backyard Archives - One Delightful Life

My mom is quite talented at a lot of things. When guests come over she rolls out the red carpet with the some of the most delicious meals. Even if you’ve dropped by the house mid-day, she’ll serve you a delicious cheese and fruit platter and pour you a glass of Chardonnay. Yea, she’s that kind of hostess.

But don’t be surprised if you knock on the door and she doesn’t answer. She’s most likely outside in her custom built garden house doing what she does best…gardening. Make no mistake. This is no She Shed. She refuses to let people label it as such. This is a real-deal garden house where she spends time cultivating her craft – making her gardens flourish. Whether she is sitting in the screened in porch chair reading about rose bushes or potting plants in the stainless steel sink, her green thumb is at work.

Located behind my parent’s home, mom’s garden house often entices strangers driving by to stop and ask to see it.

It seems only fair that my step-dad, who has his own woodworking shop, would build a garden house for her, right? The 8’x12′ house (not including the 5’x12′ screened in porch) includes the same amenities that any home would have including running water and electricity. During the winter it houses plants she wants to keep alive from the outdoor elements and during the summer the sun beams in on oversized house plants.

I recognize quite a bit of my mom’s style in her garden house’s design from the upcycled screen door to the ceiling light fixture that she held on to for years until this house was built.

Mom’s garden house is an extension of her own home. The interior’s neutral colors, off-set by the bright white counter tops and trimmed windows, includes various green hues from decorative additions and dark black metal pieces. Having collected many of the sitabouts over time, she decorates in a style more sophisticated than rustic farmhouse but less stuffy than classic traditional. She has an eclectic sense of design style that is uniquely her own.

Once inside the screened in porch, glass French doors remain welcome you into a spacious window lit space.

Muted green wicker chairs flank both sides of the screened in porch to the east and the west.

When not busy nurturing plants, she uses the garden house as a quiet refuge to read or just watch her many bird feeders in the yard over a glass of wine. When friends visit on occasion, like her Bunco gal pals, it serves as a getaway space to venture to between games for a quick tour. You can hear the women audibly dote over each detail of the garden house. They want one too. Who wouldn’t?

A serious gardner needs a space to pour over the details found in gardening books. Always the humble student, my mom enjoys learning why some plants and flowers flourish and how she can attract or eliminate insects.

Mom’s appreciation of nature goes back as far as I can remember.

“It (gardening) feeds my soul in a way nothing else does. I’m connected to plants in new says every year,” she said recently.

My childhood was spent watching her in the yard with her hands in the dirt on weekends. After coming home from school we would drag around the hose to water thick, layered flower beds of all colors and varieties. Sunflowers towered over our heads and wildflowers nestled at our feet. She would tell me about butterflies that she adored and the grasshoppers that broke her heart.

Today, she still sees beauty in the colors of delicate flowers and enjoys the harvest of a vegetable or herb garden. Her accepted challenge each year is to learn about the needs of plant placement in her landscape while always attempting to attract birds, bees, and insects.

Antique pottery and her favorite pieces adorn a shelf above the door inside the garden house.

The east side of the garden house exposes an area behind it where she also pots plants and flowers.

The wooden table on the right was her only potting station at our old house.

Gardening is not easy. She admits that the challenge is to find the balance between what she wants to plant and what nature will allow. Admittedly, she says there are more failures to learn every season and enough small successes to keep her happy.

I love spring and wish it lasted longer, she says.

It’s true. She smiles the most in the spring (with college basketball season in a close second place). When the weather begins to warm up and the days spring forward, she is more outdoors than she is indoors. I often call her to wish her a “Happy Spring” only for it to go to voicemail because she’s outside playing in the yard.

While I love the outdoors, I’m not a natural gardener. I struggle to keep plants alive. I either over or under water them. Completely forget about them. I never installed the proper drip system. Can a person’s “green thumb” be learned? Maybe I just wrote it off as “mom’s hobby.” I should have really paid more attention when helping her in the yard as a teen. Just last week I called her seeking advice about our sad rose bushes. Before I knew it, I was at her house on my hands and knees pruning her rose bushes while she used wood glue on the stem ends to prevent bores for invading them again. Glue? Who knew!

A rusty garden tool serves as a door knocker on the exterior of the garden house.

I’m “foodie” thanks to my mom’s love of cooking. In fact, many of her garden harvests end up in her recipes. Ripe tomatoes are the star ingredient in her homemade gazpacho, a cool treat during a blazing hot summer day. Fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme find their way into many of her savory recipes. This year she has decided to trade her tomato plants for perennials because it’s just less to have to worry about and each year perennials come back stronger when given the space to spread out.

I’ve have so much to learn from her wisdom about nature, about plants and birds. As I mentioned before, I’m at best a wannabe gardener. In fact, I’ve killed so many house plants over the years that if there is every going to be any hope for me, I’m going to have to spend more time with mom in the garden house. If you’re more like me, you’ll appreciate a post she helped me write last summer 10 Hard to Kill Houseplants You Can Leave While on Vacation.

But not every day can be spent gardening. Sometimes the body needs a day of rest between the hours spent digging in unforgiving soil and pulling weeds away from flowers. On these days, she takes time to let her body relax but we all know she is still thinking about her next outdoor project.

A water drip system was installed for her window boxes, which extends to the container pots near the garden house entrance.

What can we learn from mom’s garden house? Every woman, every person, needs a space to call their own. Where they can go to escape the chaos of the day and appreciate some quiet time or just enjoy their hobby.

What is it that brings you peace? What do you enjoy learning about most? Tell me in the comments section how you pursue your hobby or where you like to spend quiet time.

It’s been awhile since you’ve seen all your best buds. You’d love to get together with your family. Everyone is so busy it seems. How will you ever get to see them all? Time to host a party!

When you send out an invite for a party, the fun has only just begun or should I say “work.” For the host, there are a number of things to do to prepare for an unforgettable party from choosing an entertaining theme to preparing the food. If you prepare for the party, it is less stressful than you think. Start early!

Known for throwing a pretty fun St. Patrick’s Day party (hey, that’s what the guests have said:-), I’ve done a better job each year because we remember what worked from year to year. If you’re someone who wants your party to be remembered for years to come, you must keep in mind these essential tips.

Send out an enthusiastic invitation (Facebook Events works best) at least a month in advance. Sure, many of your guests will wait until the week prior to your party to RSVP thanks to your friendly reminder post, but the point is that they’ve been thinking about going since receiving your invite. You’ll get a bigger turn out if you invite friends well in advance if they have a real chance to schedule a sitter. If you create buzz by posting the food menu or last year’s photos on Facebook the weeks prior to your event, the more people are inclined to want to come to the party!
Decorate every room of your house according to your party’s theme and don’t forget the front porch and backyard space (assuming it’s warm enough for your party.) The enthusiasm for your party never waivers if guests continue to see visual reminders of your party even if in the bathroom. Seriously! I even lead my guests downstairs to the photo booth by adding decorations to the stairwell.
Keeping with the party theme, I added a banner and St. Patrick’s Day coins to the stair’s landing area leading guests to more entertainment options in the basement.
Menu plan delicious food that most people love and do it early. Add in thematic recipes ideas too. Create a list of theme-inspired dishes and cocktails at least two weeks before the party so you can plan your shopping trip. If you walk into the store with a list, you’ll spend less money on impulsive items you think you “need.”
Don’t forget that not everyone drinks alcohol. Provide infused water or ice tea for non-drinkers. Better yet, declare that your party is BYOB and then you have no worries other than filling coolers with ice and some spare koozies. There ya go!
Be a thoughtful host. Don’t forget to shop for and prepare the “little things” that some hosts forget. Do you have enough lined trash cans in high traffic areas of your house? Extra toilet paper and hand soap stocked in the guest bathroom? Enough chairs?
Make sure every guest can eat. Don’t forget that guests with food allergies should know what they’re eating. Is your best friend gluten free? Place small upright cards near each serving plate and crockpot labeling what is in the dish. For example, you should write “Dried apricots with goat cheese, rosemary, and almonds” not “fruit with cheese.”
Serve prepped small bites or appetizers so guests can grab and go from the kitchen. Keep your guests moving! This appetizer is made of sliced English cucumber topped with horseradish dill cream cheese and smoked salmon.
The food must not run out! Serve enough food that everyone gets to eat and so you’re not stuck in the kitchen refilling dishes. Plan enough food for unexpected guests. Someone will invariably bring someone that wasn’t on the guest list. Oh, and if you don’t want everyone to stick to the kitchen area, place snacks like Chex Mix or chips around your home in decorative dishes. Put the drink station outdoors if the weather is nice.
Provide multiple spaces for entertainment. It’s not okay to simply serve food and hope people will stick around. Even if they are the talkative type, eventually people will run out of things to chat about. People love to do things together at a party! Set the scene. Play music or turn on the TV. It’s unnerving to walk into a quiet house where the host is still prepping food. Make your party a high energy fun zone. Set up outdoor games like bocce ball, ladder ball or a pinata. Place a selfie stick on the living room table. Set up a photo booth in an unused space of your home or in the garage. Don’t forget to provide a heaping basket of photo props and instructions for how to use the camera!
Set up a backdrop, some makeshift lights, and plenty of photo props and your homemade photo booth is ready. It’s as close to hiring a professional photo booth company as it’s going to get. Ha!

Your guests will entertain themselves as long as there are activities planned for them to do and set up indoors and outside of your party.
Be a social butterfly. As the host, you should make sure you talk to everyone in attendance at least once or twice. Yep, this task can be tough but no one wants to come to your party and just talk to your uncle John the whole time. Make the effort to keep conversations fun but brief. Just let whomever you’re talking to that you’ve got to “keep making the rounds.”
Don’t forget to be the “hired” photographer. As host, carry your phone in your back pocket. When the time is right, snap photos of friends during candid moments like when you caught them in the middle of a good laugh. Group selfie anyone? Friends often forget to shoot pictures at your party and regret it later.
Expect someone to bring their kids (or their dog) even when it’s an all adults party. Babysitters back out at the last minute. Be ready to provide a doggy water dish on the deck or coloring pages for small children to do. The parents will thank you!
Prepare gifts for your guests for when they arrive and take home gifts for when they leave. Fill small bags with colored candies, a travel bottle of wine or cupcakes and set the gifts near the door. Place a note nearby reminding each guest to “Take One. Thanks for coming to our party!”
Keep the fun going even after the party is over. Upload any photos from your party to social media within 24 hours and tag everyone who appears in them. People look forward to seeing themselves with friends having fun from the night before or from their moment in the photo booth. Remember that hosting a party doesn’t have to feel like work if you follow a plan and execute it well. Heck, it’s supposed to be fun so get in on the action and enjoy yourself too! What tips do you have for the ultimate shin-dig? Post your must-do ideas in the comments section below. Check out ODL Instagram for more photos from my 4th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Party.