Cape Cod Beach Retreat Deck

Our deck was in rough shape and needed a new coat of paint, as you may recall from my earlier post last week.

I used Toffee Crunch for the deck, railings, and stairs, and Cinnamon Cherry for the door to match the front of the house. I had the paint mixed at our local Home Depot.

The patio furniture was still in good shape and just needed sanding and a coat of natural cedar stain. After over a week of sanding, painting and staining, the furniture, deck, railing, stairs, and back door are finally done.

Now for the fun part, accessorizing! I think I did a pretty good job at staying on budget. I found this Blue Simple Border Indoor/Outdoor Rug, on amazon.com for $47.98 plus shipping.

The market umbrella was a Kohl's bargain for only $49.99. I also used my Kohl's charge and received another 15% off on top of the sale price during a promotion they were running.

These comfy chair cushions match the striped market umbrella. They were 50% off retail, or $12.50 each, plus I used a 15% off coupon to buy them, saving an additional $7.50 off four of them. I also received $10.00 back in Kohl's bucks on the cushions, which I used to buy the matching melamine dinnerware the following week. Come back on Tablescape Thursday to see it. :)
 
I found red geraniums on sale in the garden center at Home Depot for 88¢ each. I recycled these cedar planters and gave them a coat of white exterior paint. I planted some Dracaena and Vinca in them, along with my bargain red geraniums.




I love the Bristol Lanterns on Pottery Barn's website. However, at $79.00 for the large one and $35.00 for the smaller one, they weren't really in my budget.

I found some inexpensive versions of the lanterns at the CTS. The large one was $9.99, and the smaller one was $5.99. Two bags of small seashells and pillar candles, at $1.00 each, give them the same nautical feel. Don't you just love a bargain?

 





The Blue Simple Border Indoor/Outdoor Rug defines the dining space and coordinates well with the striped market umbrella and matching chair cushions. I also painted the verdigris umbrella stand the same color as deck.

I found this reversible chaise cushion at Ocean State Job Lot for only $30.00. The lumbar pillow in a fish print fabric that coordinates with the stripe was only $8.99 plus 15% off with a coupon at Kohl's. The striped terry towel cushion cover (folded at the foot) was only $12.50 plus 15% off with a coupon at Kohl's.
 I love these pewter deck torches I found on eBay. They were $14.99 for two. The nice thing about them is they clip right onto the deck railing. You just fill them with citronella oil, and they help keep the mosquitoes away.
Come back on Tablescape Thursday, to see the beach retreat tablescape and more pictures of the deck at night.

The cost for the entire project, including the paint and all the accessories, was approximately $300.00!

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up with

Organic Food Guide

Have you noticed the shelves, coolers, and freezers at your local grocery store are overflowing with organic foods these days? Ever wonder exactly what it means when food is labeled as organic? Are organic foods any healthier than non-organic food items?

Organic foods must meet certain standards established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to the USDA, if the foods are grown, they must be done so without the use of herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers created with sewer waste, or any unnatural ingredients. Animal products, including meat, poultry and dairy products, must be produced from animals that are only feed organic feed, without antibiotics or growth hormones. These animals must also be able to go outdoors rather than be constantly kept in cages or pens.

The USDA doesn't make any statements about organic foods being healthier or better for you than non-organic foods. However, the bottom line--organic food is clean and wholesome. Your body knows just what to do with it.

According to the Environmental Working Group, the growing consensus among scientists is that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can cause lasting damage to human health, especially during fetal development and early childhood. Scientists now know enough about the long-term consequences of ingesting these powerful chemicals to advise that we minimize our consumption of pesticides.

EWG analysts have developed the guide on the left based on data from nearly 96,000 tests for pesticide residues in produce conducted between 2000 and 2008 and collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The guide helps consumers make informed choices to lower their dietary pesticide load.

EWG research has found that people who eat five fruits and vegetables a day from the Dirty Dozen list consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat from the 15 least contaminated conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables ingest fewer than 2 pesticides daily. You can find a detailed description of the criteria EWG used to develop these rankings and the complete list of fruits and vegetables tested at www.foodnews.org.

Of course, even when buying organic foods, it's important to carefully wash all fruits and vegetables. Likewise, all meat and poultry should be thoroughly cooked before eating.

Thanks for stopping by!

Beach Tablescape

This is a repeat of my very first Tablescape Thursday and one of my favorites. Thanks to Susan of BNOP for hosting! Still working on the deck, so this will have to do this week.

The last time I served a New England Shore Dinner, I set a beach-themed table . It was easy, inexpensive and added a fun ambience to the meal!

Instead of using a tablecloth, I draped the table with a fishnet. Next, I spread a light teal crinkled fabric curtain panel in the center of the table, positioning it around the umbrella base, so that it resembled ocean waves.
I then layered seagrass placemats with scallop shell dishes and lobster utensils. Cloth napkins in a shell print were tied with jute string, strung with a single shell. A miniature lobster trap, a candleholder tied with jute string netting strung with shells, several large starfish and a metal lighthouse tealight holder complete the look. Everything but the fabric napkins, which I made, came from The Christmas Tree Shop.
You can find the recipes for the New England Shore Dinner here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek ... Cape Cod Beach Retreat Deck

I haven't been blogging as much over the last week or so, because I've been busy. The photo on the left was what our deck looked like a couple of weekends ago. My husband attacked it with the power washer, in an attempt to strip the peeling paint before I repainted it.

One week and two gallons of deck and porch paint later, the deck and railings have been repainted.

Of course, I just couldn't stop there and decided to give our deck a completely new look for summer 2010. In addition to painting, I've been having fun shopping locally and online.

Spending summers on Cape Cod over the years was the inspiration for the theme. Here's a sneak peek of some of the items I will be using to accessorize.

Of course, as with all decorating projects, I challenged myself to complete this Cape Cod deck project on a budget. I am thrilled with the fabulous deals I was able to find. I'm almost done and am waiting for a couple of items I ordered online to arrive.

Stop in next week for the big reveal!

Deck Garden

After battling with a hungry woodchuck for several years, last year, my husband and I decided to downsize our vegetable garden and move it to the back deck using containers.

Since we didn’t want it to interfere with the space we use for entertaining, we opted to use long, narrow window boxes for our planters. That way, we could put them along the edge of the deck, where they would be out of the way. When choosing the window boxes, we decided on the type with drainage trays, which we found at Home Depot.

Once home, we assembled our supplies and brought everything up to the deck, except for the planters. We returned to the backyard to fill them with a mixture of organic potting soil and compost. Once the containers were filled, we brought them up on the deck. After planning out the position of the plants, we removed each plant from its store container, loosened the roots, dug a small hole for each and started planting. After we finished planting everything, we watered all the plants thoroughly.

The nice thing about having our veggies and herbs on the back deck is that it is close to the kitchen. When I want to pick something to use to make dinner, I don’t have far to go.

This year, I'm ordering some bird netting to cover the plants. We have a family of wild turkeys in the neighborhood that love to eat vegetable plants.

Thanks for stopping by!

Strawberries

Strawberries are another favorite wonder food! They are an good source of dietary fiber and omega-3 fatty acids. They are high in vitamins and minerals and low in calories.

Nutritional Information
Serving Size: 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries (166 grams)
Calories 50
Protein 1 gram
Carbohydrates 11.65 grams
Dietary Fiber 3.81 grams
Calcium 23.24 mg
Iron 0.63 mg
Magnesium 16.60 mg
Phosphorus 31.54 mg
Potassium 44.82 mg
Selenium 1.16 mg
Vitamin C 94.12 mg
Folate 29.38 mcg
Vitamin A 44..82 IU

Strawberries are also rich source of phenols, those potent antioxidants that help protect cell structures in the body.

The health benefits of eating strawberries include:

• heart protection.
• anti-inflammatory properties.
  
• arthritis prevention.
• cancer prevention.
• asthma prevention.
• prevention of vision loss.

One of my favorite ways to eat strawberries for breakfast is to slice them and place them on a toasted, whole grain bagel topped with all natural peanut butter. Yum!

I always keep strawberries and bananas in the freezer, so I can make my favorite fruit smoothie. It's a healthy, satisfying snack that is perfect to take out to the pool in the summer.

Fruit Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup crushed pineapple, with the juice added
  
• 1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
• 2 tsp. Splenda

Add all ingredients to the blender. Blend on high until smooth. Makes 3 servings

Enjoy!

A Visit to the Loveless Café

We recently visited our son in Nashville, TN. While we were there, we visited the famous Loveless Café. If you're unfamiliar with it, the Loveless Café is a restaurant located on Highway 100 in Nashville. It is famous for serving homestyle meals and the best biscuits around.

The Loveless Motel and Café first started serving its famous fried chicken and biscuits in 1951. It remains unchanged in the quaint country charm and good cooking that has made it a landmark in the south for over 50 years. However, the motel is no longer in operation, and the buildings have been converted into gift shops.

The Loveless Café has been featured in Gourmet Magazine, Bon Appetit and People Magazine. It has also been featured on U.S. News and World Report, CBS Television, Martha Stewart Living, and The Today Show.

Carol Fay Ellision, a.k.a., the Biscuit Lady, began working at the Loveless Café in high school. She remained employed there for 30 years.

While at the Loveless Café, Carol Fay had been entrusted with the secret biscuit recipe. Sadly, she passed away this past April.


This is a photo of the café. The walls inside the foyer are covered with photos of many celebrities and country music stars who have eaten there.

These two photos are of the front and back of the smokehouse.

I had the smoked turkey, pictured above. It was amazing! The homestyle vegetables were delicious, too. As you can tell by the photo, the portions are huge! The service is fast and friendly, too.

The Loveless Motel Shops are located in the buildings formerly housing the 14 rooms of the Loveless Motel and open every day with a variety of privately-owned shops.

That's my husband posing next to one of the metal lawn sculptures.

They've built a barn on the property that can be rented or private parties. Several musicians have also appeared there.



If you'd like more information about the Loveless Café, visit their website. It has an online store, so you can order gift baskets, ham and biscuit mix. And, if you're ever in the Nashville area, I highly recommend that you stop in.

Thanks for stopping by!