29 Tuesdays: Project #1: Outdoor Oasis

We tackled this first big project as soon as we could, after spending 2 years in Seattle we were very ready to take advantage of our outdoor space, sunshine and our partial mountain view!

But this is what we started with...

So I hit Pinterest for some inspiration and these were my favorites...

I wanted to create a cozy, lush, outdoor living space where I could plant a little herb garden, and still have room to move around and put a grill. I originally looked into pre-fab benches, but they were far too expensive and didn't really look the way I wanted them to. So we decided to build them (tutorial coming soon)!

As far as plants go, we moved here towards the end of the growing season, so we planted a few flowers and herbs (Basil, Sage, Rosemary and Lemon Verbena) in some free planter boxes from craigslist and a few other pots I picked up on clearance!

We really love having this kind of outdoor area where we can spend time and eat dinner...our new puppy Layla also loves being able to watch people go by!

I used a simple cream colored canvas for the bench seats and then brought in color with pillows and an old yard sale quilt. I also finally got to use the prayer flags I've had stashed away for years!

The other great thing about these benches is that the provide a TON of storage underneath them! Those of us that live in apartments know how valuable every inch of storage is!!

A little light fall reading...

I found this great old tool case on craigslist for free...love using it as a little tray since we don't have a proper table out here...

The view from this bench...

Once we had all of this together we realized that we needed to add some soft light, so we got some great bulb string lights to set the mood :)

We're using another craigslist find to keep our planters off the ground since Layla likes to dig up my plants right now! I kind of like the added privacy they add though!