It's All About The (Unused Fountain) Base...

Hi everyone!

I had an old iron solar fountain base taking up space in my garage for the past several years.  The ceramic fountain itself has been long gone, yet for some reason I held on to the the iron frame.  I think you all know how that goes. (Wink, wink, nod, nod!)

I, along with Mr. Bluebird, had gotten tired of kicking the old thing around waiting to do something with it "someday."  Happily, "someday" arrived this afternoon when I made a quick stop in my local WalMart to grab a few things and came out with some inspiration.

Cheap - but it ain't free - inspiration. A beachy turquoise beverage dispenser for $14.00 and a $3.00 geranium from the garden center. Now for the tricky part - brace yourselves, the instructions could get long....I took the fountain base, put the beverage dispenser in the base and then placed the geranium in the beverage dispenser.  Tiring, I know!

 I do plan on either camouflaging the pot or putting the plant in a container that fits the dispenser a bit better.Years ago, I worked for a florist, so I know covering "the mechanics" is an important detail.  In the meantime, I think it's pretty cute and works with the bright colors I've decided to go with for our backyard this year.

Some other backyard prettiness...

Still lots to do before I show you the entire back patio.  In fact, I was working on planting my zinnia patch today....

Hopefully I will have some photos for you early next week.

A special thanks to one of the sweetest bloggers I know, Kathryn over at the Dedicated House. She's featuring one of my recent blog posts on her Make it Pretty Monday link party this week.  Stop on over and check out the  inspiration from loads of bloggers.  Always enjoying partying with Kathryn.

Thanks for stopping by,
Jane

Linking with:Wow us Wednesday
Swing into Spring
Party in Your PJ's
Share Your Style
Grace at Home

Let the Patio Demo Begin

 

Well, spring has been slow to arrive in my part of the world, but that hasn't stopped Mr. Bluebird and I from planning some major yard renovations.  After ten years, we have decided to have our existing patio completely  ripped out and replaced with cobblestone pavers. Our existing concrete was starting to shift toward the house and we didn't want to risk water getting in.



 

 

Here's a little look back on last summer, when everything was lush and summer was in full swing.

 

 

 

Before:

 

Before:

 

 

Currently:

Today, we took down our metal gazebo frame and started clearing out all the patio junk. We've also taken down our pool and will fill the area in, add grass seed, and landscape. We will miss the pool, but now that our daughter is in college, it just didn't get much use.

A view from our backyard looking toward the house.  Everything you see (except Mr. Bluebird!) is being torn out and replaced. We are also doubling the size of the patio area.

 

Looking out our kitchen window, this is the messy view of today.  Looking forward to something like this in the next month or so:

 



 

Photo: Extreme Exteriors

We are adding an open air gazebo, as shown in the photo, but with stone pillars, and also a large seat wall.  In the end, it will be very similar to the picture.

Pretty exciting stuff for us.  We usually are the do it yourselfers, but this seemed like a big undertaking and with Mr. Bluebird having major back surgery last summer, it also seemed just a bit too risky. 

I will keep you posted on the progress! Hopefully the demo will start this week if the weather holds.  We have had rain and more rain the last two weeks, but fortunately we live on a hill with great drainage and we also had a good two and a half days without any significant rain.  Can't wait to enjoy a Pina Colada on our new patio!

Wishing you happiness,
Jane