Summer Home Tour Series- The 2 Seasons

The irony about this summer tour is that since I made the commitment to do this tour, my husband has been transferred to Charlotte, NC from Syracuse, NY. He will begin working in his new position in just a few days. We are thrilled about this new adventure. We put our 1928 home on the market, but before the For Sale sign was even put in our yard, we were under contract with the first couple who saw it. We then took a trip to Charlotte to find our new home and just returned home. Believe me, I am thrilled to be returning to the south.

 

Summers are short in Syracuse, and so we sure take advantage of it. We try to spend as much time outside as possible, and we spiffed up the outdoors of our 1928 Craftsman bungalow. For instance, so that our home would have the best curb appeal possible, we painted a faux runner on our front steps and then added some potted plants. The steps aren’t very attractive normally, but this simple and inexpensive paint job really improved not only the look of our steps but the house’s entire front. It took just a few hours to do it.

   

We added window boxes to the front of our house to enjoy some beautiful blooms and to add another dimension to our curb appeal.

   

We spend most of our evenings in our fenced-in back yard so our active German short-haired pointed can get plenty of exercise. The first year we lived in our house, my husband and I built a patio out of pavers. It was a lot of back-breaking work, but we had a great sense of accomplishment when it was finished. I have added some planters in this area that also are full of colorful flowers.

     

Our garage is detached, but we didn’t forget about it. We added nice hardware to the plain garage door to make it look better, and we place planters on both sides of the garage doors.

 

We also added a window box to the garage’s only window just so we can have more color in the summer.

   

One of our annual traditions is hosting a summer movie on the lawn party. We rig up a screen and old fashioned movie “curtains” on our garage. If you have never done this, we highly recommend it. We select a movie for all ages, invite everyone on our street, enjoy fun snacks and watch a movie. Since we are moving, it won’t happen this year, but we hope to have this tradition at our new home. You can read about our movie on the lawn parties here, here, and here.

 

 

We have an awkward area between our house and driveway, and we decided to put it to work. We built a square foot garden, and we can enjoy fresh vegetables from spring until the first frost. The other advantage is that the green plants soften the exposed foundation. It’s another simple and inexpensive way to make a negative about our home’s outdoors into a positive

     

When we moved into our house, the teeny back porch was kind of a catch all rather than a usable space. My mother and I painted it, and for a while it looked like this. We recently upgraded it with a settee and coffee table. I spend my mornings on the porch drinking coffee and working on our blog.

 

As far as the inside of our home goes, we switch out the pillows for summer colors, always have fresh flowers around, and open the windows to let the fresh air in. You can see a full tour of our home here.

 

We want to thank Michele for giving us the opportunity to share summer at our home with you. We would love for you to stop by our blog, The 2 Seasons and take a look around. Please sign up for a free subscription so you can get our blog sent directly to your email. Have a wonderful week-end.

Cheers.