A favorite post: My sisters garden...

This is the first post I want to share with you again, it is just too beautiful not too!

Here are all of the images that I would love to share with you form my trip down to Dallas last week. They are all of my sisters backyard and just breathtaking. I did nothing to the space, no staging, no placement, this is how it looks everyday, it is just perfect.

The entrance to the pool & backyard from the driveway

She has created great seating areas throughout the backyard...

Here is one of my favorite areas of the backyard. There is a banana leaf daybed from Indonesia and a creative way to use a large cast iron urn. She simply filled it with moss and fern leafs and added a glass top to create a side table. 

Beautiful wall planters are on every wall...

The bar with built-in kitchen is to the right and the dining area is in the background. She incorporated arbors above the bar & dining area for coverage. There are grape vines growing up the arbors that the squires and geckos love so much....

  

Here is a view from behind the bar area, to reflect the area she hung 4 wrought-iron mirrors behind the bar so when you are belly up you can still get the reflection of the pool...

More images from the sides and path around the pool area...

  

  

Another one of my favorite areas is the side yard that leads to the back...

And how fun is the electric blue wrought iron bench...

 

Also, located in Colleyville (a burb of Dallas) there is a great store called The Pink Hanger. My sister has a section of the store called The Wow Factor where she sells fabulous outdoor items including lanterns, the driftwood furniture shown above, Virgin Saints & Angles jewelry, along with other amazing items for your home and garden. Be sure to go and check it out and support your local stores. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I enjoy hanging out there with her. Have a great day! Mel :)

Fridays Favorite

Fridays Favorite for today you ask?? Progress, that is what is my favorite thing for the day. Most importantly progress on our next home. Drawings are off to the engineers and the lot has been cleared for the driveway and house location. Come a take a little tour with me...

Here is the entrance to the property with the driveway cut in. We will need to bring in massive amounts of fill and bring the road up but I do want to maintain the natural landscaping along the driveway. To me the trees are priceless and we are trying to keep as many of them as possible.

Here is the view of the driveway location and what the front of the home will be facing. I am so happy that we were able to save the large spruce trees and so many aspens. While we were out on the site today I just stood there and listened to the sound of the wind running through the trees, there really is nothing more relaxing.

I love this photo since it puts the scale of the trees into perspective. This is what the back of the home will face, just beyond the trees there is a pond...can you say pond hockey in the winter??

Since I took all of these with my handy iPhone I wanted to share a few more that I took with my favorite photo app, Hipstamatic, it is so fun to play around with, almost as much fun as digging in the dirt like the little men in my life love to do!

Here is hoping you can make some progress in a project you are working on this weekend!! We are off to the farmers market to gather up some yummy food for dinner, lots of out of town guest will be here this weekend and they deserve a feast! Mel :)

Sneak peak...

So, if you recall in my past post about my landscaping I mentioned that my sister was blessed with all of the landscaping talent and skill. Now don't get me wrong, I love a beautiful garden, I just prefer to design it and pay someone else to kill their back. Well, we are in Dallas at her home right now and I am taking picture after picture for a few post to come. Here is a sneak peak of what you will get to see...

I hope your week is treating you well!! Mel :)

Not quiet green yet, but getting there...

So we did manage to get the plants in the ground this weekend...it was a lot of fun, really, I swear. Not sure how some can find it relaxing, those that do I will admit that I am a tad bit jealous since I would love to have a gorgeous garden, but I know it is just not in my plans, at least for now.

Here is a before & after...

   

When selecting plants I told the wonderful people at Lowes that I needed things that 'I couldn't kill if I tried'. We are only here from the beginning of June till the beginning of August, so the plants will have to survive the August heat and humidity without any tender loving care. We were told to go with 'hearty perennials'.

I will admit that I am excited for the plants to make roots and start to expand, I have a feeling it will look great in a month or two but especially next summer. We still have a bit of work to do, one more larger plant in the corner, fabric, and mulch...but it is getting there.

Now off to get ready for all of our house guest that are arriving later today, have a fab day!! Mel :)

My black thumb wants to be green...

Sorry for being MIA but we just got an Internet connection here at the cabin. We have also been very busy opening the house up for the summer of fun.

For some reason I thought it would be a great idea to plant some new flowers & shrubs in the existing planters that surround the patio. Yeahh, see, I wasn't blessed with a green thumb like my sister, mine is black but I am giving it my best shot. I mean really, it can't look worse than it did originally...

After learning that I had to 'Put some meat into' with the shovel from Rob I got the hang of it, that is until I met my fate with the shrub on the end. After some chainsaw action from the man we gave up for the afternoon, it isn't all work and no play down here after all.

 

I hope my Monday's post will be the 'after' images and everything will be done, please note I did say hope, so keep your fingers crossed for me!!