I heart hammocks!

Happy National Hammock Day, friends! 

One of my favorite traditions each summer is taking our hammock out of storage

and piling it with pretty pillows. If you're the can't sit still type, like me, I dare you to

 sink into hammock and not feel the 'lazy days of summer' vibe come over you. The

 squirrels ruined a few of ours, but I found one on Craigslist and we're back in business.

  I'm totally crushing on the new boho style with macrame, crochet and fringe details,

now is the perfect time to check them out with the end of summer sales upon us. :(    

Simple Details :)

Urban Outfitters 

Anthropologie

Anthrpologie 

Hayneedle - Several styles on Sale

No trees, no worries!

bhg.com

serenitywood.com

crateandbarrel.com

Here's to finding a few minutes in your day to to chill and soak up summer. 

Charming Garden Ideas

We love adding a new element to our yard every year, we haven't made a decision 

as to what it will be yet. Last year we stained our deck black and the year before we

added a boatload of boxwoods, I found a few charming ideas when I was searching and 

thought I'd share.   

WINE BOX GARDEN

LLH Designs

WINDOW BOX

We have window boxes in the front, but have a large window in the back,

this would be pretty! 

Sander Groves

TREE SWING

Vignettes Antiques

TOPIARIES

Pottery Barn

Our Home Depot has great topiaries like the one on the right with two balls

for $16.99, close to that size. 

PAINTED PATIO FURNITURE

bhg.com 

INVEST IN A GREAT POT

Habersham Gardens

ADD A PIECE OF GARDEN ART

Backyard Hostas by Shutterfool on Flickr

I'm smitten with the wine box garden or painting our furniture! 

How about you, any favorites?

BHG Refresh Magazine Photos

Hi friends, hope you had a wonderful weekend!
 It was gorgeous in Denver, but our forecast beginning tomorrow and for the week is rainy,
 cloudy and stormy - not good for photos for the One Room Challenge bedroom. I was
 feeling the pressure to finish up and get it photographed while we had intermittent sun this
 morning, and I'm happy to say despite a few hiccups, which I'll share later,
 IT IS DONE!!! And I want to move in!

Here is a sneak peek I shared on Instagram a couple days ago,
 it's the Anthropologie knock off dresser makeover we did.   

  

And, today I posted this pic of our yard on Instagram, which reminded me I'd been given
 the ok to share all of the photos from our Refresh magazine feature a few months ago.
Btw, the latest information about our interior feature is that it will be in the upcoming
Fall issue. :)  Still can't believe I just wrote that - I'm so thankful for the opportunity!

Our yard today

If you'd like to read about the photo shoot and the wonderful ladies who made it all
happen you can get the details here.
These are the raw photos (no editing) that were selected for the magazine.

 Our front flagstone patio.

 One of our three window boxes in front.

A bell at our front door was a souvenir from a trip to Europe.

 I plant the urns and window boxes with Kimberly ferns every year,
$13 from Walmart.

   A fountain in our front yard was a gift from my parents years ago.

 The fence and gate to our back neighbor's yard are original to our property from 1938.

This pretty bamboo set was a Craigslist score last year.

Our girl Rio! I repurposed an old work bench I found in the garage when we first
 moved in, and now use it as a potting bench and beverage station for get-togethers.  

 We love our hammock for lounging, reading and napping, and wild
swinging is always a hit with kiddos.

Hope you enjoyed the photos, I'm glad I was able to share them for
everyone who didn't get a peek at the magazine.

I'll see you on Wednesday for the One Room Challenge Reveal!!! :)

Refresh magazine shoot details

Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend! 

I intended to share some of the details of our dream come true
BH & G Refresh magazine photo shoot

with you last week, and every time I sat down to write the words just wouldn't flow,

storytelling and writing aren't my forte. I like short and sweet - a year in the making,
and three jam packed days with a magazine crew at our home is tough to condense, and
 after using the word 'exciting' repeatedly it kind of loses it effect!
Here's the scoop... 

November 2013 - I received an email from BH & G Field Editor, Bonnie Broten,

saying, 'I've been stalking your blog and think your home should be in a magazine.' 

Of course, I immediately thought it was a joke from a friend or teenager! 

After Googling her, and realizing she was for real, I was beside myself and then panic

 set in as I began focusing all that was unfinished in our home.      

Our dream team...Bonnie Broten - BH & G Field Editor & Stylist, Kim'Berly' Gavin - Photographer

I worked with Bonnie over the next several months sending photos of our home and
tweaking them for her to present. I tried way TOO hard to redecorate as much as I could,
so it would be magazine worthy - only to end up hating the photos I sent. That gallery wall
below is so not me, (not to mention the empty frames, like I thought they wouldn't notice??)
 What was I thinking with those taxidermy twins?
 They wanted an article on 'How NOT to decorate with a trend' - I nailed it with the framed
 taxidermy on two walls - oh my!
Lesson learned: If a magazine contacts you they like your house as it is!

   
June 2014 - After a LOT of hard work on Bonnie's end, putting together a presentation
for submission to the editors and waiting for the process to unfold, she lets me know they've
 chosen our home. EEEEK!! They'll be scheduling a photo shoot in September and it will
include our exterior and yard, as well. Yikes! Guess we'll be spending some weekends
in the yard! Lots of back and forth and photo shoot dates changing, now scheduled for
 August - at one point they called on a Thursday evening and asked if they could come on
Monday. I said, 'Yes!' Thank goodness it didn't end up working out on their end.  

August 27th - SO excited and nervous! I pick Bonnie up at the airport, she's tall, a classic
 beauty with that effortless style, her blond hair pulled back, red lipstick, truly beautiful
 and she immediately puts me at ease. We head to the wholesale florist, sit in the car and chat
 for at least an hour before heading inside to choose flowers for all the rooms and shots.
  It's late afternoon and we drive through Wendy's on our way to my house, where we arrange
all the flowers and she styles every shot, her talent and energy are impressive and endless!
Whew, long day and I take her to her hotel.
 

August 28th - It's going to be a challenging couple of days we have intermittent rain
and clouds, except when we have blinding sun. None of which seemed to bother our
incredibly talented (and buff) photographer, Berly, a dog lover, who made fast
 friends with our girl Rio and is responsible for her magazine debut! :)
 I'm sure my sweet friend, who came to help each day, never imagined she'd be
 spending her morning blow drying our flagstone patio to remove the water!

August 29th - Another full day - we covered, uncovered, and re-covered furniture,
swept water off the deck several times, and  hauled flowers to the garage and back
out again, over and over to keep everything from getting soggy. While waiting for
the weather to cooperate Berly would set up inside shots.
 

 The article in the Spring edition of  BH & G Refresh, 'Evolution of a Landscape'
 is eight pages (so exciting) of the exterior of our home, yard and deck. I took this
 photo after they had it styled and ready to go.

Part Two of the dream come true and secret I've been keeping...
our interior will be featured in the Summer edition of Refresh!  
Crazy and still unbelievable!

I can't thank Bonnie and Berly enough for all of their hard work, they were a joy to

have at our home and we feel so fortunate they were the ones we got to share this

 once in a lifetime experience with! 

  Also, thank you Mr. Simple for all of your efforts getting everything in shape

 and putting up with me! :)  

BH & G Refresh Magazine

I'm starting 2015 feeling blessed and refresh-ed!! 

I've waited sooooo long to share this fun news with all of you! Over a year ago I

 was invited to send in some photos of our little old house for a possible feature in

 Better Homes & Gardens Refresh magazine.

 Long story short, we couldn't be more thrilled and incredibly grateful seeing

  our home in their latest issue.

If you follow me on Instagram you've already seen this pic I posted yesterday

while we were reading the magazine...again...and rooting for our Denver Broncos. :(  

Thank you so much for all the kind words you left, your excitement for us is heartwarming!

Refresh is a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication,

published quarterly, this is the Spring 2015 issue.   

It was an adventure!

Later in the week I'll be sharing more details about our photo

 shoot and the fabulous ladies we had the opportunity to work with!     

  

pretty glow with outdoor spotlights

The other night I was at my friend's house and was so excited to head out

so I could see her home all aglow in the Christmas lights they'd just put up. It

 was just as beautiful as I expected, but I noticed her wreaths on the windows and

 her pretty window box didn't show up well. I told her about our spotlights that give  

the entire front of our home a pretty glow and highlight our Christmas decor. 

 If I hadn't been a hundred feet away this would be a great example - you could see

 our wreaths on the windows and our window boxes!   

We use two spotlights, one a few feet from the porch and the other a few feet

from the patio on the left where I have a bench and oversize lantern.

Without the spotlights it's barely visible. 

Ours are from Home Depot, we've had them for a few years, and it couldn't be easier,

 you push the stake into your lawn and adjust the angle to highlight your area. 

It is similar to this - Home Depot LED Spike Light here: 

 Here are a some examples of homes I found that are using spotlights.

huffingtonpost.com

hgtv.com 

 justimagine-ddoc.com

walldecoridea.tk

lightpositive.co

mymerrychristmas.com

amazon.com

Have you ever tried them or do you have a trick to highlight your decor?

fall porch and patio...

Our fall weather has been a little toasty in Denver, but this week cooler temps are in the

forecast and I'll finally be trading in my sandals for boots! I just might sit on our patio,

 sip a Pumpkin Spice Latte, and enjoy the crisp air. (It's highly unlikely, but it sounds nice.)  

This year I went simple and brought out my new Otomi pillows, a cozy blanket and a few

 pumpkins, quick and easy additions, but it feels festive.

I'm always drawn to pinks when I plan our flowers for the summer and by fall they're 

loving the cooler weather and still looking good, so I go with it. Not your typical fall

 colors, but one of my favorite combos, I love the pop of orange pumpkins with the pink.

  

The sassy, unexpected Tanzania Wallpaper Knock Off in our entry still makes me happy

whenever I walk in. 

I kept our front porch simple, too. I get these Kimberly ferns every year in the spring

 from Walmart, they're $13. I use them on our porch, three front window boxes, and two

 other large urns at the edge of our yard. They get huge, so I take them out of the pots and

 cut them in half with a serrated knife for our window boxes, otherwise they take over.  

(The photo is deceiving but the window boxes are four feet long, and that is half of a plant.) 

This flagstone patio is in the front of our house just off to the side of the porch.  

 I completely forgot to mention a great feature of the Otomi painted pillows that I

 stenciled the other day, they give you simple instructions to waterproof them for

 outside use. You still have time if you haven't entered the giveaway here,

 it closes on Monday at midnight.  

We've had this wood and iron bench for years, I love the weathered look.

 The small folding table was a thrifting score last year, and easily moves wherever

 you need to set a beverage. I nabbed Mr. Simple's wine just as he was ready to sit

down and enjoy...I need it for my blog photos, just watch some football and I'll bring

 it back in a few. Ha, that got some eye rolling. :)

Btw, if you like my worn out all-time favorite Frye boot knock offs 

check out this post with all the details here. 

I change my outdoor decor a bit every year, here is a previous one 

with my go-to pink and orange color combo.

Thanks so much for stopping by,

 hope you're enjoying beautiful fall days wherever you are!