I’m writing this in March and it’s sunny and 60 degrees warm here in Colorado. The weather has been enticing me out of doors and has got me itching to makeover the patio. As what usually happens over the winter, the patio has become a catch-all for tools, garden pots, and shoes. Its currently in no state to be enjoyed. Things need to be put away, furniture rearranged, and new items acquired, preferably secondhand.
My inspiration comes from the gardens and patios of old villas in Italy, that are showcased in films like Call Me By Your Name & Under the Tuscan Sun. Or the Durrell’s charming Greek stone home in Corsica from the film, My Family and Other Animals. Madeleine Castaing’s estate in the French countryside mixed with old English cottages and walled gardens, like Vita Sackville West’s Sissinghurst or the lovely enchanted garden from The Secret Garden. Plus a dash of Wes Anderson.
Potting Bench
First task will be to build a potting bench to hold all the empty pots and keep gardening tools and implements. Right now all the pots are stacked and scattered all over the patio, some half-filled with old crumbling dirt and some even still hold dead plants. The idea is to have a surface for potting with deep shelves for storing pots and a back for hanging tools.
Outdoor Dining
We eat almost every meal outside during the warmer weather. Right now we have a small cafe table that we crowd around, sometimes with up to five or six people! I’d like to swap it out for a large, rectangular dining table. The table should be very sturdy with a durable surface, because when we’re not eating it will most certainly be used for all sorts of projects out of doors, projects that can get messy, like paper-making. For dinner parties, it would be so lovely to drape it in a tablecloth with flowers and candles!
Firepit
A must for our patio is a firepit. One of our favorite activities is to sit around the fire and talk into the evening. Last year we commandeered a cast iron wood stove we had to use as our firepit. It looks lovely and quaint, but doesn’t work very well for outdoor use. The fire is entirely enclosed so you can’t gaze into the flames and the fire can only be accessed through one tiny door in the front, so not everyone can enjoy the flames at one time. A firepit that everyone can sit around and equally share the heat is best.
Seating
I would also like to find some couches for lounging, that maybe wrap around the corner. For the dining table chairs I would love it if I could find something more eclectic and funky. Metal chairs with interesting shapes or with vintage charm. I will be scouring Facebook market place to see what I can find. For cushions I’m thinking lots of bright colors, like sunny yellows, robin’s egg blue, berry reds, and greens that are reminiscent of oxidized copper. Stripes, ginghams, and plaids are always classic but whimsical.
Potted Flowers
Lastly, to top it all off with lots and lots of potted flowers. I would like to try growing tulips and other bulbs in pots so that I can move them around the patio. And as always, plenty of fresh herbs for cooking!
aspen mitchell 