Friday Feels – Pool House Progress

Hey guys! Welcome to another Friday Feels where I share what I’m “feeling” this week. 

This week I’m feeling excited about outdoor projects! Well, mostly… I actually kind of hate staining and I mentioned earlier this week that I feel like I may be staining the pool fence for the rest of my life. If I ever finish that, I can’t wait to get started on the big plans for this space by the pool. If you are new here, there is a pool across the street from our house and an old garage/pool house from the 50’s that came with this property that we have been slowly fixing up. You can see our house behind the fence there to give you a better idea.

It’s kind of sad looking now, but I have new outdoor furniture coming, a rug, pillows and the Mr. and I are debating on building a slatted wall on the backside of the cabana depending on how it looks with the fence all stained. Right now it’s a scary pool stuff storage area, but think pool side cabana with cafe lights and striped drapes and I think it’s going to be SO fun!

I actually stained the cabana last summer and added curtain panels and never shared it here on the blog. I didn’t even take any photos of it, what kind of blogger am I?! This is the only one I could find where you could even sneak a peek of the corner of it. Don’t mind the mess of life jackets, pool toys and Charlie living his best life.

Someday we still plan on replacing those barn doors (and all the windows) on the pool house with a slider and little deck area, but one project at a time (or so the Mr. repeats to me over and over again).

The other big happening outside is we had a driveway put in by the pool house this week. A new driveway may possibly be the most boring way to spend a big chunk of money, but it was one of those things that needed to be done. I originally wanted to put in a fun old school two track paver idea or a pretty gravel driveway, but then I remembered we live in Michigan and all winter long our snow plow guy would most likely destroy that idea. Plus we need a spot to put the basketball hoop so practicality won out this time. Not to mention extra parking, which when you have a lake house, it is pretty mandatory in the summer.

I am excited to landscape around the new driveway and add some pretty plants and planters to dress up this area. I’m thinking something like this –

If only plants grew as fast as photoshop ;) But, I’m thinking knockout roses planted along the right side and myrtle ground cover underneath the pine trees. Along with planters of hydrangeas up by the garage doors. No one parks in the garage (since it’s filled with unpacked boxes still – oops!). So, I don’t need to worry about them blocking the doors a bit. Wow, we’ve come a long way from when it looked like this –

I want this area to be pretty, because it’s what we see out these breakfast nook windows. I’m not really sure where the basketball hoop plays into it all, as it’s not particularly beautiful to look at though. I love watching my kids shoot hoops out the window while I make dinner, so it’s worth it.

A lot of you have asked me to share more outdoor photos and more pics of our landscaping, so I plan on doing that this summer too when they are in full bloom.

Happy Weekend!