Happy Thursday, my friends! Is pollen season over yet? I certainly hope so! This is our first Spring in North Carolina (in many years) and this year has been brutal. It’s like yellow glue on everything outdoors! So, yesterday I finally got around to washing most of it off and giving our Veranda a little cleaning and update!
My husband and I love being outside, so we love all of our little outdoor areas. We have a screened-in porch located off of our master bedroom, which can also be accessed by the terrance. We named this space, “The Veranda”.
The Veranda is a somewhat small space, with only room for 4, but usually it’s only my husband, me and Lacey, so it’s perfect! You can see the layer of yellow pollen all over everything. With warm weather in the forecast for the next few days, I knew it was time to whip this space into shape!
To clean the Veranda, I blew it out with the leaf blower, then washed down the furniture and the flag stone floor with water from the hose. I used a squeegee to get most of the water out, then blew the rest of the water out with the leaf blower. A huge improvement already!
In hindsight I should have brought the furniture cushions indoors for the winter, and most certainly for Spring because of THIS. (Yuck, right?) The pollen fell, then it rained. Hard. Then it was impossible to remove the pollen from the cushions.
The cushions have a tag that specifically says, “Do not machine wash”. But how else to get them clean? Plus, the cushions have zippers so clearly they were meant to be washed some how. (I should probably add a disclaimer here which says, “follow manufacturer’s instructions on care”, so do that.)
But, I decided to wash mine in the washing machine anyway. I removed the covers and washed them in my washing machine on the gentle cycle in cold water, and then crossed my fingers. I dried them on the gentle cycle in my dryer then put them outside to finish air drying. It was a bit difficult to get the covers back on the cushions, but after a little finagling, they fit fine and didn’t shrink at all. And they look as good as new! (Next year I’ll know better!)
After cleaning the furniture and cushions, it was time to put it all back together. I added a few new pillows, a throw and some plants and flowers. Now we are ready for many happy hours sitting out here drinking our coffee in the morning, or sharing a glass of wine in the evenings! The Veranda overlooks the golf course so it’s fun to watch the golfers and/or heckle our friends as they play through.
The Veranda is screened in, therefore we can use it most of the year and not worry about bugs or mosquitos. We have a ceiling fan with a light so it’s very comfortable most of the time. I know. A chandelier would be ideal, but for practicality, we have a fan.
The Veranda has quickly become one of our favorite spots in our new house. Hopefully the pollen is gone and now we can enjoy our nice clean sitting area without sneezing our heads off! (See my sweet little chandelier? It’s on a plug with low-wattage bulbs for nighttime ambiance.)
So, you may be seeing lots more pictures of our Veranda now that it’s fresh and clean for Spring! I must make sure to take time to sit and enjoy it, but it’s hard with so many fun projects waiting in the wings! Thank you for stopping by today and always and for supporting my little blog! Have a fantastic day! xoxo Dell
