Outdoor Gathering Spots

I think it’s pretty obvious that I LOVE outdoor gathering spots. I don’t care how small my house is, I always wanted a big closet and a big porch. So I finally found this great blog (listed in my links page) that give fantastic ideas on how to use candles to make your outdoors glow. One of my favorites was filling a water filled birdbath with tea candles making it look like a mini fire pit! So if you have one of those ugly old birdbaths just hanging out randomly in your yard you know how to make some glow and romance out of it! If you want to stay away from candles and prefer lamps, stick with low voltage ones that can still create that candlelight glow. One time on vacation my family rented a house on the water that had a large sized screened in porch. Crazy as it is, the lighting consisted of Christmas tree lights! Even though you may think this looks tacky, the low voltage tree lights gave it a great relaxing mood, even without the water side view. Another idea that my family does at home is wrap our tree trunk in the back yard with these white Christmas tree lights. Our tree is big enough where we can even place these lights throughout the branches (without it showing in the daylight). My family and friends always sit underneath this tree. As soon as it starts getting dark, we have the option to continue the conversation and turn the lights on! It such a nice setting.