Many of you have inquired about our outdoor seating you have seen pop in our pictures from time to time and I am finally getting to share about them now. Mind you these pictures are from last summer, so our garden looks nothing like this now. Right now it is weed filled and dirty, but I am in the process of cleaning and prettying it up.

– 2 pallets of the same size

– High density 5” thick foam cut to fit on top of pallet (bought at local craft store)

– Outdoor vinyl (to cover entirety of the foam)

– Waterproof tape (to wrap the vinyl around the foam)

– Outdoor canvas or duck cloth (enough to fit around the foam)

When Ben and I were first fixing up our yard last summer, we had such a hard time finding cozy seating that was our style. We wanted something simple and kinda natural looking, but everything we found in the stores looked cheap and were too expensive (not a great combo), and too patio-like. That wasn’t for us. After brainstorming, I drew out what I wanted and wanted to see if Ben could make it. I just wanted simple wooden benches with something comfy on top. Then, after more brainstorming, we came up with this pallet idea.

One afternoon we went driving in local industrial areas and just started searching for pallets. We needed two of the same size to stack on top of each other, to make the seating the height we wanted. The first two pallets we saw were perfect and easy as they were just in the trash pile along with some broken ones, so we just stuck two good ones in our car. Then, the next two we came by was more difficult because we found them in a commercial trash container. Ben had to climb up and was carefully checking things out to find two good pallets that were the same size. When he did, he had to carefully lower them down to me (and man, those things are heavy) and try not to fall at the same time. We loaded those up and brought them home.

I cleaned the pallets by hosing them down. I took measurements and wrote them down and knew just how much foam I would need to buy. I went to Joann’s to buy the foam and had 50% off coupons because that foam ain’t cheap! It was probably the most expensive part considering the pallets were free.

I bring the foam home and place them on the pallets and with a serrated knife, cut it to the exact size I need. The width of a pair of the pallets was pretty wide, so I had to piece two pieces of foam together to get the full width. I took the vinyl and wrapped it completely around and made sure it overlapped, then just closed everything with waterproof tape. Sounds kind of like a quickie way of doing it as I am sure there is a much more chic way, but the foam was hidden and I didn’t care. I just wanted it to not be able to get wet or damp.

Lastly, I just cut the duck cloth I got to fit the pallet with extra room to tuck in and under the cushion. I probably could have sewn a nice perfect cushion and maybe i will get to that eventually, but I just wanted something quick and natural. Now, voila! We had the perfect seating for us! There is plenty of room for lounging, reading, and doing some good ‘ole relaxing!

Before we had all our rain, I made sure to bring the cushions and cloth in. The pallets stayed outside and have continued to weather, but I think it has a nice worn look. Plus, I love old things so that’s cool with me!

Sorry there isn’t much of a step by step, but it really is easy peasy and pretty self explanatory. Find 2 pallets, buy foam that fits on top, buy vinyl to go around the foam, close it up, and wrap it in cloth. Simple as that!

This look might not work for everyone, but it does for us. The best part is that it is much more budget friendly and matches our style more than anything we saw being sold out in the stores or online! Don’t you just love a good, quick, and easy DIY?

Yeah. Remember our pretty garden? Well, that disappeared very quickly once the fall/winter rains hit and we got pretty busy, then the weeds took over. We simply let everything go as we got busy and we just never planted for the winter, so we figured we would just get our summer harvest ready once March came around. It is March now and my friend asked to have her wedding shower here next month for about 100 people so um… yeah, we better get started cleaning.

Here are some before pictures:

Luckily Friday, I finished my end of taxes early, then went to work in the backyard right away. I spent a bit of time on Friday doing some major hacking and pulling. Then on Saturday, I spent all afternoon into the evening doing more pulling, but also did some digging and planting. I love getting my hands all grubby in the soil. It feels so good to be outside gardening. I can’t say I am great at it, but I really do love it.

I was so exhausted Saturday night and could not move after I came in and took a nice warm shower. All I wanted to do was lay there and I didn’t even want to eat! It was a good kind of exhausting though. I am so thankful that my horrible morning sickness days are behind me and I can get out and be useful again (here’s to answering emails next)!

While I pulled weeds I was thinking about how I ought to get rid of things that hinder me from my walk with God. While planting new flowers, I was thinking about how God got everything right the first time he created everything. There was no trial and error for Him. Lastly, gardening was such a good reminder to me to enjoy the Creator more than the creation. These are just more tidbits of my heart and thinking.

I have yet to take after pictures because I am so not done. Rains were due on Sunday, so I wanted to make sure to get as much planting in on Saturday. I can’t wait for the rains to stop because I need to go to the nursery and get more plants. I plan to get back out this week to do more gardening. Spring… here we come!!!

Tell me what your weekend was like.

Friday, already? Wow. I am totally glad! It has been nice getting things back to normal around here and I can see my floor again now that everything has been cleaned up (kinda). Yesterday, I caught up on most my emails and went through iphoto deleting tons of pictures because we are running out of space on our computer. I am snap happy so we had tons of doubles, triples, quadruples from one shot, so you can imagine how full our hard drive is.

Also, one thing I have gathered from some of your emails is that many of you are requesting more recipes, is that right? We will hopefully try to get more out there, but it is difficult cause I am not the cook and Ben doesn’t blog. I must convince him to get on this space and share what he cooks! Something, I am looking forward to is the cooking that will utilize our freshly planted herbs. We planted them in some vintage French tins and I think they look most lovely that way. I went back and forth between planting them all together in a bucket, or in the garden bed, but I really like the look of this much better.

There are still a few herbs I would like to get like garlic chives and another cilantro because the one we had died, but currently we have basil, sage, tarragon, hot & spicy oregano, and chives. Anyone have any other herb recommendations?

I am planning to do a shop update sometime Monday morning, which will include these dollhouse pillows (includes a giant one). I meant to do it today, but Friday snuck up so fast, so it will have to wait until Monday.

Time to get started on my Friday… I am craving Indian food, so I am hoping we can get some tonight. Enjoy your weekend and don’t forget to come back tomorrow to meet another Cakies sponsor!

p.s. My sister is hosting a giveaway and has a little interview. Plus a couple weeks ago, I did a short bit about our summer table for The Stir. Check it out here (scroll down to see ours).

We picked lots of tomatoes from our garden yesterday. We have about 29 varieties growing, so the result should be lots, right? Some plants are doing so-so and some plants are really flourishing, we will get it better next year. In the meantime, we will enjoy the harvest that God gives us.

The girls had a blast picking them and then devouring them. I have a feeling this space will be seeing a lot of tomatoes very soon because we love tomatoes! Plus, don’t tomatoes make such pretty pictures?

Tell me about your favorite dishes utilizing fresh tomatoes. I would love to hear about it!

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just some things:

– last day for giveaway

– this looks yummy

– this photographer will be in san francisco in a couple weeks, so if you want to book something or a consultation for something later, send him an email asap.

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Aye! The heat has hit and it is nasty (at least to me). I hate the heat and love cold and gloomy weather, so now anything that needs to be done outside has to wait until the evening. Last night, the girls were out helping Ben plant some herbs and I took a break from my work to join them. Plus, little Soul needed a little supervision (and food).

Growing our own herbs makes me pretty giddy as now when I want some chives, I can grab some outside. I love chives! Especially on a baked potato, which sounds real good right about now.

The girls really love getting dirty outside, but I do admit that sometimes I cringe because of the inner neat freak inside me. If you look closely, Brave was outside without a shirt and prior to sweeping she was laying on the floor on her belly moving all the dirt around. I was really itching to stop her, but I let her have some fun.

Kids will be kids and I guess getting dirty is all part of the fun, but we did go inside after and I immediately put them in the bath! Once we get things a bit more squared away in our yard, we will share a little tour.

Hope your Thursday is happy so far!

They were planted in December. Harvested a couple weeks ago (not cause it took 6 months to grow, but we just waited a long time to pick them!). Just eaten yesterday.

And it tasted really good. Then again, what does Ben make that doesn’t?!! Did you know we dream of owning a farm, not an animal one, but more like a blueberry farm or something of that sort. Yes, dreams are nice…

I feel a bit better about my stressing out and thank you for your putting up with me and sharing happy words that helped make me feel better. I am not going to back out of Renegade (Stephanie and Amy would you like to help?) and my mom’s party will be a blast. I just needed to stress out a bit, but yesterday was a good work day and step by step I will be ready for both. With lots of prayer of course. So pray for me. Plus, I know today will be another good day and the next day will be even better! What do you think?