Island Decor

Outdoor “Rooms.” Need a new look for your patio?  Patio furniture that’s been around for more than a decade can look rather worn.  New cushions at $35 a pop add up fast!  I rejuvenated the cushions on my furniture with indoor fabric, found at a garage sale, sewing simple sacks, hand-basted at the opening.  These still looked fairly good after a summer of sun.  But, my set of Martha Stewart/KMart chairs, tables, and chaises, originally bought on sale at summer’s end, had lost their appeal.  With no money to spend on new furniture, how did we get a new outdoor “room”?  Here’s how we did it.

Tropical Décor. First, we found inspiration.  Where would you like to go on vacation (if you could afford it)?  A Polynesian, South Seas theme came to my mind immediately.  We took a 2 pronged approach.  We put our old patio set (12 pcs.) on the free website, www.Craigslist.org. And, we sought out a bamboo tiki bar and rattan dining table with chairs on the same website.  With the sale of the old patio set and a couple of old wing back chairs on Craigslist, we made enough to buy the perfect tropical furniture on Craigslist!  We’ve been having fun finding odds and ends at garage sales to fill in.  We splurged in buying a woven palm cover for our old market umbrella.  It was $100 online from www.designtoscano.com (plus shipping).  We used cheap bamboo roller blinds and garage sale bamboo to build a sun screen.  Palm pods from a neighbor’s trimmed tree were hung from the patio rafters, looking rather like a pod of dolphins, arcing across the ocean!  We’re enjoying our patio again, entertaining in our new outdoor “room.”

Beach Décor. Patios decorated with a theme transport guests to another place and time.  Who doesn’t love the beach?  Update your backyard or balcony with a fresh beach look.  Look for or make signs on old pieces of wood:  “This way to the beach!” or an arrow on which you paint “Beach.”  Bring out a beach ball, beach blankets, towels, and woven mats.  Check garage sales for faux lighthouses, fish nets, buoys, brass lanterns, shells, rope, and sailboats.  Fill a rubber raft full of sand for kids to play in.  Hang a beachy travel poster from the rafters.  Play Beach Boys music at your barbeque parties.

Western Décor. My parents built playhouse/storage units in their backyard to simulate a short street in an old west town.  Made from board and batten with reclaimed windows on concrete slabs, they actually function well.  The general store is a giant pantry.  The barn houses the lawn mower and garden supplies.  The assayer’s office is Dad’s tiny workshop.  The livery stable has bikes and large tools.  A giant old iron kettle is full of flowering kalanchoe.  Zinc buckets, washboards, a saddle, a harness mirror, tack, and wagon wheels hang here and there.  My mom painted very realistic horses looking out the windows of the “barn.”  Each little house is about 6’ x 8’, each painted a different color.  We love to sit on the swing under the patio roof to enjoy the view, complete with hitching post.  Sometimes, Dad and my sister salt a big crock of pickles to age out there.  We love the ambiance, with a red-checked tablecloth on the wooden table with a blue-speckled, enameled coffeepot filled with flowers for a centerpiece.  It’s an ongoing work of love.

Family Room Basics. Employ teamwork to keep your family room tidy, functional, and pretty. The key to order is that old phrase, “a place for everything, and everything in its place!” Take inventory of the room where most everybody watches T.V. and hangs out. Are books, magazines, newspapers, boxes of tissue, eye-glass cases, dirty dishes, soda cans, shoes, jackets, backpacks, pill boxes, controllers, the dog’s brush, and a frenzy of knick-knacks strewn on every surface? If it looks untidy, it may need both habitual de-cluttering and discipline to maintain order. The first basic is to make a place for each thing that belongs in the room. The second is to always put things back where they belong. And, the third is to never leave the room without tidying it. It’s easiest to maintain order, if each person has responsibility for tidying up their own mess, rather than leaving one person in charge to pick up. Good luck!

Side Table Order. What is on your side-table, between chairs and couches? This is a typical dumping ground for everything. Pare down to what is essential. Try using a pretty basket (mine was 50¢ at a garage sale) to corral T.V. controllers. Include 1 or 2 coasters (not a stack). Include a lamp, bright enough to read by. Arrange items at varying heights to create interest. A mirror behind the grouping gives the room interest and depth. Another basket could hold reading glasses, tissues, and crossword puzzles, with a small book on top. Try covering a cheap particle board table with a table cloth to the floor for visual appeal, in keeping with your décor, and to hide larger items, like toys. Commit to never leaving anything else on that table, when you leave the room.

Low-Cost Lamp. Two different garage sales, months apart, produced my “Tiffany” dragon lamp. The base came without a lampshade; and the glass lampshade, without a base. The happy union worked, wouldn’t you agree? Sometimes, you just have to have faith that you will make it work, when you buy an incomplete item you really like. The base was $2. The glass shade was $20.

DIY Pot Pouri. Anything else on a side table I treat as a design element to delight the senses. For some, a fragrant candle, live plant, music box, game, or candy jar is a seasonal choice. I love to fill my cut-glass bowl with a delicious mix of pot pouri that subtly perfumes the air for all those sitting nearby. Don’t splurge on an autumn pot pouri already made up, collect bits and pieces yourself to make your own. Collect on walks, if you can, and combine dried flower blossoms, privet berries (not if babies are around), little pine cones, pods, small dried whole fruit (citrus and pomegranates), dried sliced oranges, cinnamon sticks, and ground cinnamon and cloves. If you don’t have orris root powder, scented oils, or crushed mulling spices to add, sprinkle a few drops of olive oil or baby oil onto the cinnamon sticks to bring out their fragrance. Stir and refresh it periodically with more scent–mmm, nice. Family members will notice.