Adding Some Special Touches To Our New Backyard

   

When you purchase a brand new home it takes a bit of time to put your own personal stamp, and make your own.

We have been in our home 8 months and we are feeling more and more like it is ours.

I have to admit I keep waiting for someone to tell me it is time to leave.

You know that feeling of having to leave the place you have been staying on vacation, and it is time to go home. That is how I feel here.

Recently our yard was finished, and we have been bringing some of our personal touches that we had in our last home's yard. 

With each piece that we add we get more of a feeling that we do get to stay here and this is our home.

Let me share some of the additions to our yard that we have added. 

I used restraint because this yard is different than our last yard, and certain things work, and certain things do not work as well here.

I love decorating inside and outside of our home with letters. We use the letter, "P," since that is the letter in our last name. 

One thing I had to be careful of in this yard it to not add too much. The yard spoke for itself, and truly did not need too many extra touches.

We added the letter P in the form of monogrammed pillows....

Since the color scheme in our yard is cobalt, black and white this pillow from Ballard designs works perfectly and they hold up really well.

Years ago I was antiquing on a road trip and I found 4 vintage wrought iron gates and grilles. I had them behind vines in our other yard and they made a very nice back drop. 

This is the smaller and more ornate one. Notice to the left you will see a little statue. We call him little Jimmy and he is picking up a rock from the garden. He had to go in our yard here. He use to be leaning over the little bubbler in our last yard...

We used two of the larger gates on our side yard to hold up the jasmine on the fence. It is so nice having these old friends here with us.

The other metal piece is a crane. I have always loved these birds in yards, and since he was in our last yard I had to find a place here for him. 

I had so much fun trying this place and that place, until I found the perfect little area......

Here he is peeking out behind the rose bushes.

I think he feels right at home!!

I have another letter "P" to show you. This was a gift from some very dear friends that live out of state that were staying with me. 

We went to the Alameda Antique flea market and they surprised me with this. They know how much I love to add a touch of whimsy to my somewhat more classic design aesthetic.

It is a vintage neon letter, "P!" and it is black and white!! It could not be more perfect for our home.

Here it is during the day, but when it really shows its style is at night time. 

I tried to get some good pictures at night, but you all know how hard that can be.....

and

To say we love it is an understatement.

Last but not least we added the mirror that use to hang on our front porch....

( our previous home's front porch)

I love the reflection of our side fountain and plants in the mirror.

We were both surprised at how much the addition of this mirror completed the look, and feel of our yard to both of us. 

I would never have expected this one piece to make us both feel that way, but it did.

Of course I still have a few more plans down the pike, but they can wait, I am in no hurry and we have the rest of our lives to do more things.

IMPORTANT LESSON:

When adding elements to an indoor or outdoor space, step back and look at the area as a whole unit, not just the area you are trying to add something. Make sure that what you are going to add does not make your eyes jolt from one piece to another. There should be a gentle flow, and continuity to the entire picture. There should be what I call a visual flow. Not every nook and cranny has to have something special to look at, the eye needs a place to rest, even in your yards.

(even our lawnmower matches our yard, how did that happen? I guess I have trained him well.)

I will share more with you in the future, but for right now we enjoy our morning coffee out back and in the evenings when it gets dark we enjoy the quiet, peace that we have in our backyard.

WE both can say 

life is pretty darn good!!