Welcome to our Joyful Summer Home Tour!  If you are stopping by from Lemons To Lovelys, Meaningful Spaces or Belle Amour Blog are those ladies talented or what?  I’m so inspired by all the women in our blog tour.  I hope you go and check out all the different styles and homes they have.

When summer finally rolls around we are ALL about spending as much time outside as possible! Especially those of use that live in the North East.  Over the past three years and with a bit of hard work, my husband and myself have created an outdoor space that feels like an extension of our home and acts as a bonus living area for us to enjoy.

Please join me as I take you for a walk around the outside of our home, all of the gardening/planting you will see we’ve done ourselves.  A lot of focus went into our front gardens.  We purchase perennials from a local garden club plant sale.  So all of these have come from other peoples gardens.  Each spring we add more perennials  and it’s so rewarding to see them fill in so beautifully. I love that each month a different flower/color pops to life!  I have to say I think we are finally running out of room and may have to start sharing from our own gardens.

I enjoyed decorating our front door with a patriotic theme as I plan to keep this up most of the summer.  It celebrates Memorial Day, Flag Day and 4th of July!   I couldn’t resist adding some vintage baseballs to the top ledge, and a Target dollar spot banner always looks so cute hanging from the top ledge as well.

Around the back of the house we added a swing set for the kids.  They were so excited and it will be so fun to watch them play on it all summer long. I rescued these chairs from the curb (with out any cushions) and set up a cozy little sitting area for my husband and myself to hang while we watch them play.  Can you believe someone was throwing them away?

They needed a good cleaning.  I used the product old English on a cloth to mousiturize the dry shocker and also sprayed them with a clear poly to help protect them.  For the most part they’re in really good condition.  And I have to say I LOVE them.  I also love free too.  I mean who doesn’t?

These cushions I bought at Target and they fit pretty well.  If you look above, in the tree I hung these cute little lanterns I found on the cheap at a yard sale last year.

Moving around to the side yard, you can see the patio my husband installed a couple years back.   It is right off our farmer’s porch and allows easy access into our kitchen and dining room which is perfect for outdoor entertaining.   Summer evening’s on our patio include cocktails, BBQ’s, and country music pouring out of the speakers.  If it gets cool at night we love having a fire in the fire pit with smores.

I purchased this  “Welcome to our Patio” metal sign and I absolutely love it.   The chairs are from Pier1.

Our patio is our summer hang out spot.  If we’re not on Cape Cod, we are here, lounging playing with the kids and enjoying family time.

A tray with handles is perfect for bringing drinks and snacks in and out of the house. I use one out here to hold our coconut citronella candle from Flash Point Candle Co. which comes in this beautiful oversized ceramic pot and this cute little glass watering sprayer from Target.

We absolutely love our patio set and have had it for over 5 years, it has held up so well! (shop it at the end of this post)

For those of you with kids know, summer is about really all about them!  This summer I’m so looking forward to spending special time with our six year old son and 3 year old daughter.  They are at great ages for going on adventures and simply just enjoying crafts, games etc.. One of their favorite treats on a warm day is ice cream.  Isn’t it everyone’s?! I set up this little ice cream table scape to surprise them after school.   I can’t wait to let them invite some friends over to celebrate the last day of school with an ice cream party!

Here are some fun accessories I pulled together for your next summer ice cream gathering! Shop them here:

Shop any of our patio set up here: