DIY Outdoor Table & Shade for 2

from Martha Stewart Living

This is one of those “duh” ideas, but I have to admit that it didn’t cross my mind until I saw it on Martha Stewart Living. I am really enjoying having a deck. We have a small table with a small umbrella that we use for dining. We usually eat outdoors in the evening when there is no need for the umbrella. If we are out during the day, we are usually relaxing with a glass of tea. No shade. This is a bummer, especially with a hot weekend coming up. I want to be out enjoying it before the rainy season. I think if I did something like this, the umbrella would get much more use. It’s an easy project. I can find a small wood table at a thrift store or yard sale. I’ll slap some of my exterior mistint paint on it. I

Here’s the tutorial.

I’ve been very busy this week wrapping up some loose ends while I still have the time. I’m still working on before and after pictures. This helps me see how much work we’ve actually done. It’s easy to get obsessed with the “what’s left to do” stuff and ignore everything that you did. It’s supposed to be near 90° this weekend. I doubt anything will be getting finished on this house. Time to hit the coast!

-Victoria

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Outdoor Living Spaces: The Hip New Way To Say Patio

Featured in Country Home

I really should be cleaning off the deck and scrapping paint off of a vintage aluminum picnic table so that I can repaint it, but I it’s easy to procrastinate. Even when it is beautiful outside. Are you surprised that I don’t want to scrape paint in the midday sun?

I was very excited about having a deck this year.  It is very nice but I thought it would be a great outdoor living space. It’s not. It’s nice to set on and nice to eat on space. That’s it. I always see this whimsical fantasy pictures in decorating magazines featuring beautiful daybeds outside (outdoor spaces here featured in Country Home and House to Home). What’s the purpose of these spaces and where are they? I assume that they only exist  in photographs and couldn’t make it in this harsh, cruel world. They are better decorated than my indoor living space :). These fantasy spaces have comfortable outdoor seating with throw pillows, paper lanterns, outdoor rugs, and even coffee tables. It’s all beautiful but far from practical. I say that if you are at the purchasing an outdoor rug stage in your life then you need to reevaluate your life and maybe get a new hobby or go on a vacation with that expendable income. Maybe I’m clueless, this is very possible, because I live in the Pacific Northwest. We have nice summers, not very long and the rest of the year it rains. I’m better off investing in a nice deck stain than nice patio furniture and paper lanterns. Maybe you can live like this in Southern California? I see these in pictures on resorts in Mexico. Maybe you have to haul this stuff in and out every day? I don’t know. Regardless, these outdoor living spaces take a wonderful picture and I always wish I was relaxing on one of those comfy outdoor daybeds. I won’t have a perfectly decorated living space but I’ll have a nice one if I just get out there and pull it together. And these pictures have motivated me to do so. Time to pull together my budget-friendly and totally practical “outdoor living space”. This is the cool new way of saying “deck” or “patio”. And if you say “outdoor living space”, you sound really rich. Have a great weekend!

-Victoria

Featured in House to Home

David’s Commentary:

I find this idea to be the kind of irrational thing that a designer comes up with without thinking about too much.  The moisture, mold, insect, rodent and bird-poop assault that would be pressed on your furniture in this setting will make almost any textiles nasty in under a week. One slight rainfall on a foam cushion will keep it moist enough to mold for weeks.

Perhaps this gets pushed by retailers so much because it’s a really attractive concept that requires that you replace the items used 3 times a season?

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Whimsy Decorated Porch with Paper Parasols!

Midwest Living porch

I don’t have a porch, but I have a nice deck. Of course, the grass is always greener and we want what we don’t have. I didn’t think about it too much until I stumbled across this picture in Midwest Living. I love it. What a retreat! This makes me consider living in the Midwest if I could have a porch like this, well for a split second it does, I love the West Coast and this porch has a West Coast vibe with those colors and chrysanthemum Asian prints. I love the linens, the paper parasols, and the mix match chairs. Very cool look for reunions, birthdays, and wedding receptions.

We are having a beautiful weekend with lots of sun today here in Western Washington. The garden is thirsty but I don’t mind being outside. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

-Victoria

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DIY Bandana Quilt Tablecloth For Summer Gatherings

Tablecloth from the Aeshetic Nest

I can’t wait until our little “project” ,umm, goes away! I want the projects in my life to be slapping a new coat of paint on a flea market furniture find or planning summer parties. I like to pretend that I’m doing something for the 4th of July. I like to pretend that it won’t be chilly, gloomy, or rainy and that I don’t have a bathroom subfloor to put down. I like to pretend that I’m having a 4th of July BBQ on our awesome new deck with adorable decorations and a rocking meal plan. Maybe next year?

I found this adorable DIY tutorial for a bandana tablecloth quilt on The Aesthetic Nest. It’s cute and Mrs. Aesthetic Nest makes this look so easy to do. You could totally finish one before the 4th! I would love to make one of these for a 4th of July celebration. I would use red, white, and blue bandanas. And yes, I’d have to make it a western (I’m from Nashville!) with horseshoes on the table and galvanized water cans filled with black-eyed susans. My BBQ meal plan would be Paula Deen goes Pike Place: grilled salmon, oysters, grilled local veggies (nothing is better than a grilled Walla Walla onion), orange blossom spongecake with a raspberry coulis, and mint ice tea.

I know I do not have time this year to throw together an adorable bandana tablecloth. But, if we do get blessed with decent weather this weekend, I can do something similar by using red, white, and blue bandanas as napkins or place mats. I’ll bring out the cowboy boot steins (isn’t it lame that I have those?) and put daisies in a milk glass vase. The food will still be good. Good food is always a priority here at Tudorks.

I most likely won’t update our blog this weekend. David has a three day weekend and there is always something to do here at Tudorks! I hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend!

-Victoria

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It’s Going To Be A Long Time Before I’m Relaxing In A Hammock…

But, I did find some that I really like.  Hammocks are strange things. They usually make me feel uncomfortable and find them unpredictable. I feel this way because I had a cousin, the epitome of ADHD, push me out of one every time I “kicked back and relaxed”. I ate dirt so many times…But, it is pretty cool to be “floating”. We have some fruit trees in the backyard under the blackberry bramble. At one time the backyard/garden was a “bird garden” and I bet very nice. Now it looks like something that would protect a forbidden castle housing a sleeping princess. And it is the home of 3 of the hugest raccoons ever that feed on whole plums all night. Since this ordeal has taken forever and we’re going to be lucky just to finish the interior issues before the rainy season, gardening is not going to happen this year. We’ll be lucky to destroy/control the bramble and to mow the lawn. But, I do like to think about it. The weather is pretty mild here and I need reasons to be out in it. Maybe next year we will see some change in landscape. I would love to have a moody night blooming garden with these lovely gothic hammocks. Could you imagine lounging in one of these under lightweight spring fruit blossoms in the shade, sipping a violet flavored Italian soda, and browsing through your favorite magazine. It would be the good life. The hammock above retails for about $200. The one below is a sling chair and more my spend. I think I would feel more comfortable with my feet grounded. This way I could sit up and hold my iced latte, run my toes through fragrant creeping thyme, and read a nice Victorian era ghost story. This style goes for about $150. Both of these hammocks are available at The Victorian Trading Co. They have some other models available, the Wedding styled one is lovely.

-Victoria

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A Closet Goth Needs A Night Blooming Garden

Yep, I am in need of a moon garden. I want an all white garden with rich, overwhelming fragrance. I want it to be a little retreat to enjoy our crisp Northwest evenings with a fluttering wind bringing the smells of the shore and of course lots and lots of flickering candles. I’ll sip from a black flute, wear wine lipstick, and just relax. This is my fantasy. In real life, I know that I will rarely tend to it because I will fear that snails  may come out at dusk. I also know that gardening is hard work. And since we are re-doing the house, I will find little time to “relax” and pull weeds and garden. But, still this is something that I want someday. I want to smell Angel’s Trumpets, jasmine, and flowering tobaccos, I want to see 4 o’Clocks, Evening Primrose, and Moonflowers. I also want lavender for its relaxing aroma and I know that it does pretty darn well and is happy here in Washington. And pots of fragrant and icy leaved herbs. This is my plan. Of course, I want for mine to be creepier and more gothic than the one pictured below, more like an entrance into a catacomb (geez, it may be, who knows what it is buried back there!). Perhaps decorated with the stupid things that come out for Halloween as decorations from places like Z Gallerie, white stone skulls, etc. Things like a black birdbath, oyster shells, mossy rocks, creepy statues, stuff that I see around and like. A vampire garden. There is a great inspiration board for a “Corpse Bride’s wedding garden” on this blog. See, I must not be the only weirdo wanting a creepy garden.

-Victoria

Moon garden from Domino

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