Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Porches and Front Yard

From the Street you see this...

I was asked by a few people to include more outside photos of the house so here you go...


I have always loved the beautiful wrap around porches we see in the design magazines but I am just as happy with our little one. Yesterday after the "cat nap" and cleaning up I decided to fool around with the porch a little. I rescued the wicker chairs from the warehouse and put this together. As you can see our bricks are cracking and separating...a hazard when the ground shifts here in CA. Fortunately our good friends own a masonry company and I have put in a call for a repair soon. So these can be the before pics.



Tic Tac Toe with frogs and dragonflies anyone?

If you come to this door I will know you are a perfect stranger or you really are coming to play tic tac toe. Even though this is the front door we never use it except to come out on the porch. I seriously think we don't even have a key to the door. We and all of our family and friends enter into our backdoor. "Backdoor Friends Are Best," it has been said and in our case it is very true. Here is a photo of the porch we normally use.

After coming up the drive way you can turn left at the bricks to go to the porch I just showed you, or you can go straight to the "backdoor." I guess technically we have two front doors!

I got the cute sign from a shopkeeper
who had a little gift shop called
"No Place Like the Cottage."
I it!

This is a chair that l like that
I had down in the warehouse.
I would sit on it and look at all the
stuff and figure out a design plan
for each house.

I want to keep it and I haven't a
square inch open anywhere
else so it is on the porch!

I am really glad we painted the doors black
to go with the shutters on the house.


I really enjoy decorating with whimsical things.
I don't want our house to feel stuffy or too formal
so I love to put things around like this
lawn jockey. I have been meaning to paint his vest and hat
a different color than green for years. Any suggestions on
a good color? I will be doing it this year.
Some of the shutters have not been put
back up since we had the house painted!
Workin' on it though!


This is a wind chime I found down in the valley
near Yosemite last fall. It is a fun piece and so vintage.
Just right for the cottage.

This is a fun welcome sign. It pivots to..

I love the whimsy of the back side!
I know it's there but you won't ever
see this side if you come over.

These are my hydrangeas from Easter.
They are looking kinda over.
I think the big rains around
Easter took their toll on them!

Well, thanks for stopping by.
I hope you felt welcome because you always are!


P.S. I really like taking pictures of the house because it makes you see things you haven't really noticed before. I realized through these photos that both of our porch lights are too small. The scale is just not right. Do you take photos of your home and analyze them sometimes? It is a good idea. It is so easy to just not notice things otherwise.

I am adding this post to the blog meme "What Inspired You This Week? You'll find some inspiration here. The great weather has inspired me to get outside and get things done.

3 comments:

Marie Rayner said...

What an inviting home you have Bonnie! Front or back. It says welcome! xxoo

Nellie's Cozy Place said...

Morning Miss Bonnie,
I think you should paint his vest
a rusty red. Your porches look so nice and inviting. I am planning to drop by later for a game of tic tac to!! lol Hope you will be home, and how is the cat training coming along. Mine is not cooperating at all!! lol
Love that welcome sign that says go away!! that would be a good sign to have when you are taking a Sunday afternoon nap, but it needs to have an added Napping!! lol
I am like you I like adding things like that to the yard as well, to add some extra whimsy, charm and fun. I saw on Kathy's blog from
sweet up north mornings. Her blog
header has a bike painted all white with a basket that has a watering can full of flowers all in white too. I would love to do that on my porch. Cause it is really small and you can't do too much with it really and I think it would look super! So that will be a future project if Dee doesn't want her old bike!! lol
Yes, Scott looks very much like his daddy, but then there are times especially when he is dressed in a tux that he looks sooooo much like my daddy. Just amazes me!! Course, I marked both of them with brown eyes!! lol
We had such a fun day yesterday,
we went to sunday school and church, then went for a smoothie and Dee came over and had lunch with us then later in the afternoon Scott and Megan came over, and Dee had to leave so we had them all to ourself for once,
and we really had some nice talks.
I made them strawberry crepes, and they loved them!!
It whole day was a truly a blessing!!
Scott applied for a State job in Jacksonville Florida. We hate that he will have to move if he gets it but we so want him to have
a job that he loves and where they are not working him 70+ hrs. a week. It is only 2 hrs. away so that is not too bad. So we will see what happens.
Last time I talked to Becky was mid week last week, but she seemed to be doing fine, still taking it easy with her knee, she felt like it was pretty much just bruised.
If you want her email address, go to my right side bar where it says contact me, and send me an email and I will send her's to you.
That way we will also have each other address too!
Well, Girly........
You have a great week. Know you are happy to have finally finished with the warehouse, that is nice to be adding $$$ to your monthly budget, so nice your friends helped as well.
Blessings Galore Hon,
Nellie

Dorothy said...

Although we haven't met, I feel like your home and yard just say "Bonnie" everywhere and I loved everything about the tour! Sorry I wasn't close enough to take advantage of the goodies you were getting rid of from the storage units. OHHHH I keep forgetting, I am trying to simplify!---But you inspire me to use what I have in more creative ways so I thank you.
Lovingly,
Dorothy