Happy Monday friends, come on and take a tour of a recent spruced up seating area in our courtyard! I mentioned before that we’re hosting a party to benefit my kids’ public school next month and that fact has prompted me to fancy it up a bit more out here. One of the spaces in need of some upgrades was the seating area, so I added a new rug, some outdoor pillows, and built a coffee table for the conversation zone.

We still have an old sofa and chair I bought at an antique fair five years ago. I made the cushions with Dacron wrapped foam and Sunbrella fabric way back then. I wish I had more details to share about them, but I don’t recall the source of the foam, it was an online one from the east coast and I sewed the cushions before I started blogging so no pictures! The Sunbrella fabric is Dupione in Maize, it’s five years old and still looking really great!

I made some new pillow covers in bright patterns that include yellows, greens, and various shades of blue. These outdoor fabrics are all from Fabric.com, from left to right:  Belize botanical $9/yard; Kiwi Splash $9/yard; Dandelion $9/yard. I sewed all of them the same way I stitched up these envelope outdoor pillow covers last year.

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I spent the weekend working on the bathroom up in the studio (that little space above our garage) sprucing up the narrow bathroom. There was an old fashioned mirror hanging in there and I wasn’t crazy about it anymore, so I changed the mirror and repainted the walls.

I didn’t want to spend a ton of money and I remembered I had some leftover mosaic tile from our master shower project. That box of mosaic tile was collecting dust bunnies and daddy long leg spiders on a shelf for four years so I decided to use a few of the leftover sheets of it to create a mosaic tile framed mirror on the bathroom wall above the vanity.

Years later, I still love this mosaic tile blend for its sand and sea palette and iridescent sparkle when it catches the sun in the daylight.

I combined a few sheets of this leftover mosaic tile and an inexpensive piece of cut mirror that I purchased at Lowes. It adds some decorative tile to a space that was lacking before. Creating your own DIY version of a mosaic tile framed bathroom mirror isn’t complicated – here is the step by step:

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I’ve been a DIYer for like ever but I have to say this is one of my favorite DIY projects to date. I mentioned last month how I was going to build some outdoor planters and last week, Matt and I built two outdoor planters for the courtyard to frame the French doors. When I first started this project I planned on a Chippendale style, but stopped at the basic criss-cross pattern – the simplicity appealed to me. We’ve built a lot of things together, but these are my new favorites!

We referred to Ana’s cedar planter plans to get us started but varied the height and width of the cuts, and then added the X pattern detail at the end. We used a combination of pine and poplar from Lowes, here is the wood cut list for each planter and how we assembled them:

Wood Cut List Per Planter:

Sides:  1 x 6” boards cut at 21.5” length (12 pieces)

Legs: 2 x 2” boards cut at 24” length (4 pieces)

Top + Bottom Slats: 1 x 3” cut at 16.5” width (8 pieces)

Interior Supports: 1 x 2” cut at 16.5” width (2 pieces) and 1 x 8” at 16.5” width (2 pieces)

Criss Cross Pattern:  1 x 2” cut at 42 degree (4 pieces at 22.5” length) and 7 degree angles (8 pieces cut at 10.5”length (see diagram below))

Tool + Supply List:

Compound miter saw; Kreg Jig; measuring tape; safety eyewear; power screwdriver; brad nailer (or hammer and brad nails); wood screws, sander, respirator (for sanding and spray priming/painting); paint or stain, wood (see cut list).

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Thanks so much everyone for the kind comments on my younger daughter’s room, it was fun to pull together a space with a lot of pattern in color palette she chose. You asked, so I’m here to answer… here are a few more details on the projects that went into her young and feminine bedroom.

Many of you wanted to know about the color on the chandelier – I used a spray paint in the color ‘Catalina Mist’ by Krylon to change it from dark bronze to a minty aqua blue. The round light bulbs can be found at Home Depot. I used the same spray paint to cover the three frames that hang above the bed (frames found at Michaels.)

The fabrics on the window panels and bench were a simple design I created last year for her room and printed over at Spoonflower. I’m not sure yet if these patterns will be available this summer. Thanks to Camille for sharing that the Moroccan print lavender rug is also available at Overstock.

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