Gingham Sheet Set - Serena & Lily

Do you agree that one of the great simple pleasures in life is a new set of sheets?  I just love the feeling of new sheets - it's such a treat!  I've had my eyes on the Serena & Lily Gingham sheets for a while, so I was absolutely thrilled when the lovely people at Serena & Lily offered me a product to review.

Serena & Lily offers so many beautiful and timeless sheet sets, so it's hard to choose, but I really, really love the simple gingham pattern.  I choose color Fog.  I love the neutral color and it works well with my existing bedding and pillows.

The sheets are made in Portugal (love that) and are 100% cotton percale.  The cotton percale gives the sheets a nice crisp feel.

I've been using the sheets for almost a week now and am really enjoying them.  I love that the scale of the gingham on the fitted sheet is different than on the pillowcases and top sheet.

I had to throw in a few dahlia photos.  I bought these at the farmers market last weekend.  They are just so pretty.  I'm growing dahlias for the first time in my garden this year, but they must be a little behind because I've only had a few open so far. Lots of buds though, so that's a good sign!

For 20% off your first order at Serena & Lily, use this link.  Big thanks for Serena & Lily for the opportunity to review these lovely sheets!  I have a feeling I'll be enjoying these for a long time to come.

Lakehouse Home Tour: The Screen Porch

Can you believe that it's the end of August?  I can't!  I really don't know where Summer went this year.  I'm hoping it doesn't cool down too quickly here in Michigan - I want more time to enjoy our screen porch.  It's one of my favorite spots in the house to enjoy during the warmer months.  We love eating dinner out here, and it's also the perfect spot for a glass or wine or to read a book.  Or, just staring at the lake. That's good too.

It's our second Summer in the lakehouse and this year the screen porch got a big upgrade - The Geneva Concrete Dining Table from Pottery Barn.  I love it!  We wanted something heavy since we are prone to really high winds here on the lake.  The chairs are the Threshold Holden Wicker Patio Dining Chair from Target and were an amazing value.  I'm really happy with them.  They are super comfortable and have held up well so far.

The sofa and chairs are old and moved with me from my old condo.  I bought them at Pier One, probably 10 years ago!  The coffee table is also that old and came from Target.

I made the pillows myself a few years ago.  I still like the patterns, so they are staying!

Below is the view from a door in the kitchen to the porch.  The French doors on the right lead to the living room.  On nice days, we leave them all open - it's great!

The floor is natural Quartzite from Daltile in a Versailles pattern and is the same floor I used in the foyer {see the Foyer here}.  

The exterior siding is James Hardie cement board and is color 'Iron Grey'.  I was a little nervous going with such a dark color at first, but I'm so glad we did. I love it and it looks so nice with the white trim.

I'm crossing my fingers for a warm Fall!

{ I've shared this post at Inspire Me Tuesday hosted by Marty at A Stroll Thru Life }

Easy DIY Raised Garden Bed Tutorial

UPDATE:  To see photos of my completed beds with lots of veggies and flowers, follow me on Instagram ( 33shadesofgreen ) where I use the hashtag #DKUlakehousegarden to share photos of my raised beds.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the photos I posted of the raised garden beds I built a few weeks ago.  They were so easy to build and I absolutely love how they turned out!  

A Few Notes:

1.  The finished size of my beds is 3'x6'.  This was a manageable size for me since the space where the beds are located is very narrow and I can only access each bed from one size.

2.  I used cedar lumber for my beds.  You don't want to use any treated wood because you don't want the chemicals to leach out into your soil  and into your vegetable garden.

3.  We live on a dune so the area where the beds are located is all sand.  Because of this, I decided to build the beds 18" deep so I could get in lots of good soil and nutrients for the plants.  If you will be placing your beds on an area with soil, you could build them 12" high.  I've even seen beds as low as 6" or 8".

4.  In the materials list, I am only listing enough materials for one bed.  Multiply quantity of supplies by how many beds you would like to build.

5.  Each bed cost around $100 to build (cedar isn't cheap!).

6.  I bought all my lumber at Home Depot and they cut all my boards to size for me (Big shout-out to Erik at the Grandville, MI Home Depot who probably spent 2 hours with me!).  I can't recommend this enough!  The project would have taken me so much longer if I had to measure and cut myself.

Supply List:

- (4) 18" high cedar 4x4's 

- (6) 5/4" x 6" cedar boards cut to 6' (I bought 12' boards and had them cut to 6')
- (6) 5/4" x 6" cedar boards cut to 3' (I bought 12' boards and had them cut to 3')

- (2) 5/4" x 6" cedar boards cut to 18" (These will be used for the intermediate supports)

- Deckmate screws (very important, you don't wan't your screws to rust).  I used the #9 x 3 in size for screwing into the 4x4's and 8 x 1-5/8" for screwing into the intermediate support boards.

- Drill (I used my Dad's trusty Makita and it worked great).

Easy DIY Raised Garden Bed Tutorial:
1.  Lay out two of your 18" 4x4's on a flat, level surface.  Next, lay 3 of your 6' boards on top of the 4x4's, making sure to align the edges with the 4x4's along the sides and the top edge.  Because the 5/4 x 6" boards aren't truly 6" high, you will have a small amount of your 4x4's at the bottom.  I thought this was OK because it makes a nice base for the beds.  Screw in all boards into the 4x4's.  I used two screws at each end of the 6' boards.

2.  Repeat with the boards you need for the other 6' side of the bed.  Since I made 4 beds total, I put together all 8 of my 6' side panels first.

That's me - proof that I built these.  All by myself, I might add :)

The photo below shows all of my finished 6' panels.  They went together so quickly!

3.  Take one of your 18" long 5/4 x 6 boards and place in the middle of one of your 6' side panels.  Screw in using the smaller size screw.  I installed these on what would become the inside of the beds so that it wouldn't be noticeable once the bed had dirt in it.  Repeat will all 6' long end panels.

Below is a better shot:

4.  Stand up 2 of your 6' end panel sections.  If you are doing this on a flat surface, they will stand up on their own.  Place approximately 3' apart so you can screw in the 3' boards.

5.  Starting at the bottom, screw in one 3' board to connect the side panels.  Now, go to the other side and repeat.  Repeat with the other two boards on each side.  That's it...Your raised beds are complete!

Can you believe how easy that was?  Four beds took me approximately 2 hours to build. Like I said - It was so much easier that I thought it would be.

Here are the beds installed in our side yard:

The beds are now filled with soil (I used a mixture of soil, peat moss, and vermiculite) and are just waiting to be planted.  I will be back to post more photos and progress shots of the garden!

To see finished photos of the raised beds, follow me on Instagram @33shadesofgreen where I use hastag #DKUlakehousegarden to share garden photos!