How is Your Outdoor Decor?

A beautiful yard is like a fabulously decorated home: well thought out, purposefully designed and carefully put together.  If the impression your yard gives is as important to you as the interior of your home like  Furniture as a Curtain Rods, you’ll want to invest time and thought into this outdoor extension of your living space.  You’ll enjoy the rewards of your efforts for many years – and receive many compliments along the way!

Okay, to start: you’re the landscape architect – pull up a chair and let’s get to work!  Let’s start by deciding:

What you want to use the space for.

This can be single or multi-purpose.  Talk to everyone in the house and brainstorm together.  You may want to keep the entire space in thick, green grass just for putting practice (single-purpose).  Or you may want to have a space for the kids and another for adults (multi-purpose).  Do you cook outdoors?  Want a flower bed?  How about an area for your pets?

Curtain Rods

The other thing that goes hand-in-hand with this is considering what you’re working with.

Is your land flat, hilly, rocky or full of trees?

How much sun/shade does each area get at different times of the day – and will it make a difference for that area’s purpose?

Do you have a noisy neighbor?  You probably wouldn’t want to put a meditation corner near them.

Safety should be the first consideration for children’s play areas.  Place them away from streets and alleys, don’t position the slide to end in the pond (unless that’s what you want) and keep Fido’s pooh-pooh area far away from their little feet!

Now get out a pencil and paper – or landscaping software – and map out the spaces, keeping in mind the “lay of the land” and other pertinent factors.  For now just make general circles or squares to mark the space for each purpose.

What style you want to use.

Is it formal, informal, country, eclectic?  And don’t forget to consider what’s already there, like the architecture of the house or the style of existing fencing.  Consider the style of existing structures that will stay and how those styles will fit in your plan.

What color palate you’ll use.

Of course you must consider other existing colors:  siding and trim on existing buildings and fences, landscaping colors, maybe even the color of a neighbor’s garage if it’s butted up to your yard.

My house is blue with white trim, and that’s what I chose to use for the outdoor decor: my chair cushions are a great blue floral, the stone deck is colored blue-gray and I just planted one of those gorgeous blue hyacinths next to the neighbor’s white fence.  Now, I could have gone with a green palate because there’s so much green in the yard already (grass, trees), but that’s just me.

Now comes the fun – uh, I mean the hard part: shopping for everything you need. And color coordinating it. And making sure the styles coordinate. And having friends over to analyze the work (over food and drinks of course). And somehow, somehow managing to hold up under the enormous amount of praise and compliments you’ll receive for your labors.

It’s a tough job. But someone’s got to do it. Might as well be you!

 

Cool Summer Evenings in a Hot Summer – Thanks to Styling Tiki Torches

Want to light up your summer? It’s not too late: you can have the coolest tiki torches for your summer nights!

Yes, really cool, really styling tiki torches. No more bamboo stakes, no more tacky lights  . . . these tiki torches will do more than light up your nights. They’ll transform you yard and summer evenings. Not familiar with today’s tiki torches? Well, let’s introduce you! Here are some questions to get you started.

What colors do you have in your yard?

Let’s re-phrase that: besides green grass and flowers, what colors have you chosen to decorate your yard with? Think about the colors of:

Your house siding

Any fencing, patios and decks

Walkways: concrete, treated wood, bricks, pavers, etc.

Patio and deck furniture

Flower pots, bird feeders, etc.

Do you have a committed color scheme in your yard, or is it anything-goes coloring? Once you know you can begin selecting your new tiki torches. . . yes, they come in great colors now: cobalt blue, bronze, red, black, green, steel, amber, copper, smoked glass, honey brown, ocean blue, clear glass . . . .

What kind of finish do you want?

Great tiki torch colors in a variety of materials: glass, copper, and steel – even a selection of mosaic tiki torches!

Do you have a copper roof or trim? That’s your answer: you’ve got to have matching copper torches!

Lots of stained wood on your deck and porch? No problem – metal tiki torches come in caramel, honey brown, bronze, or an antiqued finish.

For a traditional look you may want black finished tiki torches. For a little different look some black torches have clear glass fuel containers!

Mosaic tiki torches? Yes – and in a variety of colors. Try a mirror mosaic to add sparkle to your night and day!

And of course there are several tiki torches with the cool finishes of pewter, stainless steel and nickel plating.

What size works best in your yard?

Yes, let’s repeat that: what size tiki torch do you want? That means you’re not stuck with just the bamboo stick anymore.

Have you heard about deck torches? At 36 inches tall they attach securely to your deck railing. That means you don’t need grass to set up a tiki torch anymore!

How about a set of garden tiki torches? At 16 and 17 inches high you can light up the garden, all the paths and your yard! This size is perfect around your ponds too.

And a favorite: the table torch. Twelve inches tall and more than big enough to light your gatherings, you can match any table setting with the style and color selections available.

Okay, and yes, the traditional tall staked tiki torch. Because we still love them, and we can pair them with other sizes now. Between 60 and 72 inches tall, they still look fabulous in your yard!

Well, that should give you an idea how far tiki torches have come . . . will they make it to your house this summer?