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Isn’t it time you accessorized your garden?

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In my part of the world many of us are only dreaming about our gardens since they are still covered in snow or if not covered in snow the ground is still to cold to begin to work in. Still … many of us are probably beginning to think about what we’ll plant in our gardens this year, and if you’re like me your probably getting a little stir crazy indoors.

I certainly can’t wait for Spring to get here!

If you’re a gardener or perhaps hoping to start your first garden this year you’re probably busy making lists of plants you want to get for your garden, and starting some seeds indoors. While plants are the main feature of the garden don’t forget the accessories.

You can give your garden it’s own style or infuse a little more of your personality or even your sense of humor with garden decor an ornaments.

The article that I’m including below talks about how to accessorize your garden. Have you accessorized? I’d love to hear what you’ve done or even see some pictures!






Old canisters make great garden decor

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Grab the Photo Hunt code.
Photo Theme. Visit participants.

This weeks theme is Old Fashioned

Milk canister covered in snow

Since this weeks theme is Old Fashioned I thought I’d show you what I call the ‘ol Milk Canister although I have a feeling it never held milk but rather coal or some other form of fuel according to the markings on the bottom of it.

When my mother passed away a few years ago I was assigned the task of inventorying the houses contents and then my brothers and sister and I picked out the items that we wanted. I won’t say that the divvying of items went perfectly but it went ok.

I remember this old canister from my childhood. My parents never used it. It was always stored in the basement. Our house was built in the early 40’s and until sometime in the 50’s it was heated by coal! I believe that this canister might have held some of the coal used to heat the house. I’ll have to look at the markings again to verify what it says but as I said it appears to have something to do with a fuel company.

My second oldest brother turned out to have major allergies and I guess the coal particles in the air aggravated his allergies so I believe my parents were one of the first in our neighborhood to change over to oil heating. I think oil was the main heating source for homes (in Canada) in the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s. They eventually changed over to gas heating when the gas lines were being laid on our street.

The canister was an off white color when I brought it home. Some of the paint was beginning to peel off but over all the canister was in good shape. I thought it would make a great garden ornament so I painted it blue.

I should bring it in, in the winter and I usually do, but it was left outside this year! I guess it’s not too late to bring it indoors huh?

Durable outdoor teak furniture to spruce up your patio

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Sometimes during the cool winter months when I can’t garden I spend time planning for the following growing season. I think about what plants might do better if I were to move them to another spot in the garden, or what plants I might purchase via mail order to plant in the spring. Do you make plans for your garden or backyard in the off season too?

When I’m not making plans for the growing season I sometimes try to think of other things that I can do or purchase for my backyard to make it all the more enjoyable. I mean, you can only work in the garden for so long right? You’ve got to sit back and relax and take in all that beauty at some point!

During the summer we often have friends drop by several times each week and we spend our time sitting in the backyard enjoying the view while we talk. Other times I have backyard BBQ’s and dinner parties.

We have a nice high glass patio table right now. I like it, but since we often have several people over for get togethers I find that the patio table is too small to accommodate our guests. The table is meant to sit four people, but we purchased two high stools so we can sit six. It’s a tight fit at times!

I’m seriously thinking about getting a larger patio table and perhaps some other patio furniture. I took a look at the outdoor patio furniture at BeFurnished.com and I really like their selection of teak outdoor furniture.

Teak is a fantastic wood to use for outdoor furniture because it’s so durable. It holds up well outdoors and I believe that the wood is resistant to pests like termites so it doesn’t get damaged the way other wood furniture does.

Another reason that I’ve thought of replacing my patio furniture with teak is because it’s so windy here in Toronto. We have a lot of wind here and we also have some major thunder storms. I always worry that the wind will blow our glass patio table over. Of course if that were to happen the glass insert would likely break and it would be quite expensive to replace. A teak table would be much less likely to be blown over in the wind.

BeFurnished.com is a US based company but they will ship anywhere in the world. That’s another reason why I like this company. Not only that, they offer free shipping within the continental US. Since I’m in Canada I always check an online stores shipping policies before I start browsing and adding items to my shopping cart. I’m always pleased when a company with products I like ships to Canada.

If you’ve been thinking about getting new patio furniture be sure to take a look at the selection at BeFurnished.com. They have teak sets, teak tables, teak chairs and benches, Adirondack Chairs, loungers and steamers, teak bars, cushions and accessories such as patio umbrellas. They also have a selection of outdoor furniture that they call “Deep Seating”. This is a selection of outdoor chairs, sofas, benches and even an ottoman that has extra deep seating for added comfort. There’s garden accessories too. Storage boxes, lazy susans and mini teak planters just to name a few.

I really like their selection of teak patio tables. They have teak extension table sets, round tables, benches sets and deep seating sets that look like outdoor living room furniture. I love it.

We have a fairly small patio so I can’t get really large patio furniture, but I do like the idea of getting an extension table. We keep it at it’s smaller non extended size most of the time, but we could make it larger to accommodate more guests when needed. I love that idea.

As most of my readers know my backyard is fairly small. It’s long and narrow and I have raised garden beds running along all of the sides of the yard, with one oval bed extending into the yard to divide the patio area, which is near the house, from the rest of the garden. The back half of the garden has a grass covered area where we sometimes pull out folding chairs when we have an outdoor gathering.

deepseating.jpg Looking at the deep seating loveseats and sofas at BeFurnished.com I thought how nice it might be to perhaps have a deep seating set for that area. I’ll have to get my husband to have a look at the outdoor furniture and see what he thinks.

I’m sure he’ll like it.

Visit BeFurnished.com to see their selection for yourself. I’d love to know if you like their teak outdoor patio furniture as much as I do.

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