Let's Celebrate Outdoor Living at the End of Summer in the Hamptons
My home in East Hampton is not as fancy as Grey Gardens but it's my own slice of heaven. I've hardly gotten into the summer groove this year, and it seems summer is over. Officially we have a few more weeks, but when Labor Day weekend hits we collectively feel the end is near. We relish outdoor living in the East Coast, and mostly because we get so little of it. These three glorious months go by too quickly. Soon, we'll have summer in the rear view mirror with Fall and chillier weather upon us, but today, I'm a bit melancholy for summer and all this wonderful outdoor living.
I pine away for homes that have little corners of garden life, a pergola perhaps or some espalier trees all creating little outdoor rooms of sorts. With all the interior design posts I've written, it's refreshing to talk about how our outdoor areas are an extension of our home and our interior design. Let's celebrate the outdoor living part of our interior design no matter how small (a balcony even) or a patch of grass because these bits of the outdoors give us a respite we often need.
For over two decades since we built our home (a simple cedar shingle cottage in East Hampton designed around the Sagaponack Style farm homes typical at the turn of the century), we have transformed our property slowly and steadily into a small oasis. With limitations such as budgets and daily deer encroachments, it has been no small feat. The fences came up and the planting and elbow grease went on and on as we continue every spring to dig in the dirt in the hopes to maintain and create a beautiful garden. Here are a few additions we added to create cozy spots outdoors...
1. We built a pergola just off our patio and back door. The area leads to the pool and yard and by covering the brick patio with a pergola (that we then covered in wisteria) it gives a shady spot outside to read, eat and enjoy the outdoors.
2. We created a small cutting garden just under our kitchen window where we can cut flowers, herbs and simply enjoy a small, manageable garden.
3. We planted flowers that bloom at various times of the spring and summer so you continually have a blooming yard. We mix that in with outdoor planters that bloom all summer giving us a combination of early summer hydrangeas with late summer blooms so there is continually color and floral.
4. Each summer we add lots of garden statues, topiary and points of interest with a bit of patina for when the yard is not blooming. As we head into Fall, when the flowers fade a bit we have found some pretty antique garden pots and garden statues that add another layer to the yard.
