Bubbling Water

Is there any sound that is as soothing as bubbling water in a water feature? I love the sound of a fountain whether it is a soft trickle of water or more of a splashing sound of water. I just like the sound of moving water. I also love to watch it. In fact one of my favorite things to do is to watch the sprinklers water my lawn. I love the simple pleasures of life.

Now back to the bubbling water. I know ponds, waterfalls, fountains are nothing new, but sometimes we cannot afford the time or the money for these more elaborate projects. I went browsing in cyber land to find some smaller but more doable water features to inspire you.

I am sure you have all seen this done before. It is really an easy process to make one of these fountains out of a favorite ceramic pot. What I love about this set-up is the way they put it in a cut-out in the brick patio with succulents. I know that succulents are big right now and I thought this was a great look for succulents with the addition of the water feature. I like the way the green of the fountain keeps the natural look of the planter going.

This is a different take on the vessel fountain. Instead of keeping it upright they slanted it so the water becomes more of a waterfall affect.

This is another vessel fountain. Instead of one fountain head they have used three with extenders and placed flat stones on top creating a rain affect. I bet this sounds wonderful.

This is definitely not in the weekend project category since it involves a structure. I like the inspiration of the three vessels being used. I think when anything is in mass it is so much more dramatic. So maybe three vessel fountains would work somewhere in your yard.

This is probably the simplest of all the bubblers. A simple pot surrounded by greenery bubbling away. What a wonderful, cool look for a flower bed.

If you are interested in a quick weekend project here is a website that will show you how easy it is to make a bubbler like the one pictured above. Here is another website that also shows the equipment you will need for your bubbler.

“Enjoy the Process” Of: Adding the sound of water to your yard.

Kathysue

I Am Getting Inspired!!

Since the weather is changing to a nice summery warmth my mind is going to my backyard.  I truly love my backyard, but as with any area in one’s home it can always use a little sprucing up. I keep a file of backyard inspiration images that attracted my attention for various reasons. As I have told you before the back of my home is painted a different color than the front. The front of my home is soft yellow, white with small amounts of black. In the backyard I used cool greens and blue. I wanted a cooling down effect with our hot summer temperatures. Let me show you some of the images that are inspiring me right now.

So cool and crisp looking. Notice the boxed pillow frame in the stripe.  I am going to remember this as a fun look for pillows inside or outside.

White wicker looks so crisp with the addition of the cobalt blue stripe.

I like how this long narrow space was divided into two sitting areas. If this had cobalt blue pillows I think it would have such a lush cool affect.

Candlelight always makes everything look inviting to me.  If you add stripes to the mix it becomes perfection. In all of these pictures I am visualizing my blues and greens in place of the colors that are pictured.

 

Love,love,love this door. I am going to try and figure out how to incorporate it on my fence gate in the backyard.

 

I know, I know this is not an outside area, but their is so much inspiration for me in this picture. I love the large  almost monogram looking print on the back of the chairs. The blue hydrangeas and the white porcelain pieces made me think of my window box that is cobalt blue and it has green ferns and white hydrangeas with tips of blue in it. The black legs of the chairs and the black table reminded me of all the old black wrought iron gates in my backyard leaning against the cool green walls. You see there are lots of places to get inspiration for the outdoor spaces in your home.

This is perfection to me. I just purchased some cobalt/navy cushions with off white cord welting for my white wicker. The flowers on the table are like what is in my window box. Oh how I would love a lamp out back, I am working on that idea. I am also going to add a couple of blue and white porcelain pieces with my cobalt and green pots. I love it when it an idea starts to come together after being in my brain for so long.

I loved this image for the use of boxwoods and water features. I have to have water features in my yard. I do have a pool so that is a feature in of itself. We have connected a fountain to the pool that floats in the middle and adds a nice ambiance when there is no swimming going on. I also have a small bubbler in my yard that I will share with you on another post that is so easy to make. You can do it in a couple of hours. Now that is the kind of DIY project I like. No paint involved, just water, rocks and plants.

A couple of other elements in this image that I love is the lantern and the overhang on the door. I also like the outdoor shutters. I have shutters that my honey made for me to go with the window box.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend in your backyards. Whether it is with friends or family, or if you are planting or barbequing have a great time!!

 “Enjoy the Process”

Of: Making your backyard your very own sanctuary.

Happy Memorial Day!!

Kathysue

Will you Eat off of Plastic ??

I know that sounds like a strange question doesn't it?  I have an aversion to eating or drinking out of plastic. It is one of my quirks. With the summer weather upon us we will be spending more time out in our backyard where our pool resides.

With pool weather comes barbeques and drinks outside. To prevent broken glass from being stepped on plastic seems to be the most logical idea.

I went looking around on Google and I actually found some great looking plastic dishes. Here are just a few of the ones I found…….

This fun set of black and white can be ordered on line, here as well as these colorful dishes below.

 

The next three plates are all by Thomas Paul and you can get them on his website as well as many other patterns.

If you are a lover of Thomas Paul and classic black and white try these wonderful designs he did for Target here.

These come in such great colors and designs from here

More fun colors from Target!

How would you like to add your own monogram and design your own plates .You can do it here at La Plates

These brightly colored plates are on sale right now at Pier I

So after looking at just some of the possibilities I think I am changing my mind about plastic dishes or Melamine, to call them by their proper name.

I do have some pretty precious plates in melamine. My three sons drew on these plates as a gift for me when they were in Kindergarten. I have used them with the grandkids from time to time. Pretty precious drawings by some pretty precious hands.

"Enjoy The Process" Of: Finding Pretty in Plastic.

Kathysue

BTW: I was in TJ Maxx today and they had some wonderful leaf patterned dishes in Melamine. Check it out!