Flowered Front Porch

Now that you've seen my new bistro set and the new wrought iron fencing, here's what my front porch area looks like.

I bought bunches of annuals from the best kept secret of my neighborhood, but unfortunately, all of my planters are the old, gross plastic ones.  I was thinking about spray painting them all the same color (like one of those awesome textured spray paints) so they'd go together a little better.  But, until we fancy up the outside (new siding, new windows, new concrete paint that isn't brick red), I don't care that much. It looks like someone actually inhabits this house of ours now! 

Don't fall...

...off our porch!  I say porch, I mean cement walk way thing that leads to our front door.  If you haven't noticed, our front yard has levels - three to be exact.  To make our insurance company very happy, we decided it was time to install a fence they had asked us to do...oh...11 months ago.

We knew we wanted to use wrought iron, since we felt that it would go the best with our house as it was built in 1948.  The problem is that wrought iron, especially custom made fencing is expensive. Like, seriously.  I called one local company and they would charge almost $2,000 to do what we did below for about $300.  Crazy.  (Granted, custom always looks better...)

So, we found a place that sold wrought iron fencing and, um, creatively made it work with our totally wonky, crooked cement area we do not want small children, elderly, or people sneaking around our house in the middle of the night falling off of (well, that last group might deserve to fall off, I guess).

{We now call our house "the fortress".}

One of the funnest things poor Mark had to deal with was the fact that whole cement area is sloped. There was a difference of 9" from the post nearest the door to the post nearest the stairs. That's a lot. Especially when the fencing you just purchased doesn't account in any way for a slope.  For about an hour we were wishing we'd forked over two grand, but then we used our brains and figured out how it would work and look ... okay. We're pleased with it.  And it will prevent you all from going over!

Antique Faire Awesomeness

Molly Mo's Antique Faire did not disappoint. I've decided that I'm going to it every year from now on. We had a great day and found a lot of treasures.

I got an AWESOME vintage kitchen scale!!  I. love. this. Not only is it cool looking, but it actually works!

I bought 3 cool amber bottles. Since I've had Cliff, I haven't been able to have plants in my house, but this is his test - two plants on a counter he can easily get to.  I found a glass amber tray that I had buried in a box and discovered that two of my small terracotta pots fit on it. I transplanted a couple of succulents and there you have it!  We'll see if he can resist eating them. (He laid by them and sniffed them for about 10 minutes earlier today...no chomping, though.)

I also bought a cutie-pie old wire basket. Perfect for fruit! Or...?

And last, but definitely not least, I found what I've been looking for FOR EVER.

A little white metal bistro set!!!! Once I make super cute seat cushions, it will be PERFECT! Goodbye old camping chairs!!