I Hope this means Warmer Weather is on the Way

My favorite time of the year is when I get the letter from our pool company setting the date for the pool to be opened.  By contrast, one of my least favorite times of the year is when we get the letter with the date the pool will be closed. Lol

It's been a long, long winter and not a very warm spring here in New York.  Yesterday was the big day for the pool to be opened.  We had 40 degree temperatures and heavy rain all day yesterday and overnight as well.   I felt bad for the pool guys working out there in the pouring rain.

The positive to all of that rain yesterday and overnight was that the pool got filled without a hose.  Finally...something free.  We took out the patio furniture last weekend and my husband spend all day Saturday power washing everything.  This weekend the pool furniture will come out.  This has to mean that warmer weather is coming...right??

Another good sign that warmer weather is coming is "our" ducks are back.  For the past few weeks they have been mating away as they do every year.  They really seem to like our pool especially when the cover is still on with water on top of it.  I'm sure any day now I will wake up to a bunch of ducklings swimming around as we do every year.  It's all good!

Hope it's warming up where you are.

-Judy

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One of My Favorite Days of the Year

Today is one of my favorite days of the year.
 It's the day when our pool goes from looking like this...

to looking like this...

and this...

Well...it takes a week or so for it to look this blue, but at least they are coming to open the pool today.

I'm hoping this means that warm weather is on it's way.  It's been a particularly cold spring with only a few scattered "spring-like" days so far.  We always open it this time of the year to have it ready for Mother's Day (even if it's too cold to swim it makes the yard look much prettier without the cover).

Who else is ready for the warmer weather?

Don't forget to stop back tonight for my Swing into Spring party.

The party opens at 8pm EST.  Hope to see you then.

-Judy

Towel Storage - A Perfect Solution

This has to go down as one of those projects where I have to ask myself..."what took me so long"? 

 We have a pool house, which is a great thing to have.  

In the pool house we have a bench with three drawers for storage.  I bought the bench specifically to hold the towels, but the drawers are not that big and very few towels could actually fit it the drawers.  So, for years, we have just piled the towels on the floor next to the bench.

It always bothered me the way the towels were piled,

 but I never spent any real time trying to come up with a solution.

Then a few weeks ago I was walking through Home Goods and I saw this bakers rack.  For some reason when I saw it, it screamed towel storage to me.  It was the perfect dimensions, only 12" deep and 24" wide.  I got it home and although the function of it was awesome, the style just didn't go with the cottage feel of the pool house.  So back to Home Goods the bakers rack went.  

But now I knew exactly what I needed.  I searched the internet and found this awesome folding bookcase from Target.  It was on sale for $55 (regularly $89) and they were offering free shipping.  It was the same dimensions as the bakers rack, except it was a little shorter in height which worked even better for me.  I've never ordered anything from Target online, but it was great.
 It came in less than a week and I didn't have to lug it home from the store.

It is so nice to have the towels on shelves (it's the little things in life that make me so happy).
No more towels getting wet just because the floor gets wet.

I also love how open these shelves are taking up very little space in the pool house.
This little book shelf provided a very big solution.

It's just perfect!

Can't wait to hear what you think.

-Judy

Two Area Rugs for Less than the Price of One

I love how an area rug grounds any space.  Area rugs instantly pull a seating area together.

Here is my outdoor seating area last year.  It's beautiful, but I thought an
outdoor rug would help define the area and make it feel more like a real room.
  However, outdoor rugs of this size (9x12) are expensive.

That's why when I saw this outdoor mat on QVC, I had to get it.  It happened to be the today's special value, so it was only $39!!  I'm not really a big QVC shopper, but when I was flipping through the channels I saw this and I knew it was exactly what I was looking for.

Here's another view.  The wrinkles in it have softened since I took this photo the day I opened the mat.

It's soft underfoot and dirt can be easily blown or hosed off.  It is light-weight and it folds up easily for storage during the winter.  Okay...I know, I sound like a commercial.

While I was at it, I bought one for the seating area by my pool.  The 5x7 was only $27 that day.

All the beauty and benefits of an outdoor rug, but at a fraction of the price.  

Two large rugs for under $70!  Now that's a bargain!

Can't wait to hear what you think.

-Judy

Painting a Door - Not Your Average Paint Job

Hope you all had a great weekend.  Now that the nice weather is here, we are spending more and more time out by the pool.  One of the best things we ever did was build a pool house next to the pool with a small kitchenette and bathroom.  It keeps wet kids out of the house and is just so convenient.

The interior door to the bathroom/changing room in the pool house was a wood door that had a coat of polyurethane on it.  It was boring and kinda ugly, but it wasn't that big of a priority.   For years I have wanted to do something with the door, but never got around to it.

I finally got around to doing something about it.
Here's the finished door.  Isn't it so fun??

Here's how I did it.   I started by painting the entire door a semi-gloss white.

Then using Frogtape...

I taped off a diamond on the door and two stripes. 

I then painted three coats of Martha Stewart chalkboard paint in an aqua color.

The door didn't seem fun enough yet, so I took a round tray and 

cut out a circle out of a piece of cardboard.

I taped the circle to the door.

Then using vinyl dots I had left over from another project, 

I added the dots to the outside of the cardboard to form a circle.

Then I added some smaller dots to form a  peace sign.

I used my Silhouette machine to cut the words out of blue vinyl.

 The chalkboard is perfect for the kids to write on.

Yep...it wasn't that warm here this weekend.

Here's another look at the door.  Where else could I get away with such a funky door?

Can't wait to hear what you think.

-Judy

Summer Entertaining

It's Day 4 of this fabulous Blogger Block Party.

Today's host is Sherry from No Minimalist Here and her theme is summer entertaining.  Well, entertaining is something we do almost every weekend in the summer.

We had this pool built six years ago.  Since then our home has become the entertainment capital of New York...or at least it often feels that way...and we love every minute of it.

But the only way this much pool entertaining could work for me is if we built a pool cabana.  The pool cabana started off very simply as a shed built by a local company.  We then used bead board instead of drywall for the walls.  After that the question was...what necessities did this pool cabana need to address?  I have two kids and most of our entertaining revolves around having other families with kids over.  What do kids seem to need to do every five minutes when they swim?

Bingo!!  Well plumbing was a small fortune...like $25,000!  Yeah...that wasn't happening...but my husband did some research and found a product called Biolet.  It is a waterless composting toilet.  I was very skeptical at first...VERY.   However, the price was a fraction of the cost of plumbing.  Before the product arrived I think I used terms like "a glorified outhouse" and "porta potty".  But, as it turns out, this is the most incredible invention ever.  It works amazing and there is absolutely no odor...none.  Most important, it keeps wet kids and adults alike out of my house.

The pool cabana also has a kitchenette with all the necessities...a fridge, cabinets, a water cooler (not shown, but on the other side) and dual blenders.

There are three rooms in the pool house...the kitchen area, changing/bathroom area and storage area (accessible from an outside door).

For a combination bench/storage for extra towels, I bought this at Company Kids.  It was the perfect size and price.

By far my favorite pillow...given to me by my best friend.

So if you're looking for me on a weekend during the summer, you can bet that we are entertaining poolside (either that or remodeling a room in the house...you never know).





If you get a chance click on the above button to go and link up your favorite summer entertaining idea.  Don't forget there's a giveaway at each and every party.

Have a great day!

-Judy


I'm joining this party:
Cottage Flora Thursday