Is it summer yet? Today I’m sharing with you our two final options for our summer deck decor: help me decide!

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Happy Friday, friends! Another week of quarantine in the books, and I’m dreaming of summer. Of course, Michigan has decided (in classic 2020 style) to continue to give us nothing but wintery blizzards. When will it stop? Nobody knows. (But seriously, Michigan. Let’s stop.)

In the spirit of warmer days ahead, the hubs and I have been conjuring up more dreamy ideas for our deck this year! You may remember that we painted our gargantuan deck last year (PSA: do not do while pregnant. in fact, do not do again. hire someone. that is all.), and time got away from us in terms of finishing our transformation of the space. But as we mulled things over since then, we have come up with two really exciting ideas that I wanted to share with you today!

Idea number one is for a garden. Last summer I filled up the deck with lots of pots full of herbs, tomatoes, and other plants. Unfortunately, some plants do not like pots, it seems! In our old house, we had built a large garden with raised planters and a beautiful fence, and in our new house we wanted to do something similar but hadn’t quite figured out a good way to do it yet. You see, our backyard is not fenced in (yet) and we live a whole lot closer to nature now than we used to. Which, I am not complaining about, but it does mean that there are a plethora of deer around just ready to eat whatever you decide to plant!

To rectify this situation, my husband came up with a brilliant idea. At first I was not on board with this, but after much thought, I think it will turn out beautifully! We have a set of built-in benches on the current deck:

Our plans are now to remove the wooden benches (which never get used anyways), and build out some built-in planters in their spot. I think this is a fantastic idea, because not only will it be much less likely that the plants will be bothered by grazing deers, but I will be much more likely to tend to this garden as it will be right outside our kitchen and family room doors! I love it 🙂

Some inspo photos for you. . .

Idea number two, is of course, new furniture! Last summer we decked out (pardon the pun 😀 ) the lower deck, where our outdoor seating area is, with some new teak furniture, a new rug, and lots of fun plants and pillows. This year, it is time to redo the outdoor dining area! I’ve been scouring the web for inspiration and beautiful items to replace our old patio set with: something classic and timeless that we will have for a long time. I’ve narrowed it down to a couple of ideas, so share with me below or over on Instagram which one is your favorite!

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