This weekend in Little Rock, the weather was gorgeous. After a hard, long rain on Friday, we woke up Saturday to fall temperatures, sunshine and a cool breeze. It was heaven.

I started my weekend with Mrs. Aubri Duran – we grabbed breakfast at a cute little place here called The Red Door. We sat on the patio and visited for a couple hours. It was such a treat, and I couldn’t be happier that Aubri moved back to Little Rock after two years in Fort Worth.

After that, I decided to run all my errands. I got toilet paper, dog food, dog toothpaste and ear cleaner, I got my watch battery fixed and rings cleaned, I returned a Redbox and then, on a whim, I decided I’d use the rest of my day to enjoy the fall weather and spruce up our backyard.

Things to do in the backyard:

1) prune and rejuvenate our two, suffering ferns

2) buy pots for ferns – in a fun, bright color

3) purchase mums (I love bright mums for fall – they’re so low maintenance and provide abundant blooms)

4) buy a hanging plant for the back deck, bc we have decorative hanging plant hooks on the house from the previous owner and have never used them.

5) re-plant my FAMOUS diy log stump tables

So, I headed to The Home Depot. A helpful man in the garden section caught me struggling to pick out pots for the ferns and he ended up selling me potting soil. Didn’t know I needed that. Just figured you stick the plant in the black Home Depot container straight into the pot. LOL. He was so nice.

Mums were on sale for $1.98/quart and $6.78/2 gallons … woot! I bought two little yellows, three little purples, and two big yellows! And I got a hanging basket of purple and white petunias on sale for $7-something!

Then, I decided I didn’t like any of the pots for the ferns – not bright enough – so I decided I’d spray paint them a fun color. I ended up with Fire Orange – a bright but kind of burnt orange – as the color I wanted to brighten up our back deck. As for the pots, I chose three plastic in a terra cotta color for the ones I’d spray paint (two big fern pots and one smaller pot for yellow mums), and two lime green plastic pots for the the other thing of yellow mums and the purple mums. I figured lime and orange would be nice for all seasons, but especially for the fall!

Below, pictures showcasing how my backyard sprucing went!

In October, I’ll add pumpkins for added Halloween/Thanksgiving/Autumn allure!

Poor sad, backyard fern – you’ve been neglected so.

Poor front porch fern, you’ve been left to die all alone. But I am determined to save you!

This is from Home Depot trip No. 2. I didn’t realize just how much potting soil you need to pot about six plants … I actually wish I had a 1/4 of a bag more.

I needed something that would adhere to my plastic pots. Let’s just say it does adhere, but if you were to run your fingernail down the pot after it’s dried, it will come right off. That’s pre-clear coat, but I’m not sure that’ll help much. We’ll see.

Before painting, remove all stickers. Notice the awesome built-in saucer to hold excess water. I def. need that, since I forget to water all the time.
NAIL POLISH: Essie in Chubby Cheeks – perfect orange/red/coral for fall!

So much prettier and brighter than the blah terra cotta.

Cash, our newish puppy (got him July 7), was my helper for the day. He is such a mama’s boy.

The paint has a matte finish to it, so this is what it looks like after drying.

Time to pot and prune the ferns (had to cut them way back to remove the many dead branches and stems)!

viola!
(this is the healthier fern, not the front porch fern – that one didn’t fare so well)

Colby and Cash like the new pot and fern.

Now that the ferns are done, it’s time for the mums!

I love purple and lime green.

And then, time to re-plant the log stump planter tables. And then stage the deck to showcase everything! Def. has a little rustic, diy look, but hey, I’m a 20-something homeowner so this works just fine for me!

Oh, and don’t forget the petunias. Hanging so nicely in a sunny little spot over the deck.

With just the yellow flowers.

This is front-porch fern … looking better, but has a long road to full recovery. In hindsight, I wish I’d gone with purple mums in this lime green pot, but I’m not sure that I won’t move this to the front porch to add some color there, so we’ll see.

instagram pic: notice cash chillin’ in the background

The finished product, and view from our living room.

A view looking back at the house. Right after I watered everything. Everything kind of sparkled after I watered. So pretty. Love my backyard and now it’s ready for fall relaxing and gatherings. All we gotta do now is light the grill, the tiki torches and pour a drink (well, Michael can; I’m pregnant). 🙂