Dressing Up My Patio!!!- Written By: Flamingo Toes, Beverly

Dressing Up My Patio!!!

09
Jul 2012

I am just so excited to show this off to you!

My patio furniture has been in need of some help for quite a while. And we have a gorgeous view – it’s a shame to not sit out there and enjoy it!

Last week we finally got a new table and some colorful chairs – but we didn’t have any dinnerware for the table.
I wanted something fun and colorful and unique – to go with the bright colors in the chairs.

Time to go shopping!

Of course, I had to go to one of my favorite places, World Market!

And of course, I got distracted by all the awesomeness on my way to find the outdoor dishes.

I am in full-on redecorate mode – so all the gorgeous curtains were fun to look through.
And the lamps too! I love that you can mix and match the shades and bases so easily!

They also have some great organization items – fun baskets and liners. I think this would make organizing and cleaning up way more fun.

I found plenty of regular dishes too! They are so colorful and unique – they have such pretty patterns and styles.

I picked up some Iced Tea while I was there – they have these fun new flavors based on mixed drinks!
I have been loving the Mango Margarita this summer, so I decided to get the Coconut Rum and the Mojito Mint too – you can’t go wrong with those flavors!

I also found some really perfect things for my new patio table!!

I ADORE how well the plates go with the turquoise and red of my chairs!
I also found these great round woven placements and the fun green glasses! I think they have a great retro look to them.

I also found this sweet and simple little glass vase display! I love tiny little vases - they are so perfect for little flower cuttings from the yard.

I just love how everything came together! We will be spending a lot of time out here this summer!

You can also follow World Market on Twitter for fun updates.

So what do you think? Don’t you love the new Patio look?

Flirty Thirty: In Home Entertaining/Dates - Written by: Mandy of In the Fashion Lane

Happy Monday, friends!

I bet you didn’t expect to see another Flirty Thirty post so soon!

With the Holiday on Wednesday, I knew I had to get this post up SOONER rather than later. If you are a new reader please check out the first couple posts in this series HERE. Since last week’s post was a little on the heavier side I wanted to make sure that this post was a little more fun. :)

The BEST thing about being 30 is that I have a space that I can call my own. I have a townhouse that my parents and I just ~~remodeled~~ gutted. I spent so much time picking out paint, carpet, blinds, tile etc. I am still working on the decorating but I have a space that feels like me. One thing that was SUPER important to me was to have a nice patio for entertaining. As of last Sunday there was NOTHING in my backyard. My mom and I went to pick out furniture and brick. My dad got to work on filling in the dirt holes. I ordered a fire pit and headed to Cost Plus World Market to check out their decor. I actually looked at Lowes, Home Depot, Target, Walmart and numerous places on line as well, BUT Cost Plus World Market had the best selection AND prices of them all. Crazy as it may sound…I had NEVER shopped there before.

Mixing and Matching to make the perfect combo for my style

Headed back this week to pick up this cool lantern holder and colored lantern

I wanted to create a fun and colorful space because the inside of my house is very neutral. I felt like I needed the backyard to feel more like a vacation spot. I knew that I wanted to incorporate some kind of ikat print as well. I originally fell in love with a blue and white ikat collection but it didn’t feel right for the whole theme. Then I found the yellow and white ikat print seat cushions. They were perfect for my chairs but they didn’t have matching bench seat cushions. After pairing up different color combos we decided to mix prints. I found striped cushions that had yellow and white in them and knew I had the ultimate combo. After walking through the store a couple of times trying to NOT go crazy buying things I found a really cool tray that matched the ikat cushions. It is perfect for setting up drinks and glasses or a S’Mores station. I also found a killer deal on a little side table that matches my furniture. It was 20 bucks on sale and I had an additional 10% off. SCORE! I was surprised at the deals and sales that they had. In addition to great prices they are also giving a coupon away for 15% off of a Southwest flight when you spend 20 dollars or more. Buy and Fly? I could get bought onto that. They also have a really fun Summer Getaway Sweepstakes in which Cost Plus World Market is giving away a trip a week for four weeks to anywhere Southwest flies including hotel accommodations AND a $500 gift card to Cost Plus World Market. Moral of the story is that you must check out the store and get rewarded for doing it!

Make sure to Check out Cost Plus World Market on Facebook and Twitter

All of my goodies…TWO baskets full!!

The furniture set, new cushions, fire pit, table and serving tray

Adult beverage offering with my matching tumblers and stemless wine glasses. Don’t forget the wine opener ;)

All of the brick work was done by my Dad. He worked so hard! THANK YOU DAD! You have blessed me so much!!

Living in So Cal my favorite thing to do is to sit outside, by a fire pit and have some cocktails. It is something that can pretty much happen year round. I wanted to make sure that I could have a place to have my girl friends over or even a date! I think that having a designated space in your home that is intimate without being ‘dangerous’ for dating is key. Through the years I have found that some of my best dates have been in a more “homey” environment. I am such a social person. Being able to just sit, relax and chat with someone is very stimulating to me. Plus creating an environment that is welcoming really helps people to open up and be themselves. It really takes the pressure of impressing someone off.

These are my “RULES” for having Dates at home:

1. Stay in the safe zone, meaning avoid bedrooms! You want your date to feel comfortable and you need to keep the focus on getting to know one another and NOT on sex.

2. Create the mood and set the ambiance. Lighting, music, food, drinks and possibly a blanket if the night gets chilly.

3. Have a set of serving ware that matches. Matching plates, bowls, cups etc. shows that you take pride in presentation.

4. Create a playlist that will set the mood or has artists that mean something to the both of you.

5. Have something fun prepared. You can roast marshmallows, have a game set up or BBQ together. The best dates are when you do something together that allows your personality and traits to shine.

My hope is that whether you are married, dating or single that these tips will help you with entertaining in your home. If you are inspired to try something new or plan a fun date for yourself then I have done my job. I plan to entertain ASAP! My backyard looks too pretty to wait!

Picnic at the Park - Written by: Little Birdie Secrets

Remember how I told you about my new-found love for Cost Plus World Market? Well, of course since that first encounter, I have been back to the store several times. Probably too many. So when we decided to have a picnic at the park last week, of course I stopped there to gather some supplies. What happened? Well, of course I found everything I needed (and more). I love Cost Plus World Market because they have the best supplies for parties, picnics, bbqs, and pretty much everything else!

First up, I snagged myself a picnic tote. I love this one because it is large without being too large and it is also insulated for cold items. I have a feeling we will get much wear out of this before the summer is over.

I also raided this aisle of goodies for some fun items for my kids to play with at the picnic.

They had a fabulous sale on beach umbrellas. I have been wanting a beach umbrella for quite a while and since we go to the beach and picnic at the park a lot, I thought it was the perfect time to get one. I love that it is so easy to set-up and also has a shoulder bag to pack it in, so it is so easy to carry with you wherever you go!

The last item I bought for my picnic, might be my favorite. I found these adorable food baskets and liners. These are so fun for a picnic or BBQ. They are easy for the kids to hold and they are so cute too!

Potting Bench Turned Outdoor Bar - Written By: Cyndy with The Creative Exchange

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Cyndy

Summer is just around the corner and we’ve been busy cleaning our patio and backyard, replacing patio cushions, planting bright flowers and getting summer ready. We love to grill and entertain during the summer and I was really hoping to find some sort of outdoor bar that I could use for serving beverages and appetizers. I haven’t been able to find anything even close to what I had in mind, so when I stumbled across this potting bench for $111.00 at World Market, I thought why not?

If it wasn’t for the sink in this piece, I don’t think it would have even occurred to me to convert this piece into a bar. Many of the potting benches on the market have a sink or at least a bucket that is absolutely perfect for ice:

When it’s really hot outside, I plan on placing a large frozen plastic blue cooler block in the base of the bucket (below the ice) to keep the ice cold.

We added several hardware pieces to the potting bench to make it the piece even more convenient for us. We added a standard towel bar to the front of the bench for towels:

We also added 3-sided channel trim that we picked up at Lowe’s for $4.00 to create a spot to hang glasses just below the top shelf:

We even added a bottle opener to front of the bench as well:

The little hooks that came with the bench are perfect for storing bar accessories:

The top shelf is great for bottles, drinks and extra cups:

If you’re looking for an outdoor bar or a food serving bar, a potting bench is the perfect solution and you can pretty much add anything to it to really customize it for whatever you need. If you’re looking for something with more space, think about two of them together! I have already ordered a second one from World Market that I’m going to use for food.
You can find potting benches pretty much everywhere right now and I found these below online including the first one from World Market that I purchased (click on picture for the link to the item):

Potting Bench at World Market is $111.00