Slade Drive House Tour - Back Porch/Yard

There was a nice deck on our porch when we purchased it and the back yard was in pretty good shape.  We made some small changes over the years to make it 'ours'.

Before:

First, we restained the porch.  My dad helped us replace some rotted boards in the deck, and he also repaired some of the siding on the addition that was in bad shape.  We got a furniture upgrade from the two plastic green chairs, and I got REALLY into plants. 

I hung this old window with window box that I had from the wall.  I usually had small pots with succulents in here.  We then added the lanterns on either side.  I got the cheapest, smallest door that I could find from the junk yard, and then used concrete pavers that were laying around our yard to create a potting table for all my herbs.  I drilled some large holes in the table to let the water drain which worked pretty well. 

Ahh, herbs...

During a lunch break one day, Rhonda and I went 'junking' at the local junk yard.  She found these pillars for a total steal, and she convinced me to buy them.  Thanks, Rhonda!  I added some Ikea lanterns to the top of them - my brother helped screw them in so that they wouldn't fall off.

The hungarian baby bath is still a favorite piece of ours - Sommer and I got these at Scott Antique Markets in Atlanta. 

We got a heater for cooler nights on the porch...see the lessons learned :)  You can see the heater here...this was taken at Sean's welcome home party...

When we first moved in, there was a path from the bottom of the porch to the driveway made with railroad ties and some sort of large chips of mulch.  These got all over the yard, and we didn't like the look of it.  Sean removed the ties and worked hard to grow grass there.

I planted new bushes along the back of the porch and stuck with my favorites...rosemary bushes, hydrangeas, and tea olives - have you smelled these?  Oh, they are so divine!!

I removed the railroad ties that had been used to define the planting areas, and replaced it with old brick that I got at the junk yard.  We added many other shrubs throughout the backyard..some did well, some didn't.

We have so many fond memories from our porch...we constantly talk about how we miss having coffee on the porch, meals with friends, nights with wine and music, etc. 

Lessons learned:
--Candles melt so easily in GA during the summer. Next time, I would use candles that are in glass if possible so that they don't melt to a point that you can't use them.
--I would never buy an electric outdoor heater again...they don't work very well at all.  I would definitely buy propane next time.
--We probably should have put a different walkway in to lead to the driveway
--Once I got excited about planting, I couldn't control myself.  It was fun, but a LOT of maintenance/watering...time!  I am glad I tried so many things, but now I am better about narrowing down.