Thursday, May 14, 2020

Blue & White Outdoors

Michelle Nussbaumer - Southern Living

Some great ideas to borrow here -- paint your deck with stripes, hang a chandelier that uses candles from a tree branch, bring a collection of blue and white Chinese porcelain outdoors. And I love painting outdoor metal furniture black - it makes it disappear and is a modern look. I also love combining stripes with blue and white Chinoiserie and I think this painted deck is very clever.

Speaking of outdoors, on a personal note, do you know about love bugs? I had heard about them but had not experienced them before. Well, "someone" left the upstairs slider open a bit and hundreds and hundreds got in the house yesterday. Hours capturing bugs all over walls, ceilings, and furniture. Really bad day. But I have some exciting news to share soon.

10 comments:

  1. I love your idea about painting metal outdoor furniture black. It's so chic! This is a beautiful setting, btw. I love the blue and white against the backdrop of the green foilage.

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  2. Yes, the blue and white really pops against the green and black.

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  3. Had to Google love bugs to find out about them...mating season in May and they will go away. Not a fun experience to be invaded!
    Sometimes the great outdoors in the tropics is iffy...

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    1. They stay completely out of the lanai because of the fine screening. The problem was human, not bug.

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  4. I adore Michelle Nussbaumer! Her book is one of my favorites in my design library. Her artistic eye and traveled world view make her designs timeless, charming, inviting and personal. While there is a global influence in her work, she never veers or dips into "theme" decorating or silly trends.

    I think it was seeing pictures of CZ Guest's garden with black lattice years ago made me think how fresh it was when all the world was white lattice in gardens at the time.

    ps: It seems that SO may have earned the nickname of "love bug"! They don't like cool temps, maybe blasting with the house with AC and sweeping up with a vac might work!!!! What an invasion.

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    1. He earned a nickname, but it sure is not "love bug."

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  5. What a beautiful vignette! I love treillage in a garden. I agree the black looks terrific here. If painting your outdoor furniture black is too edgy using the darkest shade of green you can find also works well. I tried an outdoor chandelier with candles and the wax started dripping on the table every time there was a breeze. The solution for me was glass pegged votives. They are small hurricanes that convert your candle holder for use with tea lights. I use them every where now. No drips and the candles don't get blown out in a breeze. Thanks for another great post Beth.

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  6. That is such a smart idea with the outdoor chandelier - thanks for sharing. I knew there must be an alternative to candles!

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  7. Love bugs, yes! They're awful. We were in Disney World last year at this time and we were bombarded with them! We could not even sit at the resort pool, lol. It was our first time in Florida during May, so we had no idea that this was a "thing". Hope they don't last long for you.
    ~suburbanmom2

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    1. Thanks - they last about a month I think mostly during May. It wouldn't have been a problem if the slider had not been left open by "someone."

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