Outdoor Oasis

Outdoor Oasis

I love spring. I love the awakening. The freshness. The newness of it all. I don’t necessarily consider myself an “outdoorsy girl”, but I definitely feel like an “outsidey girl”. Especially if the weather is just right. 👌🏼 I like to be outside. I like to read outside. I like to eat outside. I love porch wine season. 🤗

When my kiddos were small, before we entered “the school years“, we spent SO MUCH time in our backyard. Our house – a house that once-upon-a-time felt large to two newlyweds – seemingly shrank as our family grew. For our sanity, we treated our patio and backyard as an extension of our home. It was an extra living space and we did a lot of living out there. During that season of life, the littles and I would often lay a picnic blanket in the grass and layer it with toys and stuffed animals. We’d bring out books and read together. We’d bring out coloring books, water colors and play-doh. We’d bring out lunch and snacks. We simply spent hours out there. It was our own little getaway. The fresh air was balm for my soul during those long, exhausting days when motherhood makes you feel a bit frayed around the edges. Looking back now, I can only see the sheer loveliness of it. I feel my heart contract just remembering. I know I wasn’t relaxed enough. I wish I could go back and feel calmer. I wish. But, oh my, those days were just the absolute sweetest. It brings tears to my eyes.

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to recreate that feeling in our current backyard. I think the feeling was … safety. Love. A blissful reprieve from reality. There was just something about those early/baby years. You were able to wrap up in them and forget all the rest.

Our babies are little more grown now, but I still want a yard we can wrap up in. A refuge. An outdoor oasis of our very own. We’ve been adding little touches here and there over the years and it’s feels better and better with each passing summer. The photo above is from last May and I’m planning to make a few more changes this spring.

Today, I wanted to share a bit of outdoor inspiration with you … inspo from ‘the gram‘ and from Pinterest.

Image Credit 📸: 1-@jyoungdesignhouse, 2-@mcgeeandco, 3-@parkandoakdesign and Oak Home Pool, 4-@kellerandoak, 5-@estellemanor, 6-@erika.kostialova, 7-@amberinteriors, 8-@jaimeberiestainstudio, 9-@puresaltinteriors

I will always love rounding up inspiration and putting images together. It helps ground my ideas and gives them a visual language. Inspiration doesn’t have to make perfect sense. Lean into it. It can come from anywhere … from anything.

Based on the above inspiration, I created a shopping board for my own porch and patio. Some of these items I already own, love and plan to keep for years to come (the L.L. Bean table for one). Others, I’m considering adding … and some are honestly just for the fun of this board. Creating shopping guides like this is something I do for my design clients on a regular basis and I’ve been trying to remember to do them for myself as well! This particular board allows me to lean in to an overall feeling and vibe. The goal here is an outdoor oasis … a porch, patio and yard meant for lingering. Meant for playing. Meant for dining. Meant for living.

Links: outdoor sofa, outdoor coffee table, pillow, solo stove mini fire pit, lounge chair, bolster pillow, grecian bust planter, side table, corn hole set, umbrella, outdoor bar cart, gardening stool + tools, wicker dining chairs, white table, white dining bench, plastic glasses, melamine plates, dome, rug, gardening basket, planters

I hope I leave you today feeling inspired to create your own ‘outsidey’ getaway! Your space doesn’t have to be large or elaborate to be lovely. The smallest balcony or plot of grass can become your very own blissful retreat.

Happy Spring, Friends!