Wedding Inspired

I'm a newlywed. I'm also a new homeowner undergoing renovations. What that means is I spend my time surfing on the wedding chatboards and home blogs in equal measure. It's so hard to get the "wedding bug" out of your system... having planned my own wedding for over a year, I'm still drawn to the beauty and the creativity of weddings today. Leave it to this fabulous wedding to serve as inspiration for another home reno project, the back porch.

Held at the Viceroy Palm Springs, with an up-to-the-moment palette of yellow, black and white, this wedding was chic, modern, and playful. Now my back porch is none of those things - but it will be! I'm looking to make it modern yet casual, relaxed yet design forward, charming and sexy. I want a Palm Springs - belle of the South - Havana - British Colonial kind of feel.


I want this:

from this:


Come this spring, we'll be tearing out all the old lattice work, beefing up the columns, and trimming down the width of the stairs. I'll be painting the walls in white and the floor in a dove grey. We'll put some beadboard up under the roof and drop some pendant lights. And finally, we'll build an L-shaped banquette, covered in a yellow and white striped fabric, and drape the columns with some sheer white curtains. Right now, it looks and feels like a cottage deck as opposed to the stylish spot I want.


I've already done a bit of shopping and picked up these fab pieces from Designer Depot:
The ceramic garden stools were a steal at $16 -- that's right, $16!! I've seen them online for as much as $132. The lanterns are a good copy of more expensive versions you'd find at Restoration Hardware or the like. It'll be great to light those at night, sitting on the banquette, enjoying a glass of wine.

So that's the ambitious plan. I really should stop surfing those wedding sites. They give me more ideas than I know what to do with.