The Cocktail Porch!

“We should do this.” 

After five years of marriage, my husband knows how to translate this statement.  I am either planning our next vacation or have found my ideal [insert any room in the house here] and am ready to redecorate.   Guilty.

I was sitting on my screened porch reading the latest version of Southern Living when suddenly I saw this,

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I hadn’t been satisfied with the porch since we finished the addition.  Just couldn’t get it right.  I ripped this page out of the magazine and two days later, I’d sold all of the porch furniture on our neighborhood list serve.  Carte blanche.  Getting it done.

Progress

The first thing I picked was the rug.  I needed something to anchor the porch and set the tone.  These Dash and Albert rugs are perfect for outdoor spaces.  Machine washable, these rugs can easily be cleaned and they wear very well.

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Next:  seating.  We already had some chairs from Ikea that I would use as my own spin on “cocktail” chairs. These chairs are white molded plastic, stackable, and surprisingly comfortable.  They look great wherever they go.

I needed a statement table.  I headed to the Nashville flea market to find the tabletop.   Hidden in a corner I found the perfect piece of cut wood that would serve as my tabletop. We happened to have a short welded steel table which was spared in the clean out which served as the perfect base.

It's Perfect, Right?

Almost Perfect

Lastly, I picked up a gold, antiqued mirror top table at TJ Maxx and some baskets at Target for the trees from my local plant store. These pieces provided the finishing touch.

I am as pleased as punch with the way the porch turned out.  We use it quite a bit more than we did in the past.  Of course, I may run across another article next week that could prompt another overhaul, but for now we love to lounge and enjoy drinks on the cocktail porch.  Hope you're enjoying cocktails or porches this long weekend!