Our Patio Details
For those that don’t know, we live in an old farmhouse. Literally, our home is over 100 years old and it sits on 2 acres of land where it used to house farm animals.
When we moved in, nothing was going on in our backyard — it’s all forest! We didn’t even have grass. Really, it was a ton of dirt, weeds, and puddles. It was begging for a little love.
As a nature enthusiast, I really wanted to preserve a lot of the nature we have (even the unruly bits — I love unmanicured lush land), but knew it was time to do a little something so that we could sit comfortable outside every day. Our warm climate is limited, living in the Midwest, so I want to suck as much enjoyment out of it as possible!
Ever since I saw Nancy Myers's home in Architectural Digest, I fell in love with its natural simplicity. Her entire home is dreams, but specially, I loved her patio and outdoor living area.
Specifically, I loved her natural color palette and mix of clean, modern lines with softer woven pieces. I loved her use of limestone for the ground, the cozy fire pit, and bright cushions.
Using her photos as inspiration, I worked with our landscaper to come up with a layout that felt clean, but not too manicured. Like Nancy, I went with limestone, a built-in gas fire pit (we had to connect a gasline), and went with these woven pieces by Aerin x Williams Sonoma with the Subrella performance rain-resistant fabric in “salt” (an off-white). I countered these softer pieces with the modern lines of this teak table and chairs.
Lately, we also added a couple pieces from Sundays Furniture. I was lucky enough to work with the company, and received this lovely teak umbrella and these lounge chairs (also using Subrella fabric). This adds a sweet little moment for our grass, where I ultimately love to lounge to ground my feet.
We also have this sweet umbrella that I got last summer that I love so much.
Of course, we also have a bird feeder. Okay, fine, we have three.
It’s been such a joy to spend our mornings, days, and evenings outside this summer — I will be bummed when the weather prevents us from enjoying it!
In the meantime, here are some photos of my outdoor sanctuary!
