TRANSFORMED, from broken to beautiful
Since I typed the last word and hit publish on my Write 31 Days series in October life has been a whirlwind, and I haven’t been back once to work on another blog post. Why? Number one, writing for 31 days straight was exhausting and a lot more demanding than I thought it would be. Number 2, November was a month of hosting friends and family in our home which meant a lot of local sightseeing, including trips to the beach and the mountains.
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One day, several years into our marriage, my husband exclaimed in exasperation, “I never knew you were so stubborn!”
What? Half Finnish and half Irish (with a touch of English that my dad was reluctant to acknowledge – because that part of the family was “stuffy”) and the thought that I might be a wee bit stubborn had never crossed his mind? Of course I’d long since realized that his German, Irish, whatever-else-ish self was terribly stubborn.
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I’m not a writer today. Nope! Since I’m working an a huge list of “to-do’s” in anticipation of our vacation next week (YAY!) I will be showing and going today! This is a much past due post. I took the pictures in May, at the tail end of “the blowing of the pollen”, after a full day of cleaning the screened porch and it’s furnishings.
With yellow pollen covering everything I cleaned my screened porch the easy way, by taking everything out to the deck and hosing out the inside . . .
. . .then doing the same with the furniture outside. I did scrub things down first with some soapy water.
The hose is one of Sasha’s favorite things so she was right there to help! You’ll notice that Cozy is conspicuously absent throughout this post.
Last Fall, when we first moved in, I showed you pictures of my screened porch with a list of things I’d like to do. I haven’t done everything on my list but I have freshened things up a bit.
We ordered neutral colored replacement cushions for the sitting area so that we could change our accent colors at will.
By the way, did I tell you that this entire set of patio furniture was negotiated into the purchase of our home? People don’t think about doing that but we also negotiated for the couches in our bonus room and den, as well as the bed in one of our guest rooms.
We added a faux sea grass rug from Lowes to add to the beach feeling and to pull the sitting area together.
We added some bright pillows to the quieter colored pillows we already had.
Most of the accessories came from our old home, “the lake house”, back in Washington State.
We found this old farmhouse table after we moved here and it’s perfect for a serving station. I added the skirt around it to hide my supplies while not in use.
No neutral cushions for the dining table!
Turquoise and orange-to-red tones are the color choice for our screened porch,
. . . influenced by this picture that my 97-year-old mother-in-law painted when she was sixteen. Sweet yes?
Here’s a quick sweep around the room from left to right.
Now on to a few closeups to show you more detail.
This is a rocker from my childhood that my husband re-caned for me. There is a tutorial in the making but he isn’t as motivated at blogging as I am 🙁
And the only rules we have for settin’ on the back porch . . . RELAX.
No matter what’s happening all around us, when we take time to relax in Him, we always find something to be thankful for.
Blessings,
When I saw this room I was a goner. It was the first room I walked into at our new house and after seeing it I no longer cared what the rest of the house looked like.
I was smitten with The Screened Porch.
For a long time I’d been rather jealous of those who lived in the South. You see, they got to have these beautiful screened porches and I didn’t. Not that I didn’t try to talk Mr. OTN into adding one onto our lake house.
It always came down to practicality though as really, how many months of the year would we be able to use a screened room in the Pacific NW? 
So when we decided to make the move south, a screened porch was HIGH on my “Must Have” list and this is the room that cemented the deal for me. Lucky for Mr. OTN the rest of the house was perfect for us as well!
The former owners, Mr. and Mrs F. told us they used to begin and end every day in this room. Now . . . here it is November . . . and we are still enjoying afternoons on the porch (yesterday it was 72). 
In negotiating for the house we were able to have included in the price all of the screened room furniture, as well as some of the interior furniture. This worked out perfectly for us because we had to sell a lot of our old furniture to keep the moving company costs down.
Isn’t the view of the yard beautiful? It may not be the same view we had at our lake house but it is still pretty wonderful.
At first we were talking about putting a pool in here . . . something to make up for losing our lake view.
We may add a water feature in the future, for the sound it makes, but we are loving looking out at the trees so much that we don’t really feel the urge to tear things up to make room for a pool.
You may recognize these bottles and some of the other things we’ve decorated the porch with from our lake house and also our old guest cottage at the lake.
I always used some coastal decor in my summer decorating (you can take a look back HERE) and our guest cottage was ALL coastal (if you missed that remodel you can view it HERE). I knew when I saw this screened porth that it would be the room I would fill with happy west coast memories!
Can you believe these vaulted bead board ceilings? LOVE!
This is the view that captures me when I lay my head back to rest.
Now for a few close ups of some of my west coast decor transformed to east coast decor!
As you can see, the dogs have made the transition with no difficulties at all. Cozy loves nap time on the porch.
Sasha keeps an eye out for chipmunks or squirrels who might invade her territory.
Say what???
Even old girl Snoopy, who is almost 17 and doesn’t do much but sleep, is happy here on the porch.
The porch is indeed my happy place. It is the place I go to find total peace . . . but . . .
. . . anyone who knows me well knows that I have a gazillion ideas for this space. I’ve run them by Mr OTN and he just shakes his head. “Not right away”, I tell him, knowing that he is still reeling from the cross country move and a new job! “Eventually . . . little changes over time . . . “, I assure him.
He just rolls his blue eyes and smiles.
So blog friends . . . here are my ideas! I’m just certain that this room would be even more wonderful if we added a few more things to enhance the coastal feel:
A Sky Blue Ceiling
A Corner Fireplace Made of Natural Stone
Brightly Patterned Pillows . . . LOTS of them!
A Gray Wash on the Floor
A Large Patterned Rug to Pull it all Together
What do you think? It definitely won’t happen right away. We still have plenty to do just getting settled into our new home and community.
Hmmm . . . maybe I’ll go grab an afghan and spend some time mulling over my ideas . . . right here in my favorite room.
Blessings,
So what am I doing spending time decorating my house when I should be packing for our upcoming move to Greenville? I know, right? But when I saw Linda of Coastal Charm‘s recent post sharing her Coastal Vignette I just had to dig out my own coastal decor to do a little summer decorating at our lake house. I need to get back to packing so I won’t talk much, just share my pictures. Let’s start in my living room with the addition of a few coastal touches, some things old and some things new.
Summer pillow covers replaced heavier covers for my entry hall bench and other living room furniture.
Here, a sea fan I bought last year from Sherry at No Minimalist Here.
An old tool box I also bought last year and added a driftwood handle to. It is filled now with a collection of things from the sea.
My giant Japanese float atop my kitchen cabinets.
My frog sugar and creamer always make me smile. Love their colors!
And now for several shots of my table centerpiece made up of a random collection of items.
Where is your happy place in summer? Is it the mountains, camping in the woods, poolside or simply sitting on your front porch?
Whether it be at the lake or beside the sea, The Beach is my Happy Place!
Blessings,
