New Pillows for the outdoor family room

Our outdoor pillows have seen better days so I started looking for something new.  I was getting frustrated with my search...they were either too big, too poofy, too expensive, the list goes on.  So I reached out to a sewing friend hoping she would whip up a few pillows for me.  I even looked into buying a sewing machine so I could learn how to make my own pillows.

Both good options, but I wanted to have this space put together yesterday if you know what I mean.  Summers are short here in Illinois so it's good to be ready when the nice weather arrives.

Over the weekend I made a last minute stop to Pottery Barn just to take one more look.  That's when I saw the clearance table in the back of the store filled with outdoor pillows. 

Pillows that were hiding in the storage room since last year waiting to be sold on deep discount.   I brought home a bunch and played around with a few combinations until I settled on what you see here. 

The parrot chinoiserie pillow called Carmello and the Bhotah pillow were both $11.99.  They are not available online but some stores still have them in stock.  They would be great inside too, the fabric is very soft.

I planted a few succulents just for this spot but realized they won't get enough sun here. 

So I moved them to a sunny spot in our yard and brought them back on the deck for pictures tonight.  Lowes has a nice selection if you are looking for them.

This hens and chicks succulent are from the fairy garden last year and lived on my nightstand all winter.  Maybe I should try keeping the new plants up here for a bit and see how they do.  Hmmm....

 If you're curious, Here  is a link showing what this space looked like a couple summers ago.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Sharing this post with Nita at Mod Vintage Life and Eclectically Vintage below.

A tiny garden in the dining room

Hello...I'm still here.  I've been jumping from project to project as I do and not quite finishing anything.  My mind is swirling around with so many ideas it can be hard to concentrate sometimes. 

One little project that was started and finished is this tiny indoor garden.  It was really quick, easy and inexpensive, my favorite kind.

I've had this heavy urn for years but never thought to bring it inside.

It doesn't have a hole for drainage so I just covered the bottom with rocks.

The fence, birdbath and plants were found at Pesche's garden center.  I was really impressed with their selection of plants and fairy garden accessories, if you are in the Chicago area Pesche's is worth a visit.

I found out about them when I was contacted by the owner, he wanted to use one of my pictures for his ad in the Chicago Tribune.  Here is our little one in the ad that was on the front page of last Thursday's paper!  Here are a couple links to see our fairy gardens here and here if you missed them.

On another note, what do you think of these huge shades on the dining room chandelier?

With or without?

Since we are here in the dining room I thought I would share how we acquired our antique table.   Mr. 65th found it on Craigslist for $75.00 right after we bought this house.  I don't think there was a picture and the description didn't say anything about the entire table top being covered in laminate!  The elderly lady we bought from said a door to door salesman came by with laminate samples promising to make the table more durable.  She said she did everything at this table from rolling out dough to feeding her five children everyday.

I loved the simple shape of the pedestal and the fact that it came with two leaves so we took a chance and bought it.  We took it to a furniture refinisher and they were not sure they could remove the laminate without causing damage to the wood, they didn't even want to try saying it was worthless.  We told them to go for it and were thrilled when we got the call saying the surgery was a success!  I think that icky laminate kept the table in beautiful condition all those years. 


Sharing with Kate@Centsational Girl for her garden pary.