charlys-room: 5 Tips for Creating A Beautiful Outdoor Space

Hello sweet friends!

We just celebrated the Victoria Day weekend here in Canada, and that meant that many of us were busy planting and getting our outdoor spaces ready for summer weather. I love, love, love this time of year and I spent the weekend planting flower pots, washing outdoor furniture and creating a beautiful outdoor space for us to enjoy for the next few months. This space becomes our summer hangout for the summer where we like to enjoy a drink, share a meal or entertain, and I want it to feel and look fabulous. So, I thought I might share some tips with you for creating a beautiful outdoor space that doesn't require spending a lot of money.

1~Get out the flower pots from the basement, garage and storage room and plant as many as you can with small plants, medium plants, large plants and as many varieties as you like. Add them to side tables all around your space. They add so much colour and texture and the effect is beautiful! {They can also help to hide a multitude of sins...like old paint or faded cushions.}Spray paint old pots if you need to freshen them up. I painted the yellow pot and the purple pot to give them a new look. Which brings me to:

2~Arrange pots in groups of 3, and use different sizes and different types of flowers for an interesting look. You can also throw some fake plants in that you might already own. They still look wonderful!

3~Use a few large flowers pots to define spaces. I can only budgeted for 2 of these large pots this year and I used them to define our upper deck from our lower deck.

You can also add some interesting texture to pots by adding things like sticks, grapevine balls, glass ornaments, etc. Goodwill and Value Village are full of these things for a great price.

You can also add flowers to rustic baskets. Grab some baskets you have indoors and bring them outdoors, or look around for cheap used baskets. They look so pretty! I picked up this rustic basket from Goodwill for a mere $3.00!

5~When entertaining, grab a vase, pot, demi-john, mason jar or any glass vessel and add flowers for the table. Flowers look amazing on tables...whether inside or outside.

And where possible, use real glass dishes for entertaining. The sparkle of real glass dishes when used outside is so lovely.

And when having guests over, serving a little dessert and fruit along with a large picture of a cool drink is something that is always warm and welcoming.

I love having a pretty outdoor space to welcome family & friends in summer. After a long winter, ther is no better feeling than getting outside in an outdoor living/dining area. It is my favourite place to work, read, visit and hang with my family.

Don't forget that tomorrow is the 2nd Linky Party for 2014 Outdoor Extravaganza Link Parties and the theme is decorating! We invite you to share and link up your wonderful projects for Spring...be it specially deck decorating, flower bed design, or paint projects that give your home even MORE awesome curb appeal! We are looking for ALL of your creative projects so we can have the BEST Outdoor Extravaganza party ever!
And the best part? Your projects will be seen across all 6 blogs!