Backyards and patios are a wonderful opportunity to create inviting and livable “outdoor rooms.” This landscape design project by our own “Nester”, Lisa Gillespie of Lisa Gillespie Designs for a small La Plata townhouse, transformed a bland and uninspired backyard into a charming Japanese-inspired oasis of color, texture and whimsy. The original backyard was a fenced-in grassy yard with a slight rise at the back. The designer’s concern was that the slope led down toward the back of the house and during heavy rainfall, water would regularly channel directly toward the residence. Here’s the before:

Before

To mitigate the problem, Lisa incorporated a dry streambed effect using rivers stones and cobble, bordered by a low stone retaining wall that cuts across the yard diagonally, and redirects the flow of rainwater water away from the house. It is then connected to a downspout on the side of house that also pooled water during rainfall, and has now been sunk underground to allow rainwater to flow easily to the local storm drain and away from the residence. Here’s one view of Lisa’s plan for the yard:

While functional, the streambed is also a beautiful design detail that creates a textural division of the yard, a natural water feature when it rains and two visually distinct areas of the yard. It also serves as a border for colorful perennials with staggered bloom times for all-season color. Stepping stones and a curved footbridge connects the two areas to add charm and easy accessibility to the whole yard.

At the back of the yard a sturdy custom grid trellis was added to support climbing flowering clematis and a touch of architectural interest. A deep purple flowering crepe myrtle and a dwarf Japanese maple are at either corner of the yard and strategically placed evergreen trees and shrubbery add year-round texture. The combination of evergreens and low maintenance perennial flowers offer seasonal color, scent and visual appeal with little effort on the part of the homeowner.

An ugly heat pump is masked by another matching custom-built screen. This mirrors the dynamic architectural element at the back of the yard while hiding the unattractive appliance from view, but since it is open on the other side, it is still accessible for maintenance and airflow. The trellis also allows for more opportunity for colorful climbing plant material.

A elliptical freeform flagstone patio was added over a bare bones square concrete pad which mirrors the organic feel and color of the stone streambed and gives the homeowner more usable space for relaxing and entertaining.

The transformation from design idea to finished product took about 3 weeks. If you are interested in an interior or exterior design project consultation, please contact lisa@lisagillespiedesigns.com or call (301) 752-3988.

Back in the year 1999, when some of us thought computers would soon self-combust, me and the hubby bought a beautiful solid bed at an antique store that we thought was a standard full size bed. We brought it home and proudly showed my dad (an expert in all things furniture and woodworking). My dad chuckled and said “good luck finding a three and a quarter size mattress for that bed.” And I said “what!?” Apparently a three and a quarter size mattress was a standard size mattress many moons ago. Although we loved the bed we didn’t really want to go that small. The antique store we bought it from was three states away…we had bought it on the way home from a trip. That bed has collected dust in various storage spaces for the past 12 years. Sad, but true, because it is a fine antique…strong and sturdy.

Here’s basically what it looked like before (one half of it) that is.

Lisa has been making benches out of beds for quite some time and she gave me some good ideas for it’s transformation. I also asked my neighbor, who happens to be a really good carpenter, to help us with a plan to convert this bed into two benches. While he was examining the bed he identified it as black walnut and said that it had been bolted to a floor. Could it have been used on a ship? He also agreed with what I had suspected. It had originally been a rope bed. That means it’s old and handmade.

So, we worked to make something new out of something very old…and somewhat mysterious. I’m really looking forward to sharing the finished benches soon!

So one day when I had a day off work and should have been cleaning my house or doing laundry I decided to go “junking.” My definition of “junking” is #1 to avoid cleaning my house/doing laundry by getting in my car and visiting various places (thrift stores/yard sales/Good Will/Salvation Army) to find that perfect new object to transform into something wonderful. Definition #2 is similar to #1 except I call my friends and ask them to avoid household obligations to go with me to those places mentioned above to find that perfect new object, etc.
You get the picture. In this case it was definition #1 but I took my youngest girl with me. I love her so much. And, she is seriously good at bargaining. She once scored a plastic dinosaur for the grand price of free. Yes, she did.

So after hitting all my usual places I thought I would come away empty handed. I really did. But then I couldn’t get this thing I saw at a local thrift shop out of my mind. It nagged at me for days. Haunted me. So, finally I asked my husband to go back and check it out with me. I wondered if it was still there. It was. My husband said he thought he knew why. It’s not everyday that a person dreams about a 1960′s magazine rack.

I brought it home and here’s the close up of the “before.”

I wondered what my magazine rack’s career looked like before it found itself in my house. Did it proudly display magazines in a shop? Or did it offer a friendly magazine to a haggard parent at doctor’s office (I don’t actually get to READ a magazine in the doctor’s office with kids but it’s a nice thought).

I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do with the magazine rack but I knew that I would find a new purpose for it in our home. Lucky for me we had a 54 degree day in January when I decided to spray paint it. The kids played with dinosaurs in mud puddles left over from snow. 

I spray painted my magazine rack a color called Indigo Streamer (I love the name Indigo Streamer). And I spray painted my index finger too. Indigo Streamer on skin looks like Smurf. I have a Smurf finger now and that’s okay.

After giving it some thought, I decided to use the magazine to display some of our favorite books and framed photos of dogs. We love dogs at our house and since I was a little girl I’ve had three wonderful dogs in my life. Although, I could have left the legs on and used it as a free-standing display piece, I decided to removed the triangle legs so that I could mount it to the wall.

The whole process from start to finish only took a couple of hours and I’m so pleased with the outcome. The magazine rack serves the family powder room as a way to rotate out books and framed art.

Before/After:

Remember that mystery object?

My family had a great time visiting friends in Charleston, SC during our spring break. My pal Ellen suggested we visit one of her favorite thrift stores in downtown Charleston. The weather had turned warm and we were looking to score some summer clothes for our kids. Of course I could not help but to peruse the furniture section. Underneath a pile of stuff was a very old mirror that looked like it was originally attached to a bureau of some kind.

I could tell by the way it was constructed that it was very old. Since it was separated from it’s chest of drawers (no where to be found) it was awkward, and couldn’t really be used in it’s current state. Still, I couldn’t bare to leave it behind. It was special. Ellen and her husband Reed were kind enough to allow me to load it up in their mini-van which was already loaded down with eight people and beach gear.

Later that week, when we got back to Maryland, I decided to remove the mirror with the intention of doing something cool with the ornate frame. I thought about making it into a bulletin board or chalk board. But every time I tried to move forward with an idea it just didn’t seem to be the right thing.

Cue my husband. He is wonderful (not to mention handy and artistic). We brainstormed together, and in about five minutes, we came up with something even better than anything else that I had contemplated that week.

We got a little help and input from some great kids. It was more work than I had expected to put into this project but it was so much fun to collaborate with my husband and kids.

We installed the frame on a base, complete with chalk board, painted the whole thing bright white and added some cheery cafe curtains. The finished project:

I’m happy to report that, although my kids loved playing with it, they were excited to see it go to market this past Saturday. Sure enough, it now belongs to a lovely lady who plans to give it to her granddaughter for her birthday.

I’m considering making more of these! I’m just wondering where the next funky frame is waiting….

One of the things that I enjoy so much about living in a small town is the sense of community. My peeps (no Easter candy pun intended) came out in full throttle today. To name a few…

Val photographer extrodinaire–one of our first customers at 8:30 am

Ashley from Fitlife with her adorable one-week-old son

The mother-and-daughter duo from Birds of a Feather Photography

Mary Stokely, a wonderful realtor who helped us buy our first house in DC

Shannon Wang and family, my dear old friend from high school, designer and fantastic artist

And, all the many others who came out to support our venture! You know who you are!

We have a really nice farmer’s market in La Plata and it was fun to be there as a vendor. I’ve been there many times to get vegetables and fresh farm eggs from the Bowlings’ Farm Trucks.

This was my first time to be on the other side of the market, here’s what I learned from the vendor side. Wind is not your friend if you are selling stuff outside. We were weighing down stuff with potatoes purchased from our fellow vendors (thanks!). It could have been rain, though, and that would be worse.

A pickup truck is your friend. Thank goodness my dad loaned us “Big Red.”

All of you who came to buy your weekly produce and visited The Treasure Nest…thanks so much!

Lisa says arranging your decorative pieces with unexpected combinations of color can enhance any room setting. Here Lisa’s red bed/bench is paired with a bright yellow ceramic garden stool and Kathy’s sweet seamist green table all tied nicely together by the vibrant striped fabric of the cushion and lumbar pillow. This little vignette would be perfect in a sunroom, a conservatory or a protected porch or even at your beach cottage. All furniture shown here is available for sale this Saturday!

I am so fortunate to work with and be inspired by an amazing friend and artist named Bonnie. I like to call her “BonBon” and we have had many fun adventures together scouting for vintage finds around Southern Maryland. As a bonus we both find the same things funny (more on this in just a moment). Sometimes I will go to Bonnie’s house and help her with projects and some times she comes over to my house and does the same. We usually have a minimum of four kids running around playing while we do this and there is always coffee involved.  It’s nice to get a fresh perspective and new ideas—even if it’s just rearranging stuff you already have.

Back in February we were both in a is-spring-ever-going-to-come rut and Bonnie invited me over to help put some spring into her dining room. She still had some holiday stuff out and she was ready to bypass late winter altogether and spring forward.

Bonnie is the mother to four fabulous kids. This means a busy household of course and working on one room of the house in a focused manor means some other areas of the house must suffer. I know this and I only have two kids. Our crafty friend Shay stopped by with her two little guys and in between moving furniture, drinking coffee and swapping ideas we managed to spring up the dining room. We cleared out the clutter, brought in some of Bonnie’s art from other rooms and spruced things up with some live plants. Simple, inexpensive and beautiful.

Meanwhile, we weren’t really paying attention to where we were putting the clutter (which included but was not limited to holiday decorations, dishes, art work, and Bonnie’s collection of random things like ceramic clogs). Oh and at this point there were four kids under five zipping around the kitchen having a jolly time. Morning gave way to afternoon and an impromptu lunch was prepared for seven people (more dishes, sippy cups flying and food items strung about everywhere as the three grown-ups attempted to accommodate various lunch requests). I was taking photos of our progress and at some point I accidentally snapped this photo of another view of Bonnie’s house:

Reality

We parted ways later that afternoon and I felt like we had accomplished something. But when I got home and looked at the photos I realized what an epic mess we had made and I felt bad that we had left things in such a state of disarray (in pretty much EVERY room of the house EXCEPT the dining room). Later that day Bonnie asked me to send her some of the photos I took of our progress. I sent her the one above and then she called me and we both died laughing. Thanks for another good laugh BonBon.

Window Seat Before & After

Emily:

In our house there is window on the second floor that overlooks our small town. The view is lovely but the window seat (not original to the house) was a small cedar box and only held a few blankets. Our good friends decided to visit us from Seattle. They have three kids and we have a two (that’s five kids in case your counting)…and we realized we needed more beds. So, my husband Jason used his high skool’ wood shop skills and built a simple platform to hold a twin mattress. We now have a window bed instead of a widow seat! This project took about two weekends. The kids loved it and fought over it (the only down side to the window bed). Even after our friends left my two kids spend hours reading, sleeping, daydreaming etc. Hooray for house guests! We love them and it motivates us to get stuff done.

XOXO