American Farmhouse Style April/May 2019

Here’s a secret to instantly expand the usable square footage of your home: Think of your outdoor spaces as rooms. While you obviously won’t be relaxing outside with a cocktail in December or January, spring weather is peeking through the clouds, and now is the perfect time to reevaluate your outdoor areas for livable spaces. From dining and relaxing to gardening and playing, your backyard or patio presents additional warm weather options for everyday living. Try your hand at gardening this year with a mini meadow (page 12), vegetable garden (page 120) or even an indoor herb garden (page 10). Take your entertaining outdoors (pages 24 and 116), create a getaway for yourself in the backyard shed (page 124) and bring the budding world inside with fresh bouquets (page 22)…

DIY Dying Easter Eggs USE THESE SIMPLE INGREDIENTS TO DYE YOUR EASTER EGGS NATURALLY. Colors: • Light-navy blue: 1 cup chopped purple cabbage• Orange-red: 1 cup yellow or red onion skins• Yellow-gold: 2 tablespoons turmeric powder• Pink-red: 1 cup chopped beets What You’ll Do: Combine 1 cup water with any one of the above ingredients in a saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons white vinegar and bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, then strain into a bowl. Dip or soak the eggs, placing them in the refrigerator until they reach your desired hue (usually about 30 minutes). It has come to our attention that there was a mistake in our February/March issue on page 11. In the top illustration, the piece of lumber just…

If you’ve ever wanted to grow an indoor herb garden or spruce up your indoor herb collection, now is the perfect time. Tabitha Blue of Fresh Mommy Blog designed a hanging garden for her indoor herbs. “When you walk through the doors of our Fresh Collective studio, you look right into the kitchen area and at the side of a big refrigerator,” she says. “I wanted to create something that was more aesthetically appealing to see without building a wall.” The project is ideal for small kitchens or even a covered patio. Here’s how you can do it yourself. WHAT YOU’LL NEED: • Five ½” wood planks, 24” long x 5 ½” wide• Pencil and ruler• 3 ½” hole saw• Drill and bits• Eight 3/16” threaded rods, 36” long• Paint…

When you picture a meadow, you may imagine a large expanse of grass and wildflowers in a faraway wilderness. However, you can bring the beauty of a meadow to your backyard, or even to a flower box on the roof of your apartment building. Mike Lizotte, author of Mini Meadows: Grow a Little Patch of Colorful Flowers Anywhere around Your Yard, defines a meadow as “a place that isn’t necessarily dominated by grasses but that includes all kinds of plants, both native and not, perennial and annual.” Mini meadows have a more natural look than the manicured flowerbeds in front of many homes, and are also easier to maintain. Here are the steps you need to plant a beautiful meadow no matter where you live. Pick Your Plot Decide where…

• ATTRACT BUTTERFLIES. They love nectar-rich flowers. There are also certain plants that butterflies lay their eggs on. Try planting sunflowers, magnolia, prairie clover or hollyhocks. Each of these attracts different types of butterflies and will look beautiful in your meadow.• HELP HUMMINGBIRDS BUILD THEIR NESTS. “Hummingbirds are most attracted to plants with long, tubular blooms in shades of red, orange, blue and yellow,” writes Lizotte. Zinnias, bee balm, and golden aster are good options. You can also plant leafy trees, ornamental grasses and plants with soft seedpods (like milkweed) to give hummingbirds materials to create their nests.• BUILD A BEE HOTEL. Depending on what bees are native in your area, a bee hotel may be a great option to provide a habitat. An easy option is to find an…

• INDIAN PAINTBRUSH. These will attract pollinators. It’s best if you plant them from seed, and they grow best in meadows rather than manicured gardens. They are biennial, meaning they bloom their second year. They also reseed themselves every fall. They need full sun and well-drained soil.• PURPLE CONEFLOWER. This perennial attracts butterflies and songbirds. It blooms in mid-summer and can tolerate heat, making it fairly drought tolerant. It needs full sun and well-drained soil.• FOXGLOVE. This is a great plant if the soil in your meadow doesn’t drain well. It’s biennial, attracts hummingbirds and thrives in full shade and full sun, depending on the temperature—the hotter it is, the more shade it will need. Be careful with this one: Foxglove is toxic, so don’t plant any if you have…