Party at the Pickett's

Sometimes alliteration just gets the best of me.

Anyway, in order to celebrate the end of summer Bill and I threw a little barbeque last night. Since we're still on limited funds (2 weeks until real paychecks start!! Maybe that's why I'm so ready for school to start!) we provided burgers, hot dogs, buffalo chicken dip and mac salad. Since we have great friends, we ended up with a lot of delicious additions - including oreo brownies. Yum!

I also didn't want to spend any money on decorations for the party. We have plenty of stuff in the house and I just brought it outside for the evening.

I started the decorating out front with a simple sign to let the guests know where we were. It also served as a polite warning to watch that Simon didn't try to run away as they came in!

 

We set up four different seating areas, aiming for shaded places for people to sit since it was a bit of a sizzler yesterday.

We set everything up and took pictures in the afternoon while the sun was blazing, but by five o'clock the majority of the yard was shaded and perfect for the party.

The deck is always set up as a nice conversation area with comfy outdoor furniture. You can also see the EZ Up and the table umbrella are up in an effort to provide more shade. 

Of course I put little centerpieces on each table.

The main outdoor dining table was lantern themed. These looked great once it was dark and the candles were lit. All three of those came from Home Goods a few years back.

The coffee table had more of an outdoorsy theme. Yes, that is a moose arm wrestling a bear. Bill and I picked that and the mini Adirondack chair up in a little shop in Indian Lake. We're still debating whether the moose or the bear would win in an arm wrestling match! If you squint, you can see a couple of the birch candle holders that Bill made for me. They go with everything :) 

I corralled things on the food table to make it look pretty. I started by using a table cloth that I had made for my sister's bridal shower. The paper plates and napkins went into a basket. I love these napkins - another Home Goods find.

Craft tape wrapped around a cylindrical vase made the perfect spot for the forks. In an effort to use what we had already, I had to use some red forks. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't match the rest of the table decor!

Right after we moved in, Bill put in horse shoe pits on the far side of the yard. I thought it would be nice for people to have a place to put their drinks while they were playing, so I stuck these drink holders in the ground. It's just a Progresso soup can, a few washers and nuts, and a threaded metal dowel. I made these before we spent the week at the lake in July. They are super handy and the perfect size to hold the beverage of your choice. There's one on each end of the horse shoe pits.

Here's the view of the yard from the horse shoe pits. The guys set up a game of Kan-Jam in the big open space too.

I strung some white Christmas lights along the railing of the deck to add some lighting and ambiance once the sun went down. I'm pretty sure they might become a permanent fixture out there. I didn't remember to take pictures of them once it was dark out, I was too busy enjoying everyone's company.

I'd say we ended the summer on a high note. It was so fun to spend a relaxing evening with so many of our friends. This might just make going back to school a little easier. Maybe.

What is everyone else doing to wrap up the summer? What's your opinion on the bear/moose arm wrestling debate?

Thanks for reading,
Kathleen


Linking up to: Simply Designing

The Great Outdoors

When we first looked at this house, it was February and there was a ton of snow in the backyard. We knew that there was a deck off of the living room and we could see that the yard was pretty large, but that's about it. We had no idea that there were any issues with the yard.

Once we moved in and the snow melted, we were left with this:

Yikes. Luckily for me, Bill had a vision and works his rear off. Last summer, we painted the deck and rails gray. (What can I say, I have an affinity for gray!) Bill also took the rail off the near side and extended the stairs so we were left with a large opening. We've also had loads and loads of soil delivered to fill the large hole where there used to be an above ground pool. This year, we finally have grass growing there and you can hardly tell that it used to be a gaping abyss.

I'm so excited that our deck now looks like this:

I think that all of the furniture came from Target over time. I bought the two wicker chairs for the porch at my old house. The other matching chair and loveseat are also from Target. I got a great deal on them last August - both pieces for $100. Amazing.

We added the potted plants today. Hopefully I'll be able to keep them alive long enough to bloom! You can see how to make the birch candle holders here.

Down the steps we have a large concrete patio. The dining table and grill live down there, along with a planter box that Bill built last summer. I can't wait for those grasses to grow and provide some color.

In the far right of the picture above, you can see the wooden swing that used to be in the back right corner of the yard. We moved that pretty quickly after we moved in because Bill thought that space would be perfect for a fire pit. We bought one of those "Fire pits on a Pallet" and installed it in about 15 minutes. We then had a bunch of river rock delivered to complete the space.

Bill says that the next project will be trying to get grass to grow throughout the main part of the yard. It's been a challenge with a dog that uses the whole yard as his urinal, not to mention that most of the yard is in full sun for the majority of the morning and afternoon. I'll leave that yard work up to him. I wouldn't want to step on his toes!!

I'm not sure that I'll ever call any space in our house "done," but the backyard is shaping up quite nicely! I'm so grateful to have a husband who takes pride in the yard and does all the manual labor. I hope you're all that lucky! Enjoy the weekend :)

Thanks for reading,
Kathleen