in real life: This weekend might be one of the best weekends of my life: spending Saturday night at The Parker Palm Springs with some girlfriends and then seeing Beyonce back in LA on Sunday night!!
Do you guys rememberthe inspiration board I put together for the outdoor deck space in our new loft? Well I'm not going to lie to you, but I think I pretty much nailed it. I am so obsessed with how this deck turned out and am super excited to finally be sharing before and after results with you today. Our moving truck was over a week and half late coming out from Chicago which was incredibly annoying, but also somewhat of a blessing since it allowed us lots of time to focus on sourcing, buying, assembling and planting all the stuff for our deck!!
The roof deck area is about 750 square feet which is a lot of space to cover considering the only piece of outdoor furniture we were coming into this space with was a coffee table. The biggest concern of mine going into this was how to fill the space so it feels complete, but enough free space for us to throw big parties while still having an intimate feeling for smaller gatherings. Some of the mandatory items were a large cabana for shade and privatization, a dining table big enough for 8 people, chaise lounges of some sort and a social game situation (all while trying not to spend a million dollars on this project!). I have been mildly obsessed withZ Gallerie's Portofino Pavilion for years now and my parents bought it for us as a housewarming gift. Since the pavilion is such a statement piece, I based the design of the rest of the deck around it. The other "splurge" item on the deck was the outdoor sectional that sits under the pavilion which was a lucky Craigslist find. Besides those two items we found most of the deck furnishings at Target, Ikea and Craigslist which helped keep the entire project budget friendly. You can see all the sources for the items on the deck at the bottom of the post.
Similar to our last loft's deck, we planted mostly succulents here since they are so low maintenance and thrive in the California heat. I did want to bring in some greenery besides succulents to give the space a more lush feel so we also picked up a small ficus and a palm tree at Home Depot as well as a few Italian Cypresses, a dwarf Eureka lemon tree and a 10 foot ficus from different sellers on Craigslist. Just as a random tip- if you have the time the drive around, Craigslist is a great source for plants/trees since you get a great deal and the plants are already acclimated with mature root structures so you have less chance of killing them!
I apologize in advance for how picture heavy this post is, but I just couldn't narrow it down any more than this!!
{I'll let you in on a little secret- for this hanging planter I opted to use faux succulents so that I wouldn't have to deal with the maintenance of watering it and having it drain onto our side table}
{I am so happy with how these DIY lights turned out for inside the cabana- especially since the decorative orbs were on sale for $15 each at Target!}
{this amazing ceramic swan planter is actually from Chris' late grandmother's house and it definitely is our most treasured possession on the entire deck}
{the succulent on the left was actually on our old dtla deck two years and we planted it at Chris' parents house so they could babysit it for us for the past two years. It really grew like crazy- have you ever seen one flower so much!?!}
{dogs gotta get fancy too.}
{As I mentioned, one of the mandatory items for the space was some sort of social game situation. After spending some time on craigslist, I fell in the love with the idea of buying an outdoor pool table that someone was selling, but it unfortunately wasn't going to fit in the tiny elevators of our historic building. The next best thing was inspired by a dive bar we sometimes find ourselves at that has a shuffleboard table so I started searching around for one. Craigslist once again came to the rescue with a 9 foot long shuffleboard table (the limit of what could fit in the elevators) and
we scooped it up right away!}
Two years ago I was introduced to watching The Bachelor with a group of girlfriends as we rotated watching at each others houses every week. At first I was in this get-together more for the wine and gossip since I was 100% skeptical of the cheesy show, but now I am full on convert obsessed with watching as the contestants compete for love (I'm really not kidding- my excitement to watch the finale last night was disturbing.) Today I'm sharing with you my go-to entertaining set up for a girls night tv viewing party. This formula of a batch cocktail, easy appetizers and light snacks is my go to for week night get togethers where you don't have a ton of time to prep.
Obviously you could serve wine to make it even easier on yourself, but batch cocktails only take a few more minutes to prep and they make the evening a lot more fun. Plus guests are able to serve themselves so that as the host you can enjoy the evening as well! For this recipe, I have modified one of my favorite girly cocktails, Maiden's Blush, into a party size recipe to serve 10 using Pinnacle Vodka and adding a champagne float. Scroll to the bottom of the post for full recipe!
As for snacks, I always have a stockpile of spiced cashews, almonds or pistachios which I fill on a vintage tray with and set it on our coffee table for guests to graze on after the appetizers are finished. My favorite appetizer is a good crostini recipe that tastes just as good when it is freshly toasted as it does once it has cooled after guests actually arrive. You can see some past crostini recipes here, hereand here, but for this one I keep it simple with a light spread of ricotta cheese, a tiny spoonful of ready-made pesto and top with freshly cut cherry tomatoes as well as a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. The pesto is what really brings the flavor in this crostini recipe so you could really substitute the ricotta and tomatoes for other fresh items you might have available such as goat cheese or fresh basil.
Cheers!
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