One of my most favourite moments I can remember since we moved into our home was when Maddie was a little puppy. We picked her up on August 1st 2014 to bring her home and I spent that month and some of September working from home until she got used to life with us. Being a Springer she’s super smart (yes, I know people who haven’t owned them always bang about how dumb they are, but it’s just their happiness which makes them seem stupid. They wouldn’t be sniffer dogs if they were stupid now would they?!) and we got her toilet-trained in double quick time but there were still plenty of very early morning calls for a while.
I’d get up around 4.30/5 and let her in the garden and sometimes just sit there, appreciating those most peaceful of moments at the end of the night/beginning of the day. The stars would still be twinkling in the sky and everything felt so calm and tranquil. I’d have to bundle up in my dressing gown and a blanket if I wanted to spend any time out there but it was worth it and made me realise that the garden has so much to offer even once summer comes to an end.
Now another autumn is here and I feel a bit like this summer has passed me by. We had the builders in for June, the rainiest month ever. Then Boo arrived in July and we were dog-sitting for my Mum for the whole of August. The garden and spending any time outdoors has very definitely been neglected but hearing my neighbours out there of an evening, still enjoying a glass of wine in the remains of the day makes me think that we can still get some use out of our tranquil outside space.
Our current outdoor lighting leaves a lot to be desired but is based on practicality rather than enjoyment with two flood lights over the back garden shining up (or down?) the garden mainly so we can see what Maddie gets up to at night. We also have two broken Victorian-style post lights on the little wall which separates our lawn and patio and yes, in true Lins & Pete style bought replacements about a year ago and have yet to do anything with them. We are SO slow.
I’ve been on the hunt for some new lighting which we can use to make the outside space more inviting to enjoy it now the nights are drawing in and really love the idea of festoon lights. Very on trend, simple and stylish. Our current garden setup will radically change once we have an extension built and the garden landscaped so we don’t want to spend too much money at the moment. We already have outdoor plug sockets so rigging up something like this should be fairly straightforward.
To finish things off, I think we could do with a couple of low level wall lights around the edge of the patio, plus a chiminea and some cosy blankets and we’ll be all set to do a bit of marshmallow toasting in our lovely autumn garden. I’m too often defined by seasons but it’s so easy just to embrace them and adapt, making the best of them as you go. Oh, and whatever you do, don’t look at outdoor lighting on Pinterest, you’ll lose DAYS swooning!
This is a collaborative post. All words, opinions and images are my own unless otherwise stated.
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