Please note…I inadvertently published this story when it was not complete.  Please excuse the missing pictures from the post on Friday.  It’s intended publish date was Monday,  complete with pictures.  Sorry.

 

I first read about the Kooboo chair at one of my ‘must read’ blogs, Cote de Texas.  Joni had written about them after making her purchase of the more expensive sister chair from Pottery Barn and then buying the Kooboo from Cost Plus World Market.  HERE is her latest post about the chairs.

Isn’t this a wonderful outdoor dining space?  These are the lovely Kooboo chairs (above).  Love the stone pillars and stone table.  A lantern over the table is so pretty!

 

I had mentioned the “need” for new patio dining chairs HERE and HERE and it wasn’t until this year we could actually afford to buy all 6.

The furniture has grayed nicely…the wood chairs look innocent don’t they, well cue the “Jaws” music  and be ready to be swallowed by them if you attempted to scoot your chair up to the table!

As you probably know, if you do one thing to your home or yard, sometimes it creates the need for more projects in a given space.  Such is the case with our back yard.  Here are some of the improvements I’ve made this spring with more to come later.

Ta-da!  These are the new chairs.  I will eventually have the cushions recovered in a Sunbrella fabric.  But for now  the white cushions that came with the chairs work just fine and they are comfortable.  We used them Saturday night and I’m happy to say that all agreed the chairs were comfortable.

The good news is that the “Jaws” chairs work well in a couple of other locations around the yard.  No need to move these when they are acting as seating independent of a table (they are actually very comfortable).  I love it when I can re-purpose something instead of eliminating it altogether.

I wanted to plant a bank of hydrangea in what I call my secret garden.  I managed to get 3 good sized bushes planted.  One is an Endless Summer hydrangea and seems to be putting the other two to shame.  I’m hopeful that after a year of acclimating to their new home the 2 ‘homely pink sisters’ will begin to perform and I’ll have a wall of hydrangea growing by next spring.

Because we replaced the killer patio chairs with the Kooboo, we decided to get rid of a pair of Adirondack chairs (along with the foot stool and small table) on Craigslist.  The Adirondack chairs were purchased for Hubby’s patio when he had a work assignment in Oakland and while they looked cute on his patio, they have never been very well suited to the corner of the yard we relegated them to.  The killer patio chairs look much better don’t you think?  I want to add some stone and pea gravel to enhance the area…soon.

Sold on Craigslist                                                                                                                                       Sold on Craigslist

 

New to the garden…

We will ultimately add pea gravel and there will be a stone border.  These “jaws” chairs are comfortable as long as you do not have to scoot them on concrete.

We had the trees in the back yard trimmed, professionally, and what a difference.  There was an area of the yard that never saw sun due to the thick foliage.  We now have dappled light and everything seems happier (or maybe that is just me!)

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the trees trimmed/sun shinning through to the ground after moving the “jaws” chairs to that location.

I’m trying my hand at growing clematis this year for the first time, wish me luck!

The side yard has been a challenge.  I planted some camellia a few years back and they were on a snail’s pace as far as putting on height, which is what the wall needed.  Well, while enjoying a birthday breakfast at my good friend Debbie’s house I noticed she had a bank of ‘ligustrum’ privets growing along her wall and they reached the top of the wall in a relatively short time.  Being the compulsive person that I am I requested that my gardener duplicate this look for me.  It will be a year or more before they reach the top but I believe they look better than what we had there before.

These will grown tall and cover the wall in green.  So much better than a blank, white wall, don’t you think?

Burgandy ‘iceberg’ rose grows in the side yard and seems very happy.

There are still jobs to be done but hubby and I are pleased with the overall look so far and we’re especially thrilled that none of our dinner guests will end up with a broken limb due to the ridiculously heavy, killer chairs.

Meanwhile, we continue to work on parts of the garden that could use some attention…under the watchful eye of Madison…

We look forward to lots of dining outdoors, if the weather warms just a bit.  *I sound like we live in Alaska, seriously, this spring and summer are some of the coolest I can recall and I’m a native born California gal!  We’re still enjoying summer and truth be told, I prefer cooler weathers.

How is your garden growing?  Do you entertain outdoors much?  I’d love to hear from you.