I love summer, it is my absolute favorite time of year! Today I am sharing my Outdoor living and garden home tour!
The best part about this is that there is also a bunch of other bloggers sharing their beautiful outdoor home as well! So many flowers and relaxing outdoor spaces to be inspired by! Growing up in Southern California means I grew up living outside. We ate, rested and I even remember napping in the back yard. It is just a way of life out there, the indoor/outdoor living. Now that I live in Wisconsin and it is a frozen tundra for 6 months of the year, for the warmer spring and summer months I soak in every second of that outdoor time.
When we purchased our house, I had zero experience with flowers, except helping my grandma cut flowers in our yard. But no maintenance of any kind. Funny story, I did not know the difference between annuals and perennials. In California, growing season is year round. So imagine my surprise the first year we lived here and I added a bunch of flowers that did not come back the next year, either due to them being annuals or because they are not hardy enough for the -30 degree temperatures of winter. Yes, it gets that cold here! Imagine my So Cal girl self literally shivering all winter long.
With some better research I tackled out flower beds. Over the years we have added Hydrangeas, roses, Lilys, Day lilys, just this past Mothers day I got four bushes of Peonies! In spring and summer you can find me cutting and watering my precious flowers. Typically barefoot and in a sun dress, like I said.. I soak in all of the summer days I can. People mention all the time that I seem to have a green thumb, and my yard is full of blooms. My secret is water, seriously that is about all I do. Other than spraying a fertilizer on all of my flowers in the beginning of spring and cleaning out the flower beds, that is it!
In Wisconsin we do get rain even in summer, which blew my mind when I moved here. In California we get maybe 10 days total of rain, and everyone has sprinkler systems in their yard. Imagine my surprise when I learned people in Wisconsin have this lush green grass just from the frequent rain in summer. Sprinklers are just for kids to run through. Last summer when we were in California my youngest son saw a home with sprinklers on and confusingly asked where the kids were. Because we do not have to water our lawn or trees here. I only water our flowers if there is two days of no rain, and that is only one time in the evening.
I do also cut all of my blooms, to make flower arrangements with! That is the absolute best thing about growing flowers. I currently have huge bouquets of orange lilys, hydrangeas, and roses. In spring my home was filled to the brim with lilacs and their gorgeous scent. I also got to have my first few blooms of the peonies. Next year I should get even more! I adore arranging the flowers that i grow and filling my home with all of them!
Aside from the flowers, I also live outside in summer. We eat dinner and oftentimes lunch outside. I revamped my back patio space last summer and adore the results. Creating a few key seating areas, the main one in the center of the patio. I redid our old patio table and brightened it up with blue paint. Lastly I added the small seating area with a DIY water fountain. I like having these sections of seating, it works great for entertaining. We live in an awesome neighborhood and many evenings my kids have a few friends over and their parents end up in our yard where we spend the late evening hanging out.
I also created a fire pit, and it was crazy easy to do. No power tools necessary! We love to relax on a beautiful summer evening with a bonfire, and always end it with smores or at least roasting marshmallows. Pretty sure it is required!
Utilizing the outdoor space around our home, revamping the front porch and any old furniture has really allowed us to enjoy it in the warmer months. It adds to our home, and becomes an extension of our home as far as living space. I even take my laptop out here when the kids are playing in the backyard and work. Pretty much the best office to ever exist!
The last projects for our outdoor space is to spruce up a few flower beds and add a huge pergola to our back patio. Which is a massive undertaking! We need to dig below the frost line, which is 4 ft below ground. Yep, no small task. Luckily we have beautiful and massive trees that provide a lot of shade, so the pergola is not a must have at the moment. We adore our outdoor space and finding any way to carve out a little outdoor living is so important! I hope you enjoyed my Outdoor living and garden home tour! Let me know if you have any questions on certain flowers or plants. I decided to put most of the pictures within a slide show since there are so many of them. This would have been a super long post otherwise. Also, be sure to check out the other lovely home tours!
To see the inside of my home, click here.
Be sure to click on the pictures and visit the other outdoor home tours!
You’ve created such a beautiful outdoor space. We have a TON of work to do on our yard and deck area, your inspiration is definitely appreciated.
Emily, your front and back yards look beautiful! Love all the pretty flowers you planted and those toad stools around your fire pit are so fun! I hope you are having a great summer so far and thanks so much for joining in with the hop.
Looks fantastic! You can tell you have put a lot of work into it. The house and yard look great, and I love all the pops of color in your outdoor living space from both the furniture and the flowers. And how nice to have some great flowers to have a cut bouquet.
Oh my gosh everything you did looks gorgeous! Can I hire you to do my house? There’s so much work that I want to do tonight yard he could take decades to get it done LOL. But this does inspire me to get started on my yard.
Some of these give me the urge to get into the decorating mode. So beautiful, like art. I love this post.
Your outdoor areas are gorgeous. I love the turquoise you used as a accent and chair color. It is so summery and one of my favorite colors.
Emily, I’ve always loved your outdoor areas. They are always inviting and have your stamp on them. Such gorgeous places to enjoy!
Your yard looks great, you guys have done such a good job! Love those aqua rockers!
Your yard is breathtakingly gorgeous! I would love to spend time sitting in your chairs admiring the flowers. Wish I could keep my flowers from dying.
What a lovely home and yard. I love the chairs and the play area. It looks magazine cover material.
I love the back patio space with kids play area. What a great backyard! I am about to expand my patio again.
Okay, so I’m feeling pretty bad about myself now. LOL- I have some serious work to do outside! You have the greatest looks- you sure do love what you do!
I love all of your flowers! Everything looks picture perfect!
I love your fire pit stools. I have been working on a plan for my back yard. I want to build myself an oasis for the summer.
How beautiful! I love the blue chairs, the flowers, everything! I’m taking notes for our own remodel!
Love love love the aqua color scheme. So cute! It all flows well together.
I LOVE your space! I have been spending the summer working on my backyard and creating a space that will be cozy and comforting. I know it will take some time to work it out but your pictures are inspiring and I cannot wait ti give it a go!
Your home is just spectacular! It reminds me like something right out of the Better Homes & Garden mag!
Oh my goodness, Emily, your yard is GORGEOUS! Can you come do mine like this?!
Such a beautiful place you got there! I just love it. I know how gardening can be tough without proper guidance.
Those blue rocking chairs are my absolute favorite! They are gorgeous and add the perfect pop of color to the back yard! I want an entire set!
I love the turquoise adirondack chairs! My husband has been asking for some for awhile and I think it might be the summer he gets them.
Cool pics, the plants and flowers are so eye-refreshing. Sad to say, don’t have garden at all.
I absolutely love this! It’s gorgeous.
Beautiful, relaxing outdoor spaces. Love the colors and all the flowers. Great job
Your outdoor furniture is so colorful, I love it. We just put up a fence and I am starting to spruce up our backyard.
All of this is beautiful – the flowers, your garden, everything! Can you come and make my yard this nice?! 😉
OMG what an insanely gorgeous outdoor living space. I’m in love with those pops of turquoise!
I love the colors and all of cute summery/ garden elements!
I love spending time outdoors in my garden. We are actually in the process of renovating some of our outdoor spaces.
Wow, what a gorgeous setup you’ve given yourself! I love that you can pick your own flowers to display in your home. One of the perks!
I love spending time outside! I remember when I was a child and played outside all day long! Great time!
I don’t even know where to begin Your backyard is stunning. The flowers are gorgeous. I love the way your windows open. Such charm!!
So many pretty spaces and I am loving those bright blue chairs in your yard – such a fun pop of color!
Best,
Kelly
These are awesome home ideas.. I just love what you have done. Great job.
The fire pit looks AMAZING!! I love it, making improvements outdoors is so much more fun when it’s a DIY! I love all of these!
SO many pretty rooms! I love it alot I cant even pick which one I like the most.
Emily, your yard gets prettier every year. I LOVE your toadstool stools around the firepit! Your kids have to love that!