Garden Rooms and Outdoor Living Spaces Summer Home Tour
Looking for ideas for your outdoor living spaces? Wait until you see these beautiful garden rooms and cozy decorating ideas for summer.
This time of year, I’m outside almost 24/7 enjoying my outdoor living spaces and tend to let the inside go.
Do you do that too?
Even more so for us, because we recently moved from our rustic farmhouse to a new-to-us 1850 farmhouse on a sprawling 10-acre property with lots of amazing garden rooms and expansive gardens.
Now that we’ve been living here for more than a year, I finally feel like we are making each space our own.
And I can’t wait to share some of the garden rooms that have changed since last year!
So grab a cup of coffee, tea, or whatever you want really, and let’s tour my outdoor living spaces because there is SO MUCH I want to share with you.
These outdoor living spaces are to die for! I still can’t believe we moved here.
Oh and wait until you see the surrounding gardens too! GAH!
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Bloggers Best Summer Home Tour Blog Hop
Today, I’m joining the Bloggers Best Summer Home Tour hosted by my good friend Kelly from the Tattered Pew, so be sure to check out the rest of the outdoor living and summer decorating inspiration at the end of this post.
If you are visiting from my good friend Renae from Peacock Ridge Farm, welcome to my home.
If you are new here, I’m Stacy, a master gardener who lives and gardens in north-central New Jersey, zone 6a.
We recently moved to a beautiful 1850 Farmhouse with 10 acres of gardens, sculptures, and statutes.
I’ve been gardening for over 20 years and enjoy helping beginner gardeners find their inner green thumb, as well as discover a love for all things plants and flowers. And I love to bring the outdoors inside my home too with a vintage cottagecore style.
I hope you enjoy visiting my garden rooms and outdoor living spaces at my home today. It would be amazing if would come back so we can grow stuff and create beautiful spaces together.
Welcome to My 1850 Farmhouse
Our home is nestled in north-central New Jersey in a sprawling suburban/farmland town.
We live less than an hour from New York City, an hour from the Jersey Shore, and an hour and a half from the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania.
It’s a great spot to live really because we have easy access to the best of things on the east coast.
While we weren’t planning on moving when we did, we were casually looking around and found this hidden gem.
The former homeowners loved this home, cultivating every square inch with a great focus on all of the details.
It needed a little updating but there is so much character, interest, and uniqueness here, the opportunity to purchase it was too cool to pass up.
So we went for it.
And haven’t looked back since. The house is amazing, but the outdoor living spaces and garden rooms are to die for too!
Wait until you see it all.
Each day has been a blessing here and we are so glad we found our home with these incredible gardens. It’s like a dream come true.
If you’d like to see more of the gardens throughout the seasons, you can check out my seasonal garden tours here.
- Early Spring Garden Tour 2023
- New Gardens Tour
- Early Spring Garden
- Early Summer Garden Tour
- Gardening for Summer Highs and Lows
- The Prettiest Fall Garden Ideas
- Flower Garden Ideas for the Front Porch
But I also share weekly pics of the gardens in my Sunday updates.
Subscribe here so you don’t miss out on the gardening inspiration!
My Garden Rooms and Outdoor Living Spaces Home Tour
One of the things we LOVE to do is tour the different garden rooms and outdoor living spaces with a glass of wine.
It’s a great way to experience the property on a weekly basis and see how each area changes with the season.
Wait until you see how beautiful everything looks for summer living!
The Front Porch in Summer
We typically kick off our garden tours with some time on the front porch.
There’s just something about sitting on the porch, having a refreshing glass of tea or sipping a glass of wine, while overlooking the property.
It’s magical!
Since we were first married, Chris and I wanted a front porch. A covered front porch with gorgeous pillars, beautiful front porch rockers, a swing, and a garden view.
A place where we could linger, enjoy a cup of coffee, a glass of strawberry lemonade, Long Island Iced Tea, or an amazing glass of wine with cheese, and enjoy the outdoors.
Well, we got that and more!
We still pinch ourselves every day because we are in awe of how amazing this home and property are.
When we first moved in, the porch had this beautiful white porch swing. And it’s one of my favorite places to sit and enjoy the front garden views.
I am out here every morning with my dogs and a cup of coffee to start the day.
We bought these pretty porch rockers to use on the opposite side of the porch. It has a better view of the new potager garden and crabapple trees in the lower portion of the property.
To cozy up the porch swing and rockers, I chose some pretty neutrals with the buffalo check and vintage flower pillows.
And I love how they look!
To create mini garden rooms on the porch with more seating options, I found this vintage bistro set that WE LOVE!
It’s a great spot to eat breakfast and can easily be moved around the property for some cozy dining.
Just above the bistro table set is this pretty vintage sign I found while thrifting at the flea market in Vermont.
I bought this sign two summers ago (before we decided to move) and had no idea where I was putting it in the old house.
Little did I know we would move a few months later and that I’d have the perfect spot for it on the front porch.
Since I love to garden and outdoor planters are my jam, I potted up my black urns that usually flank the front door.
But this year, I decided to keep them just outside so they would get watered from the rain.
The container garden recipe for the black urn planters with plants from Proven Winners that includes:
- 1 Angelface Cascade Blue Angelonia
- 2 Superbells Prism Pink Lemonade
- 2 Supertunia Mini Vista Indigo
To cozy up the porch with even more flowers, I added Proven Winners Angelface Cascade Pink Angelonia in hanging baskets between each of the pillars. They are a little small right now but will fill out in no time.
As an aside, hanging baskets dry out SO EASILY so it’s important to water them daily, and sometimes even twice a day if it’s hot enough.
I add a drip system to make this task easier. If you can’t find them in a coordinating color with your home or backdrop, you can spray paint them so they disappear.
The Gardens
Since my gardens changed since I shared my early spring garden tour, you’ve got to see what’s blooming here right now!
In the fall, I planted pansies, tulips, daffodils, and alliums in this garden. While the daffodils and tulips have finished blooming, the alliums just started and my pansies still look amazing!
As an aside, in several zones, if you plant pansies in fall they can overwinter and return in spring. If you aren’t sure whether it will work for you, give it a go in the fall.
I mean, if you are planting them anyway you might as well leave them in the ground and see if they come back the following spring. It saves a lot of money in the spring if you like that early color in the garden.
While you can’t see them blooming yet, I also planted several snapdragons and zinnias in this garden too.
What I love most about this whole area is that when you sit on the front porch, you get an amazing view of the front yard gardens.
The Potager Garden
This space went through a significant change since my last outdoor living space home tour.
When you last visited, we had a few raised garden beds for growing vegetables and our dining table with wicker chairs.
My husband and his friend, Mark, spent the whole month of March building new raised garden beds with cedar and they look incredible!
I’ve got them planted up with vegetables, herbs, and of course, lots of flowers.
The largest bed is filled with twenty-four dahlias. They’re doing well so far and growing pretty quickly. I need to get out there and start supporting them.
Another big change we did was to pull out all of the boxwoods. They weren’t in the best shape so the ones that were OK were relocated to other gardens on the property.
In their place, I planted several ‘At Last’ and ‘Ringo’ roses from Proven Winners. I’m growing about sixteen roses in this garden and can’t wait to see them bloom. So far, they are growing beautifully.
They were planted as bare-root roses, so as of now, they’ve all leafed out and are starting to grow. I’m not expecting many blooms from them this year, as it will be more about establishing a good root system than putting on a spectacular flower show but hey, you never know.
We relocated the outdoor dining space in this area and I love where it is now. It’s easy to circulate around and I feel like it’s more a part of the garden room than before.
Next year, we’d like to DIY an outdoor kitchen so we can really make this space into more of a farm-to-table type experience.
So stay tuned!
The Secret Garden
Last year, we hadn’t done much with the front pond gardens. There weren’t many plantings and I wasn’t sure how we wanted to use it yet.
Aside from seeing the bridge from the potager and our home, you really can’t see the garden down here, so I’ve decided to call it a secret garden.
Because unless you walk down, you almost don’t even know it’s there. And you have to walk through the arbor of the Potager garden to get to it.
Last fall, I divided several hellebores, hostas, astilbes, hakonechloa grass, brunnera, sedums, ajuga, and ferns to fill in the garden.
And I love how it’s coming along!
This fall, I plan to pack several spring flowering bulbs so it blooms from early spring through fall.
I replaced the old Adirondack chairs we had with these six beautiful Adirondack chairs and a firepit that I bought on a serious sale.
It’s a great space and we enjoy sitting out here by the pond.
Speaking of the pond, we added ten shubunkin goldfish here. I know we lost one when we first put them in the pond but so far so good, we’ve been able to keep the others.
Keep your fingers crossed they survive another year and nothing gets to them!
The Pool
The pool is one of my favorite places to be!
From May through September, you’ll find me out here for at least a few hours a day under my favorite umbrella.
I used to love tanning, but these days, I prefer shade so I can comfortably soak in the views and listen to the fountain from the front yard pond.
There is a garden along the green fence that seems to be a great spot for roses. They love it there.
Last year, I tried to grow sunflowers, calendula, marigold, and dahlias, but the resident bunny got to them.
This year, I’m planting more of them and spraying them with this repellent to see if they will leave them alone.
We bought five pool loungers so each of my family members could sit poolside. And we may add a few more.
At some point, I’ll tackle the gardens behind the seating area, but for now, it’s on the back burner.
The Backyard Porch With Zen Garden
And finally, the last outdoor living space we are touring is the backyard porch in the zen garden. This is one of my favorite garden rooms on the property as Chris and I are out here all the time after a long day.
It’s really relaxing listening to the soothing sounds of water from the pond’s waterfall. Plus, we enjoy watching the fish and the frogs.
We weren’t sure how the fish were going to do during the cold New Jersey winter, but they are all there and look healthy.
The backyard porch has a curved shape deck that is covered, so we were able to enjoy this space all year round.
Because it is shaded for the majority of the day, I keep all of my houseplants out here during the warmer months. They LOVE the time outdoors in the heat and humidity and benefit from their summer vacation.
After shopping around for a while, I wound up purchasing this conversation area that has worked out really well. It’s been a great spot for just us or when we need to accommodate more guests.
To decorate for summer, I bought these pretty outdoor vintage floral pillows and neutral buffalo check pillows.
And I added a faux boxwood wreath to the old window frame that I found thrifting that sits above the sofa.
Right now, the azaleas are wrapping up their flowers, but this gorgeous rhododendron is in full bloom.
And it is a stunner!
I’ve also got a pretty mountain laurel that’s on the verge of flowering in the back ground beneath the canopy of trees.
This year, I decided to pot up more of my seed starts so the containers don’t look like much just yet.
But I did plant a few so here is a sneak peek at what’s coming.
More About the Garden Rooms and Outdoor Living Spaces
What is your favorite outdoor living space? Have you decorated yours yet? Do you have any garden rooms you’d love to share? I would love to know more in the comments below.
Next up in the Bloggers’ Best Summer Home Tour is my good friend Jennifer from Cottage on Bunker Hill.
And don’t miss joining my Gardening DIY and Decorating Community on Facebook for more chatter. And follow along there and on Instagram as well. There are behind-the-scenes daily things that I share on Instagram that don’t make it to the blog. Would love to see you there too!
If you prefer to binge-watch Bricks ’n Blooms on TV, we go more in-depth with tours and posts on my YouTube channel. Would love to hang out with you there!
And… If you’re catching up on blog posts you may have missed, be sure to sign-up to get my newest posts via email to stay up to date with everything that’s happening here on the blog and more.
Garden Supplies I Use
I’m often asked about the garden supplies and tools that I use most. From pruners to deer repellents, here are some of my favorites in no particular order.
- I like to use a good-quality garden soil, compost, and perlite when planting.
- I have used this deer repellent with great success. But now, I’m all about this deer repellent that is systemic instead of topical. This means the plant takes it in as opposed to it just smelling bad.
- Hands down this is my favorite hand-weeding tool. You can use to get underneath roots, loosen soil, and it cuts down on the weeding time because you work much faster.
- But I also love this long, stand-up weeding tool to really get around roses from afar.
- I like to use THIS ORGANIC FERTILIZER for roses because the blooms are more prolific and it’s organic.
- You’ll need a sharp set of pruners when working with plants and flowers. I buy a few so I can stash them around.
- Where pest and disease problems are concerned, I generally use this insecticidal soap or neem oil to help control infestations depending on the issue.
- This is my favorite set-and-forget slow-release fertilizer for houseplants, annuals, and container gardens.
- Whenever I stake my peonies or other plants, I generally use these grow through garden supports because they work really well and keep the blooms upright.
Bloggers’ Best Summer Home Tours
This week I am joining some of my blogging friends for the Bloggers’ Best Summer Home Tours.
Twenty eight talented and creative women will be opening their homes up for you to tour all week long. You can visit each summer home tour by clicking the links below.
Monday’s Tours
The Tattered Pew // Worthing Court // StoneGable
My Wee Abode // Southern Home and Hospitality // My Thrift Store Addiction
Tuesday’s Tours
She Gave It a Go // Cottage In The Mitten // Eleanor Rose Home
Peacock Ridge Farm // Bricks ‘n Blooms // Cottage On Bunker Hill
Wednesday’s Tours
White Arrows Home // A Life Unfolding // Simply2Moms
WM Design House // White Lilac Farmhouse
Thursday’s Tours
The Ponds Farmhouse // Thistle Key Lane // Open Doors Open Hearts
Robyn’s French Nest // Cloches and Lavender // DIY Beautify
Friday’s Tours
Pasha Is Home // My Family Thyme
Midwest Life and Style // Amy Sadler Designs
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Rustic Elegance: Vintage Christmas Decorations Holiday Home Tour 2023
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Bricks ‘n Blooms Weekly 159
Unforgettable Christmas Party Food: Recipes for a Festive Feast
5 Rustic Farmhouse Christmas Decorating to Make Your Home Extra Cozy
Poinsettias Care: Everything You Need to Know to Keep Your Plant Thriving
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Enjoy a beautiful day! xo
About Me
Want to learn more about me?
I’m a master gardener who’s been gardening and growing things for over 25 years. With a deep passion for gardening, I enjoy helping others find their inner green thumb with all things plants and flowers, as well as find ways to bring the outdoors inside their homes too.
Get the inside scoop about my background as a master gardener, education, and experience, as well as why I started blogging.
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