Recession Shopping: aka. I found it on the street

My inspiration: the living room of Mary MacDonald's guest house, as shown in Domino Magzine and every decor blog that has ever existed or will ever exist. The inspiration was the random striped wall, which I decided to do on the side of our garage to give some interest to the outdoor dining area.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we've been working on finishing the backyard. It's a small completely paved area (I plan on staining the concrete a dark color....after hurricane season). I've pretty much finished the dining area, which is sheltered under an overhang by the garage. I'm not very good with plants, so I'm using a lot of color on the hardscape. I used the inspiration pick from above for the general idea, even though the feel of my space is completely different. Instead of sleek, L.A., midcentury and expensive, I transformed it into, crumbling and peeling, New Orleans, and cheap (i.e., everything was repurposed, found on the street, or bought using Thomas's deep employee discount.) All joking aside, we were going for a House of Blues, caribbean bar vibe: funky, laid back, and designed for parties. Across from the dining area is a seating area with four adorondak chairs. I've been searching for something to ground the space, and while walking Cleo, I found it: this fabu mantle that was being discarded from a home being remodeled. Four long blocks of draging that damned thing and a dog later, and with the addition of Thomas's fabulous version of a Dr. Bob (a great local folk artist) sign concocted from bottle caps and a scrap piece of lumber, we have a focal point.

. I promise more pics of the backyard when it gets a little further along.