“Travel Therapy Confirms My Direction!”
The past few weeks have had me in and out of town for business, inspiration, and fun. I started off the month in High Point, North Carolina to visit the furniture market. Being at the market was a great experience and well worth my time since I got to see lots of designers’ showrooms and trends for the year. Shortly after that I was off to Costa Rica with my cousins for our annual girls’ trip. It was so much fun and is such a beautiful country! I definitely recommend visiting. The flowers and the breeze gave me more inspiration for the vibe I am trying to achieve as well as confidence with the direction I am going with my back yard. Clearly, if you’re lacking inspiration or unsure of the direction you are going, travel therapy is the answer!
Highlights from Highpoint Market
With only having one free week in between Costa Rica and my next trip, I made sure to use that time wisely. First on the agenda was ordering and scheduling the delivery of my boulder. Thanks to a little mix up on the gravel company's behalf I ended up getting a bigger boulder than I had originally ordered. Thankfully, they honored the price that I paid for the one I initially picked, so the little mix ended up being a win on my part! Having this massive rock delivered was another ordeal in itself. The boulder was brought in on a flatbed truck and a forklift had to be used to to get it off the truck and placed in one of the corners. Now that it's here I'm looking forward to the additional seating and texture it'll add to the firepit area.
Next up on my agenda was putting the finishing touches on my stucco walls underneath the deck. This included hand painting white hash mark accents from the ceiling to the floor all around the space. In order to do this, I taped off 12 inch sections for each row in order to keep the rows symmetrical. I then used the edge of a kitchen sponge dipped in white paint to make the hash marks going all the way down the wall. I have to admit that, before getting started with the hash marks, I struggled with a little analysis paralysis. I was concerned that I wasn't going to like it and that I would have to start over(Designers are the worst on themselves when making decisions). I finally rationalized with myself that it was just paint and that if I didn't like it I could always paint over it. I'm so happy that I eventually got out of my own way and let the magic happen because I love how it turned out!
The pandemic has obviously meant that many people have had the same idea: home improvement time! This means that a number of furniture, decor, and home improvement items like pavers are low or out of stock. I had to visit 2 different Home Depots and Lowe’s before I could finally find 2 different style pavers that I liked: a square and small rectangles (that I put together to make the same size as the individual square shape.) Initially I wanted to paint them blue and white with a wave-shaped stencil to mimic the ocean, but I decided to leave them as is because I thought the 2 different styles plus the stenciling would make them look too busy. I also really liked the modern feel of the plain concrete pavers by themselves once they were in place.
Initially I had planned to order a pendant light to hang over the dining table under the patio area. However, with all the long delivery times I was seeing coupled with, you guessed it, so many out of stock options, I immediately started thinking of alternatives that might work. I suddenly remembered this rattan table base that I had in the basement and started thinking of how I could convert it into a chandelier. After a few Youtube videos and a quick order from Amazon, I had it figured out. I worked on it a few hours each day so as not to become burnt out or tired from trying to get it done before leaving again. I'm super proud of the finished product and love the beachy-boho vibes it adds to the space. I decided to wait until the big reveal to hang it as I didn't want any birds or insects getting any ideas and destroying my hard work in the meantime.
Bottom view of my DIY Boho Chandelier
While I'm always confident in my husband and I's ability to tackle most of whatever we put our minds to, my hubby on the other hand is not feeling totally sure about taking on the task of building a stand alone swing ourselves. So for now, the swing for the fire pit area is currently up in the air until we get a better and at the logistics of it all. We'll see what we come up with between now and the big reveal.
I am so excited with how everything is coming together! It’s nice to feel confident and accomplished even when you have experienced some hiccups along the way as every designer does. The important thing is to remember that flexibility, not frustration with yourself, is part of the process and to be flexible since the creative process always means everything is subject to change!
Bes sure to check back in next week for the final reveal and to checkout the progress of some of the other guest participants.
