Back Deck Spice

 

For a while I’ve been thinking what I could do with the deck behind the house. It’s just a very small area with no overhanging roof and really quite drab…

 

The only good thing is the location. The musical sound of trickling water resonates clearly from the water garden ten feet away. Of course, being back there at the right time will grant you a whiff of the sweet scent of honeysuckle wafting from the arbor close by. I’ve watched many birds splash about in the stone bird bath and in the spring time the sound of the water will lure even warblers there to enjoy a little paradise. So I knew I wanted to somehow provide a comfortable, peaceful setting to better enjoy the beauty of nature. Having a thing for porch swings, I remembered this old swing I had picked up for $15.00 at a garage sale…

So, having no overhang to hang the swing from, I ended up using some old rough lumber as posts and making my own “roof.” It’s still in need of a little character which I hope to obtain by fixing colorful flower pots soon, but for now it will do…

 

When I was working on this I thought it would be nice to fill in the back area with old windows but I didn’t think I would have the right sized windows to do it and figured it would be hard to somehow cut a window in half to make it fit right. Just in case, I laid some windows on the floor and measured them. I could hardly believe my luck… they measured perfectly almost to the inch! That was my sign to go for it so I added them as a kind of background to my little sitting area.

I made a wreath out of grapevines and also wrapped some around the posts and railing.

For the cushions, I used a denim skirt that I didn’t like anyway and made some quick covers. I made them removable for easy washing.

 

I propped up an old closet door (supposed to look like a shutter) and hung  a wooden thyme sign and a metal hanging container onto it. I want to stick some dried flowers into the container once I have some.

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Now, I need to make sure I find time to sit down with a good book and a cold glass of fresh squeezed lemonade this summer just a swingin!