outdoor space.  Again, if you are concerned with mildew and dampness, use indoor/outdoor fabrics for them.  You can easily make them following this technique or buy them ready-made.  We have a trunk in our sunroom similar to this one, and it’s a great place to store our pillows when we don’t want them out.

 

If you do a lot of outdoor entertaining, you might want to set up a bar area that everyone can get to easily.    We have a similar baker’s rack in our courtyard that doubles as a potting table.  When it’s party time, there is space for beverages, ice buckets, mixers, napkins, nuts, etc.

 

 

 

Our last suggestion is to bring some of your art outdoors.  Again, if you are concerned with exposing it to the elements, hang inexpensive prints……..

 

 

…..or use items that might not be art but look great hanging on your wall.  I’m looking for an old rusty metal gate to use as art in our courtyard, and I think I found it last week.  Plus, I have an old French park bench hanging on one of our sunroom walls.  It’s a great place to store it, it’s a conversation piece, and it’s sculpture.  We call that a trifecta here in horse country.

 

 

 

 

You could even hang plates in your outdoor eating area.  These are displayed on a shelf rather than hanging directly on the wall, and I really like this look.

 

 

 

We hope you found these tips helpful and useful and will be able to incorporate at least one of them into your outdoor space.  We would love to know what you do to bring your indoors out.

 

If you didn’t see Jordan’s Syracuse steps featured in Emily A. Clark’s Saturday 6, check it out here.  Emily was just selected as Reader’s Favorite Design Blog in a Better Homes and Gardens.

 

Thanks so much for stopping in.  We are excited about what we have to share with you this week.

 

Take care.