If we learned nothing else during the pandemic, our homes and our outdoor spaces are essential to our wellbeing.
I am blessed to live in a home with a large backyard, where there is access to parks and walking paths along a river. I am double blessed because I also own a small cottage on a lake. So, yes, I do have a dream home as a work in progress!
However, both of my homes have neglected outdoor living spaces. The house became neglected with a lack of time and energy while raising four children. And to add to it, the weekends were spent out on the lake.
Which is also why the outdoor space at the cottage became a bit neglected. We built the cottage and by we, I mean my husband and his friends! And when we are outside, we tend to want to play a bit, because, hello summers are short in Michigan and we want to enjoy the lake!
So, the past year I have really started curating photos on my personal Pinterest of what I would like both outdoor spaces to look like. You know, if money and time weren’t an issue. And honestly, the boards just have a feel to them. Places to hang out with family and friends. Fire pits. Couches. Hammocks. Flowers.
A mood board of sorts for my outdoor living spaces. It is more of the fell that I am going for, than the actual items I want to have in my spaces.
And to be honest, my cottage only about 40 feet wide by about 50 feet deep. Maybe not even that deep, since there is a 10-foot deck on the front of the house. And of course, the area is sloped and divided into three separate areas. One of these areas is currently unusable.
We have attacked the lowest area, the space in front of the lake. It is a mess and right the only things growing are a few weeds and poison ivy. Yup, the dreaming will need to continue. The hope is to have that area level, the weeds gone, a huge stump removed, grass planted in the next few weeks.
If, I mean when it happens, I’ll show you the progress pictures. In the meantime, these are a few of my curated photos of the feel for my outdoor spaces. The amazing photographers at Unsplash provided the pictures.