The Back Yard Down the Shore Before and After

The yard at the cottage down the shore used to be a maintenance  nightmare. The grass would always dry out from the hot sun, and it had sticky balls in it from the weeds we couldn't get rid of.

This is how it was, when we first purchased it. In the background you can see the seawall. This is before the township put up the concrete promenade over the rock seawall.

After a few years of this , we finally decided to rip all the grass out and completely EP Henry the yard.
I love it now. It's like one big patio.

This is how it is now.

This deck used to be an old worn out one, and we recently had it rebuilt  and I love that too.

If I can find some old pics of the deck before I'll post them later.

Even though that concrete promenade took some of my view from the yard and first floor, I've come to terms with it. I use that now to go for very enjoyable walks now down the coast!

We now use the entire yard, every inch. All the way back to the fence, where we have a firepit for the cool nights in May or September. That table in the pic is actually the firepit.  I love this because we can use it for a coffee table for drinks and stuff, when we don't have a fire burning.
And my daughters helped me build that little wall (under the fairy)in front of the fence, to create a little garden.



And then I decided that I wanted my porch to have more of an inviting, shabby chic, go ahead and fall asleep outside, feeling.  So I gathered up everything I had around the house to transform it from it's slightly tropical look to a place where you just were dying to sit and relax!!
First I started with the outside porch seating area

Which I added a ruffled white twin bedskirt to, and some fluffy pillow shams for the following effect:

and a duvet cover to the other side

Doesn't this look adorable?

And the best part is it held up with a group of 20 somethings down each weekend.

That was the true test. They started sitting out back more often because it was so inviting. 

And I thought 

" I'm going to have to readjust it every 5 minutes!!'

 But lo and behold.. I didn't have to ... and it stayed clean! I thought for sure it would be dirtied up inside a week, But NO. It looked this way from about early July till I dismantled everything in November when the weather around here gets kinda yukky. 

Now I can't wait for the nice weather to come back.

I'm playing at the linky party

Inspire me Tuesday

and 

Coastal Charm Party

The Mirror and the Magazine Rack

Sorry i haven't been doing much blogging or visiting, I've been busy with a new job.
I have been squeezing in some projects, and I do mean squeezing.
Thinking it was time to expand, I have   another space I rented at Cape May Antiques, on Laffeyette st. It's in the same general area as my first spot at the North End Garage in Cape May, and I've been busy filling it.
Here is a peak at a couple things I have recently re-done.
A Coastal Magazine rack

Which I had found like the pic below

 I wasn't sure what to do with the small trow at the top that I suspect was once used for knitting needles.
So since I haven't yet mastered the knitting thing, I filled with shells!!

Next up is a mirror that I really loved but wasn't crazo about the gold on it...Dont you just love the big carved rose??

Which I adore now in this creamy white!! I added just a small bit of distressing.

How do you like them??
Have fun this week with all your creations!!
Ahhh I gotta go to work!!

C U later alligator... thank you for stopping by!

Memorial Day Red White and Blue

It's time for a little bit of Memorial Day preparations

Some red white and blue in honor of our soldiers who have sacrificed dearly for our freedom.

In the shop I gathered some ruby fenton glass and some cobalt plates and set them on the

 Frenchy  table I recently  painted white. 

I added in some white lace, I picked up on a recent Florida purchasing spree.

Moved things around till I was content.

My dear sister, who is back in town now made these napkin rings.

I just call her Pickier

The adventures of Picky and Pickier  will begin again now ;). 

She just loves to go junking with me, and visa versa.

We managed to get the window decorated also in a red white and blue theme for the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend

Here is a peek at the window with some white enamelware trimmed in red.

 Some little flags thrown in here and there, and as always my favorite....

vintage bottles, this time in cobalt blue

I love decorating the windows for the Holidays.

This one will work for Flag Day June 14th and Independence Day July 4th

(Let's see If I don't get bored and change it a bit)

And back at the Cottage, a fitting table ready for breaking some crabs from Ricky's

Yumm I am already thinking about steamed mussels

I hope you have a happy upcoming Memorial Day... the official start of summer... yippee..

It's only 2 weeks and 3 days away from Memorial Day weekend!!

 How come we don''t see stuff out 6 weeks ahead like we do at Halloween?

Yeah like in August already?

Anywho have a great one!!

Thanks to all our service men and women!!

Joining some parties

Nifty thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm

White Wednesday @ Faded Charm

White Hutch for White Wendesday

Just a few pics of my hutch and a pretty new turn of the century pitcher i found recently.

The one right in the center. It's a genuine Victorian era pitcher

Sorry the pic quality is not so great, it is getting dark 6 pm wednesday, and this is from my phone.

Below is a piece of white Hull pottery, and one of my favorite blue bowls

I hope all are having a good week!

thanks for poppin in.

Eileen

White Wednesday @ Faded Charm

Finally finished project 18 The Courtyard Renovation

I am a very lucky lady to have both a home on the Atlantic Coast and a home 1/2 mile from the Gulf of Mexico in Southwest Florida. I do love the sea and always desired to be near it.

The water in this part of the Gulf is warm and clear, and a beautiful shade of aqua, very often like the Carribbean. I swam in it today for at least an hour. I love the variety here. Some days the water is as calm and serene as a sea of glass. Other days there is a current and  waves. I love waves. I also love it calm and clear. Variety, ahhh the spice of life.

So onto the finished project of creating a  courtyard in the front entrance of my home here by the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.

 Finally complete

It used to be a garden entrance full of stone. Dark Grey stone on the sides, with plants. A pathway of pink stone, and diamond shaped stepping stones was how we entered. Everyone grumbled, when pulling their suitcases in, believe me. A real nut test!

 Here it is Before.

And  ouch, ooch, yikes, when i ran out there in bare feet! There were always small rogue pebbles on those stepping stones!!!
So I'll cut to the chase and give ya some other before and after shots! Thanks for tuning in!

The fountain area, now.

The Fountain Area Before:

And when we removed the stone, you can see how bad the concrete was in this shot.... yikes it took a lot of work to fix this concrete with patching and cleaning and a coat of stain before doing the brick stamping pattern.

The Concrete under the stone

And after I stamped it.

And here is the Window Wall now.

Inspired by the clay and white room below

More inspiration photos and us cleaning out the stone are HERE in my previous post

I love these shutters! i found them at Sarasota Architechtural salvage.

You can see the floor pretty good in this pic. I used a sponge and clay color cement stain to achieve this look.

I stenciled some of the bricks for a Mexican tile effect. I used a mixture of grey stain and aqua paint for the stencil, the stain was way too thin for stenciling, so i needed to thicken it up for doing the stencil, once the brick design was dry.

The boring window wall before 

So I am a happy camper now, no more stones under my feet, when I walk out my door I see this pretty courtyard .

A complete do it yourself project and very satisfying.

 A big shout out to Johanna, without who's help, I could never have accomplished removing all that stone or moving those huge pots through Home Depot!

Adios Amigos!

Now I can head back to Jersey for Easter!
Happy Easter.

Linking up to these parties:
The Mommy Club
Good Life Wendesday
Wow us Wendesday
Vintage Inspiration Friday
Feathered Nest Friday