After years of wanting an outside living space — and countless hours on Pinterest pining away after the most gorgeous English gardens that would never make it in the heat of Texas’ summers — it is finally happening.
The Husband is creating an Outdoor Living Space …. nothing elaborate (hello, budget!) but it’s going to be beautiful and it’s going to be adult-friendly (instead of solely kid-friendly) and it’s going to be a sanctuary. For me.
I don’t know what it is but for the past several weeks, I have found myself craving adult time and activities: restaurants without high chairs, singer/songwriter nights at the local coffee shops, and quiet Saturday mornings spent antiquing. I love my little Kidlets, with their perpetually sticky fingers and their incessant need to use my couches as pommel horses, but life has been so over-whelming lately with all the “kid-centric” gear and schedules and clothing and messes and laundry and meals.
GAH! Sometimes, instead of only being seen as the referee, the chaufeur, the cook, the baker, the nurse, the enforcer, the scheduler, and the task-master, Mama just wants to be an adult. A normal grown-up who can drink coffee without worrying who is going to bump into her and spill it. You know what I mean?
So … cue the adult-centric outdoor space the Husband and I have been working on. Yes, there is still a trampoline and a small fleet of riding toys in my yard, but the back-porch is shaping up to be something much, much different.
A gathering place. A haven. An entertaining room. A place to watch lightening bugs and shooting stars. An early morning coffee-bar. A comfy chair where Mama can watch the glow of embers in the chimenea while Kidlets try out their trampoline skills.
(although, as I shared on Instagram, it seems that Barney Kneeknuckles still finds it necessary to treat the deck as a jungle gym)
It isn’t complete — I still need to bring in flowers and refurbish the patio dining set while the Husband takes care of phase two (opening one end of the deck that will eventually be extended into a little patio garden). But the first phase — redefining the back porch and bringing in my (Craigslist steal) dining set — was completed Friday and, oh my goodness, I have soooo enjoyed this new space.
The soft white lights. My favorite Pandora stations playing over speakers. Yummy food at the table. It’s been so good to have the start of something beautiful in my life … an area that everyone in the home can enjoy … but it’s all designed for the comfort and sanity of Mama. ‘Cause Mama desperately needs a source of respite.
Confession: yes, I guess I’m really selfish like that.
