California Dreaming

Don’t you love the Napa lifestyle?  I’ve only visited wine country once, but fell in love with the miles of vines, mild weather, and outdoor lifestyle.  We have a deck just off of our kitchen that serves as an extension of our house from April-October, and I’m thinking that it could use a dose of Napa living!

In case you don’t believe me that people actually live this way, here’s proof: Centsational Girl’s courtyard.  Don’t you want to sit back and raise a glass of something crisp and yummy here?

Of course, we don’t live in California (in fact, we live on the opposite coast) and our deck will look nothing like Centsational Girl’s oasis, but a girl can dream.  I’ve given myself a $400 budget to create a similar feel, if not similar look.  I mean, there’s only so much one can do to make a splintered deck look like a Wine Country courtyard.  Considering it will serve as our living and dining room this summer, I don’t mind spending that much.  Except for the plants, everything will be reusable in future years as well.

RUGS:  I’d like an outdoor rug to create the illusion of separate spaces and make it look more like a room.  Here’s a few that would work with my color scheme:

FURNITURE:  We are keeping the current furniture, but need to add an umbrella.  I’ve been loving this one for years, and now I must have it!  Although, I did find a cheaper version so I’m heading over to Lowes tomorrow to check it out…

ACCESSORIES:  I found some great Sunbrella fabric at the fabric outlet this weekend.  Here’s a peek at the patterns:

I ordered two of these Medallion Outdoor Pillows (2-pack) from Walmart using Site-to-Store shipping (it’s free) and plan on covering the cheapies with the Sunbrella fabric.  I wasn’t sure if outdoor pillows have special filling, but the poly filing in these was made from recycled plastic bottles.  I’m banking on the fact that two layers of weather resistant fabric should protect them better than if I used standard filling:

Most likely we’ll need to powerwash/sand/stain the deck.  It’s part of our maintenance plan for our house this year.  That part won’t be included in the deck budget because with our crazy schedules we need to hire a professional.  If we end up staining it, here are some colors that would fit with my dream deck:

The rest of the items will either be repurposed from other parts of the house or plants.  I always have planters for the rails and of course my precious herbs, just off the kitchen.  The “safe” date for planting in our gardening zone is May 15th.  I’m having a c-section on May 21st.  Not sure if I’ll be the one doing the potting here!  Might have to convince the hubby to do it this time.