You might remember from last month that I am a Studio ambassador. July’s theme is is The Great Outdoors. When I thought of that theme my initial reaction was to spruce up our very, very sad back garden.
When we first bought the house the inside was a mess and the outside was even worse. But nothing that some elbow grease, a clearance van, a few licks of paint and a crowbar couldn’t fix. There was a falling down, rotted shed in the backgarden and crowbarring it down was our first priority outside. It was in such a bad state that we could have pulled it down using mostly our hands. The previous owner had left a ton of junk behind so we had to get that taken away. Then we scrubbed down the windows, windowsills and doors, repainted the garden door and a few other accent bits. After that the fun part of having a garden could begin!
It’s a small space and we still need to store our bin and recycling boxes back there. But we also need to store my bike in the garden as well. With all of that back there, it takes up a lot of space. We wanted the remaining area to be utterly relaxing and eventually, full of plants. I’d been growing some tomatoes from seed since early spring, so we planted those out, alongside some baskets of petunias, wildflowers and geraniums. Our back garden is a little sun-trap so we wanted it to be an inviting space to have a morning coffee and a read.
Studio had a really stunning collection of outdoor decor, but since we have a really small, completely concreted space, I focused on outdoor planters, hanging baskets and lighting. For my geraniums, I filled a massive Studio planter with compost and found a lovely sunny spot underneath our window. The geraniums have survived so far, though Harold does like to take a little nibble of them now and then.
The hanging baskets are massively on offer and have held up to the summer heat brilliantly so far! Mine are filled with petunias and wildflowers. Plus the aforementioned tomatoes!
The Edison-style lights are battery powered, and were one of the hottest selling Studio garden items this summer. Who knew my garden wants were so on trend! They are no longer in stock, but you can find a very, very similar Studio outdoor light here.
There’s still a lot more work that needs to be done on our garden but I’ll update you more thoroughly as we go.
August’s theme is Back to Work / Back to School. Who knows what I’ll rustle up!
***This post is in collaboration with Studio, but all thoughts and opinions are forever my own.***
