Project "Decorate our Balcony" Take 1

My new pet project is to decorate our outdoor space. I've been wanting to do this for awhile and I figure what better time than now. The weather is getting warmer (40's and 50's pretty regularly) and you can feel Spring is just around the corner. It's the first time in awhile I actually want to be outside. So, I made up my mind that I would devote some energy to making this happen. Now this task is hard for two reasons:

1. Our outdoor space is very small (urban-living at its finest)
2. The space is oddly shaped (it's not a circle, not a square, not a rectangle)

Despite these challenges, we've decided to take the optimist perspective, and be thankful we actually have a nice size balcony in the middle of DC. To get some inspiration, I've embarked on a blogging adventure, and I'm trying to find some great blogs to provide creative ways to decorate a small, urban patio. We'll see what I come up with. Any and all suggestions welcome.

So, to get the ball rolling on this project, we made a trip to Home Depot yesterday. Our goal for this trip was to start with getting some decorative outdoor pillows, to splash some color around out there, and also to get some plants/flowers. We also made a pit stop at Crate and Barrel to check out their new spring arrivals. Lots of outdoor greatness at C&B.

Here is what we have going on so far:

Colorful pillows from Home Depot


Planter purchased at Create and Barrel


I bought some colorful pots to spice up my herb garden and cute chalkboard herb markers

Of course anytime I begin a project that involves decorating, I always try to think of ways to personalize the job. This usually leads me to incorporating my Texas roots. Duh, Texas-4-Eva! I've been scouring the internet today for a big metal star (my Texas pals know exactly what I'm talking about) but this is proven to be much harder than I would have thought. You see these dang stars all over the place in Texas, but they are not as easy to spot on the internet. Here is an example of what I'm dreaming of, only mine would be much larger. This star is destined to cover up the plain jane brick that keeps the sun from shining on our patio. If the sun can't shine on us, at least the Lone Star of Texas will be!

The star would be hanging on the big empty brick space in the middle

Another great Etsy find what this bench. I thought it was perfect to add some seating to our very small outdoor living space. Plus, it's the Texas Flag! What's not to like? A big thank you goes out to all the very talented, creative people that sell their goods on Etsy. Without you, my home would most likely be empty!

So operation decorate our balcony is well under way. Next on the list is to find some fun lighting and to purchase a grill (yea the grill part is tricky, and illegal, but I'll save that for another post). I'll keep you all updated on how the project turns out. OR even better, we'll invite you all over for some summer BBQ fun- urban chic style of course!

ps. Jon is threatening to purchase every NJ item he can get his hot hands on if I keep filling our home with Texas memorabilia... Eh, I'll take my chances :)