The Garden room!

This is my favorite room full of beauty and solitude. The room I’m talking about this time is the botanical garden room and it could look quite different from yard to yard. I love my flowers and sitting enjoying the sound of water from my water garden, the birds and a breeze in the trees.
In bigger yards than I have there could be a number of trees in the back of the yard with a winding path through them with resting places spaced along the path. These are perfect spots for a garden bench or a couple of wooden chairs just to sit and relax. Some might even like to have a garden glider bench to get into the rhythm of nature. If your yard allows for a more wooded area like this (and my yard right now doesn’t) it is a wonderful opportunity for a garden room that provides a kind of private space. I love the smell of the leaves and forest it takes me away from the busyness of life and allows me to relax and enjoy God’s creation.

This room for me needs color and so I have a lot of perennials that grow and bloom and change with the seasons. The color brightens my spirit and calms my soul. This area doesn’t have to be large but it does need to have a quietness which means a sense of enclosure that is usually created by trees, shrubs and sometime structures like garden arbors or fences which allow us to feel separated from the busier parts of the yard.
Whether there is a lot of space or only a little, the garden room is where I want to be. Every time I’m in a yard with this kind of room I find myself gravitating in that direction very quickly.
If you have this kind of room or are just planning or creating it you can find all the garden furniture you need to make this space special in your back yard at our stores “Outdoor Cedars” and “Teaks n More” the links are over to the right and right now everything is on sale till the new year.

Where can we Play? Part 2

Last time we were talking about the back yard pool or the “pool room”. This week let’s talk about where the kids might play.
This space often changes with the age of the kids. And will definitely depend on the size of your back yard. For younger kids this could be a swing set or climbing gym of some sort. It could also involve a tree house or fort. I know when I was a kid I loved to build my own but today there are lots of choices at the stores to choose from. The things to look for are that they are well built and safe for the kids to play on. When thinking of our back yards this area needs to have enough room with space so the kids have room to run. Lots of grass is the best as it provides for a softer landing when the kids fall and they always do, fortunately most of the time it is just another little bump on the road of discovery.
The key to this room is that it needs to have some boundaries. It is easy for the kids toys to take over the whole back yard and though when they are young we may think they don’t know any better and that may be true, that is precisely why it is good for this room to have some clear boundaries so that we can still have some room for the things we want to do ie: like our intimate room for when the kids have gone to bed. We also don’t want to be tripping over toys every time we turn around. As the kids get older it could be a place to play catch or a mini ball diamond or soccer pitch. As we boys get older we always find new things to play with and they also seem to require more space.
My back yard is only big enough for a few small rooms and maybe yours is as well. When our kids were young they occupied most of the back yard. Now I get to do with it what I want.
We each have to make these choices and I trust as you think of your yard you can see it evolving over the years as we go through the different stages of life.
The fun room is mostly about space that the kids can have fun in yet helping them to not take over the whole yard. Let’s let them be kids they will have to grow up fast enough.
For us we need some comfortable furniture to relax in while they play. Garden benches, chairs, loungers etc. For Great Garden Furniture check out “Outdoor Cedars” and “Teaks n More” the links to the right.
Next time the “Garden room”.