updates to our porch
Drew and I love our apartment complex because of the hospitable staff, the convenient location, and the beautiful scenery! We have access to the river and a coffee shop on location. We also have a large community vegetable garden, a river park, grills everywhere, and the whole area is covered in walking trails. Not to mention that the complex is near hundreds of miles of other walking trails. Pretty much, it's the bomb-diggity. Yeah... I just said that. Anyways, one thing we compromised on was the size of our porch and the low ceiling out there. For the past 14 months that I've lived here, the porch has been a "catch-all" for all our junk and things we didn't want seen. We would also do all our projects out there, so it was extremely messy! Yikes! Oh, and did I mention our cats live out there half of the time too? :)
A few weeks ago, we finally got the nerve to clean it up. We've been talking a lot about making a nice living space that was still suitable for the cats to enjoy. They love watching birds and insects out there and basking in the warm sunlight for their naps. However, their litter box is mighty stinky and hard to ignore in such a small space. So, we wrote down a list of necessities: 1) something to hide the kitty litter in 2) a place for the kitties to hide from the heat/cold if needed and 3) a nice storage bin to hide all the things we had to keep that could also double as a bench for extra seating.
So we headed out and found 2 bins - one that could act as a storage bin/bench and another that we could put a piece of wood on top of and make into a kitty litter box/coffee table. All we had to do was cut a hole in one side for the cats to get in and out of! Drew made a wooden box/bench for the cats to hide in and I threw a colorful blanket and pillows on top. We also decided to screw down any planters on the balcony so the cats wouldn't knock them off ;) We added plants, an herb garden, and other decorative pieces and considered it done! It was so fun to complete this project and actually be able to utilize our outdoor space to enjoy the beautiful weather this summer.
A few weeks ago, we finally got the nerve to clean it up. We've been talking a lot about making a nice living space that was still suitable for the cats to enjoy. They love watching birds and insects out there and basking in the warm sunlight for their naps. However, their litter box is mighty stinky and hard to ignore in such a small space. So, we wrote down a list of necessities: 1) something to hide the kitty litter in 2) a place for the kitties to hide from the heat/cold if needed and 3) a nice storage bin to hide all the things we had to keep that could also double as a bench for extra seating.
So we headed out and found 2 bins - one that could act as a storage bin/bench and another that we could put a piece of wood on top of and make into a kitty litter box/coffee table. All we had to do was cut a hole in one side for the cats to get in and out of! Drew made a wooden box/bench for the cats to hide in and I threw a colorful blanket and pillows on top. We also decided to screw down any planters on the balcony so the cats wouldn't knock them off ;) We added plants, an herb garden, and other decorative pieces and considered it done! It was so fun to complete this project and actually be able to utilize our outdoor space to enjoy the beautiful weather this summer.
Storage bin, copper watering can + pillows: Target // Fur throw - Ikea // Chalkboard + wood on coffee table - Home Depot (art by me!) // Rock City birdhouse - gift from my in-laws (our rehearsal dinner was at Rock City) // Metal "H" letter - Urban Outfitters // Mosaic planter - Anthropologie