My Friend Anne's Gorgeous Porch & Gardens

In our hot and muggy D.C. climate, you really need to have a place to escape the heat and my friend Anne's beautiful screened porch is just such an oasis. Directly off her family room, she's designed the space to accomodate lounging and dining, all with a view out to her gorgeous English inspired garden.
Joni of Cote de Texas recently posted about her love of gray wicker and the gray pieces Anne selected a couple of years ago are stylish and nap worthy!

The whole porch has a light and breezy feel. Beadboard ceilings are painted light blue while the floors are a pretty gray.

A vintage wicker piece full of lovely things to admire ties in with the dark wood occasional table.
A blue painted tag sale find serves as bar table. Love the turned wood handles.

An unexpected surprise - a little hedgehog tucked-in on the stairs leading down to the yard.

Anne designed and created her gardens as a labor of love. A stunning copper armillary is encircled by boxwoods and a low stacked, stone wall. After finding the armillary, a long search culminated in a perfectly scaled column to show it off.

An arbor wrapped in clematis and roses soften the landscape and add a romantic feel. I love the profussion of blooms at varying heights. More is more!

In this view, you can see the porch's three skylights which allow light into the family room and the double ceiling fans. The uncovered side porch accomodates the bbq grill. The porch addition was designed by architect Gretchen Ginnerty, AIA (if you recognize the last name it's because Gretchen is married to my cousin.) Anne is a partner and interior designer with Dwellings by Design, LLC. Two summers ago, I posted about her office here. ***On another note, my comments section has been changed to Open ID. So if you don't have a google account you can still leave a comment.

Hope you have a great weekend. Tomorrow, Dan and I will be celebrating our 22nd wedding anniversary. How time flies!