Thank you Christmas Tree Shops andThat! for sponsoring this post.
All opinions are my own.
Once the warm weather arrives, us New Englanders know that we have to take full advantage of it… seeing that we only get a few months of warmth before we head back into fall and winter.
Since it’s pretty difficult though to get to the nearby park or beach during the work week, Jeff and I always make an effort to eat dinner outside as often as possible. It’s no fun being holed up in the office all day and then at night as well.
Over the past few years, we had our outdoor patio furniture set up, but hadn’t made much of an effort to add any pizazz. Now that we’re in our new home, I felt like it was time to finally spruce up the patio, but wanted to do so in an affordable way. Which is why I was very excited to partner with Christmas Tree Shops andThat!, seriously one of my favorite stores, to give our outdoor patio a makeover.
My goal for this project? Not to exceed $200. And I’m happy to say that we stuck to that budget for this!
To start, my mom and I (with Isla in tow) made our way to the local Christmas Tree Shops andThat! location last Saturday morning. Everytime I go to this store, it always feels like a treasure hunt, where I find a million things I want in every aisle.
For this project, I had to focus my attention on a few sections of the store. First, we picked out an umbrella and umbrella stand, sticking with a blue/navy color scheme. I wanted to make sure we could use the patio during the day on weekends as well, and have to make sure Isla gets some shade while sitting with us.
We then made our way to the pillow section, where we found an assortment of outdoor/indoor pillows. I went with a few different styles & colors, even getting a pillow with an orange design, which I rarely do. But, have realized that I often go the easy route with neutrals, and wanted to switch that up a bit.
Right next to pillows, I spotted a few throw blankets and figured I’d pick one up, especially for cool summer nights.
We then started browsing through lanterns and lighting. Ideally, I’d like to hang lights from the house to our patio, but knew that was a project for another day. For this trip, I stuck with a lantern that I could place on the ground, and a few smaller tabletop lanterns, which I actually ended up using as a flower vase instead.
Lastly, I wanted to find a multi-use coastal-themed bowl or dish that could be used on our outdoor table… and either use it for decoration, or to fill with food items when needed. I ended up deciding on a starfish bowl, which allowed me to incorporate some neutral/white colors as well.
Once we checked out – I was so happy to see that we stuck to our $200 budget. I could not believe how incredible affordable everything was. And, can’t wait to return to find items to decorate the inside of our house, especially after seeing some of the furniture that was on display.
Note: EVERYTHING you see in this often, except the patio furniture, patio cushion, and grill, is from Christmas Tree Shops andThat!
BEFORE
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