Get Away to the Great Outdoors...

This may be one of my favorite pictures ever :)

Lately we have been spending a lot of time outdoors making our backyard an extension of our indoor living space. Its easy to do that living in California (although the rains of late have dampened our plans a bit). We've created our very first garden on one of our side yards, hung lanterns and baskets of flowers around the perimeter of our yard, freshened up chair cushions and just today I laid some new flagstone to make a little path around our new said garden (thanks to my friend Sarah). We are truly rolling up our sleeves to make our piece of the great outdoors GREAT.

I find inspiration in some of these pictures:


I wish that we could have a fireplace in our outdoor space - it would be so cozy! And I wish for an overhead trellis as well...Isn't this space gorgeous?

I love this space! I want to hide out in this little "treehouse" and take a nap! Or maybe listen to my kids laughing and playing house in there. Its so beautifully nestled in the trees and shrubs; what a beautiful retreat.

We spend the bulk of our warm spring and summer months outside (and into the fall as well), so I like for the backyard to be a colorful, true extension of our home. But that takes WORK and time. I'm grateful for a little inspiration :) What have you been working on in your outdoor spaces and what inspires you?