I’m not talking about my wardrobe…but my deck.  After a wonderful weekend celebrating my Bestie’s big birthday (yes, the big one), I came home inspired by their zen-ful patio.  It has a lovely pergola that is so heavily draped with jasmine that you can sit under it during an afternoon shower and not get wet…there are fountains in nearly every corner…a cozy seating area perfect for wine and conversation…and lovely flowers and plants everywhere.  Yes, it is as spectacular as you are envisioning…don’t you want one?  I do!  Someday I will have a pergola dripping with fragrant jasmine, until then I will have to work with what I have.  I do have a small covered area, the roof above it is tin…so an afternoon shower is lovely on my little sofa, but you might get wet if the wind blows the wrong way.

Since this picture, I have rearranged (again…it is a weekly thing, possibly due to the fact that when it rains all of the furniture gets crammed under the covered area)…I do have some colorful cushions, but they don’t suit my style or color scheme this year.  I moved these turquoise planters to the door we use most.

I love the pink and coral with the turquoise.  I’m in search of coral candles to replace the red ones on my mantle for summer, this is why I love turquoise…it is so versatile!  A close-up of one of the planters…

I know, I need to ‘dead head’ these.  I also like to include something sentimental…so I have a hibiscus in the decorative piece the Besties gave us for a wedding gift.  It does double duty of reminding me of that special day…hibiscus flowers always make me think of Hawaii (we got “Maui’d” LOL).

You had to know I would throw in a couple of things that I decided were worth trying to spruce up before deciding if they belonged in the donate pile.  This decorative garden ‘stone’ has been around for a looooong time.  The butterfly was originally a kelly green, I was never particularly fond of the color.  Last year, I was just about to donate this when I decided to try a quick paint job.  I used my favorite Robin’s Egg Blue craft paint followed by some antiquing glaze.  As soon as I started adding the paint, I knew I was going to keep it.  Here it is, after a year of being outside…

I really love the way the glaze brings out the details.  I had an old foam planter, you know the ones that look like clay, but weigh a few ounces?  I don’t even remember when I bought this…forever ago.  It was in bad shape.  There was a ring around the lower part of it from sitting inside something else.  It was headed for the trash…then I decided to see if I had enough left-over spray paint to save it.  I really love it now.

I still have the option of adding some of the antiquing glaze to give it more character, but I was not patient enough to do that this time. 

How do you dress up your outdoor areas?  I have a patio off the basement that needs some serious attention, so any ideas are appreciated!

Today’s secret revealed…would you believe me if I told you that I spent around $65 on my deck spruce up?  This post doesn’t include pictures of the other 4 planters I did.  My secret…the clearance plants!  All but 3 plants were on super clearance…most were only 50 cents!  The flowers that fill the turquoise planters by the door were $5.25 total!  I did “splurge” on those planters ($30 for both).  The planter I spray painted…those beautifully unusual petunias (the one type is purple with green on the tips) and other plants were a whopping $3.50…I love a bargain!