backyard furniture
Work has been crazy lately so we decided to take a break and give ourselves a Sunday Funday. Turns out, a Zerbey Funday includes watching a little Arrested Development and going outdoor furniture shopping.
With our focus on the backyard this summer, we thought it might be time for a furniture upgrade. Our current table and chairs were purchased from IKEA five years ago. They’ve served us well but we didn’t take great care of them, leaving them out during the rainy season more than once (oops). The wood (acacia) is now dull and splintered and although it would be possible to sand and refinish, it would be a lot of work. We’ve also been wanting a larger table, one that can seat 6-8.
So, we bought this table from Crate&Barrel. (Thanks to a Memorial Day sale and our trade discount, we saved a good bit of money too.) It’s a dark gray powder-coated aluminum and seems very well made and durable. We plan on owning it for a long time. (We also bought a cover!)
As for dining chairs, we’re stumped. Ideally, we’d like something that is inexpensive and stackable. We’ve also talked about doing a bench on one or both of the long sides. Although we generally like to stick to neutral colors on big pieces, this could be an opportunity for some color.
Below, a collection of options:
1. IKEA Roxo chair, $20. I like the color and the price. I don’t know how comfortable it would be but our local IKEA is out of stock anyway and since it’s a seasonal item they likely won’t get any more. (Note to self: buy Christmas stuff in October and summer stuff in March.)
2. Room&Board Aruba chair, $119.00. We tested this one out in person and it’s fairly comfortable. It’s just not that fun and also more than we’d like to spend if we’re talking about getting multiples.
3. IKEA Reidar chair, $49.99. I’d actually be ok with this chair, but I’m not sure Kyle’s on board. (Does anyone have this chair? Is it comfortable enough?)
4. CB2 Lucinda chair, $69.95. I like this one too but we don’t have a CB2 store in Seattle so I’m hesitant to buy without trying it out first.
I feel like Kyle and I have scoured the interwebs, but maybe there’s another option we’re missing? I think we’d be ok with buying 4 chairs in conjunction with buying (building?) a bench or two. Our stopgap solution for the interim might be just to use our existing four chairs. Boring.
So, although we were not successful in purchasing new dining chairs, we did find some of the lounging style…
Adirondacks have been on our list for years. For a while Kyle wanted to design and build our own modern versions, but we found these FSC-certified teak chairs at Crate&Barrel and decided to just go for it. We actually started our Sunday Funday going to DWR and Room&Board, thinking we’d choose the no-maintenance adirondacks from Loll. Surprisingly though, they weren’t nearly as comfortable as the C&B ones.
Happy with our purchases, we decided to head home. But on our way back to the car I spied mini Adirondacks in front of Pottery Barn Kids. Moments later, this happened:
(Kyle bought her the new shades about 10 minutes earlier.) I voted for the white chair but Kyle insisted on pink. Plus the matching umbrella. (Also pink.) Then Avery started clapping and I caved. Not only were they on sale but I also got to finally use the Pottery Barn gift card that we received as a wedding gift nearly 8 years ago!
FUNDAY WIN FOR EVERYONE!
This weekend Kyle and our neighbor are building a new fence and landscaping is slated to start next week. Summmmmatimmmme!
ten months!
Avery is 10 months old! Technically, she hit the mark last Thursday but there was no photo shoot. Instead, that day started with the realization that both of our sites were down. Then there was a meeting to rush to and the deadline we were both crunching on. Avery went on a nap strike. It was one of those days.
But Friday was better. She slept through the night, I resolved our site issues (silly bandwidth!) and we were able to squeeze a few photos in. (I finally had to retire the 3-6 mo. white onesie. And now she’s wearing a shirt…a shirt! With no snaps at the bottom!)
Pointing is one of Avery’s favorite activities these days. Lots of E.T. moments.
Also, after predicting it for months, she finally cut her first tooth (and I just spotted the second one last night!).
With a combination of teething, separation anxiety and a bit of a cold, we have had some of our most challenging (and sleep-deprived) days these last few weeks. When you’re in the thick of it, it can seem impossibly overwhelming and throws your work-life balance for a real loop. But then, late at night when the house is quiet and she’s been asleep for a few hours, I find myself flipping through photos of her on my phone. Photos that make me smile and fill my heart with joy and before I know it, I’m missing that little girl who makes dinosaur sounds, thinks Bailey’s bowl is a wading pool and sticks her finger in my nose. Perspective is a powerful thing and although there are trying days, I know it’s not that bad. I know that we are lucky.
Happy 10 months little lady!
front yard landscaping: one year later
It’s been nearly a year since our front yard project was completed. For the most part, it’s thrived (we did lose a few of the red flowering currants) but I had no idea just how much until I went back and looked at that reveal blog post.
For example, last year…
…and this year!
I’m still a little in awe that the plants are alive and doing so well (but that’s why we left the job to the pros, right?). We were elated with how it looked a year ago but it’s so much better now. I especially can’t get over the lavender in the planting strip. (The planting strip that was, y’know…paved in concrete when we bought the house.)
Ok, let’s do a few more…
It’s growing, it’s growing! (By the way, we purchased and planted the red Japanese Maple last month.)
Ok, one more set…
Boom!
We watered throughout last summer (June-September) and then let Mother Nature do her thing. (One of the perks of living in the PNW, for sure.) Kyle’s done a little weeding, but nothing that required too much effort.
The ground cover is really starting to fill in between the pavers!
I was skeptical that we’d be able to do much with the narrow strip of dirt between the driveway and north side of the house. But, hello Lenten Rose and Sorrel. You look pretty amazing. Mark, our landscape architect, designed the plantings so that different things would be in bloom at different times. The roses bloomed a month or two ago and it was such a pleasant surprise since it was still rather wintry out.
The gas meter and bollard (so we don’t drive into it?) are slowly being shrouded in plant life. Yeeeessss.
Blue Star Creepin’.
One of my favorite areas is actually the south side yard. It’s turning into a lush little forest and I love it.
We’re really happy with the work that our friend Mark Garff (The Watershed Company) and JP Landscape Services did in the front yard and can’t wait for the big backyard transformation. I’ve been having visions of Adirondack chairs and a pitcher of Sangria. Come summer, come!
family photos
We’re crunching on a deadline here at Studio Zerbey, but I wanted to drop by to share some family photos that we had taken recently. Now, we have no shortage of photos of Avery (and Bailey, for that matter), but very few of us as a family. I wanted something more than the outstretched-arm iPhone photos, but different from a traditional portrait setting. We worked with Seattle photographer Dorothy Huynh and she was great! (We also took the opportunity to snap a few headshots to use for our Studio Zerbey website and various other things.)
For our outfits, I didn’t want to be all matchy-matchy but there needed to be some cohesiveness. I actually picked out Avery’s shirt first and then Kyle and I chose things that would compliment it.
Classic Bailey. This is what he does when he meets a new person.
We went through a lot of O’s trying to placate a wiggly little girl who was ready for a nap by the end of the session.
Kyle just started wearing glasses and I love them. (Back off ladies…)
In addition to our home, I also wanted an outdoor setting. These were taken at Discovery Park in Seattle. (We took a couple with Bailey, but could only coordinate a dog and baby for so long. No offense, Bails.)
Thank you Dorothy for taking these photos of our family. Now, time to actually print a few to hang in the house! Y’know, eventually.
summer project: the backyard
We’ve been chipping away at our backyard since we bought the house nearly (gulp) 7 years ago! Although the space hasn’t seen a lot of love yet, it has been a very useful staging area for all of the other projects we’ve taken on. This year, we decided to bite the bullet and make the backyard our summer project. And yes, we’re going to hire the same company that did our front yard install last year. (Woohoo!)
But first, let’s rewind to 2006 and review what’s been tackled so far.
Mmmhmm, the infamous before photos. Although it needed a lot of help, we were actually thrilled to have such a big backyard in Seattle. The detached garage/carport was an added luxury.
In 2007, Kyle replaced the two gates that separate the front yard from the back. This was a project of necessity as the yard was not very dog-proof. Bailey’s not usually one to flee, but after a neighbor found him running (well, it’s more like a waddle run) down a somewhat busy street we knew we had to do something.
In 2008 we finished the job we started the previous year and replaced the fence on the east and south sides. (No more white pickets!) This involved completely ripping out the old fence and posts and starting from scratch, but oh what a difference it made!
In 2009 we focused on the exterior of the house, so once again the backyard was a staging area and spent most of the summer covered in painting tarps.
2010 was the biggest year for our house (it’s when we remodeled most of the main floor) so the backyard was woefully neglected.
In 2011 we started to get excited about the potential of the backyard. We jackhammered out most of the concrete, built a deck and Kyle welded up a steel planter box.
2012 brought our focus back to the front yard, but we did manage to build the side yard roof (which mostly keeps rain from coming under the basement door).
And this is what we’re looking at for May of 2013. Weed fest.
Kyle rolled out his welder a couple of weekends ago and got to work on the second steel planter box on the south side of the deck. The steel panels had been spread out on the driveway, developing a 2-year patina. Like a nice wine y’know.
We ended up using a lot of the “temporary” pea gravel that we put down around the driveway for the foundation drain project. So, that area is looking extra fantastic now. (And yeah, weed barrier is a joke.)
Ugh, that carport. That whole structure befuddles us. We can’t come up with a good temporary fix (that doesn’t involve a gigantic tarp) and are unsure what the long-term plan will be (we have about 4 different scenarios that we rotate between).
All that to say…well, we’ve made some good progress but the backyard still needs a lot of work. Here’s a glimpse at the current plan (we made some revisions and substitutions since our first go around last year).
The goal is to have everything complete before Avery’s first birthday. Can you say backyard party? BACKYARD PARTY!
