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.