Hello Lisa. 

It's warm enough now to be outside long after dinner, which means it's officially string light season in the garden.

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I've always been a little enamored with the magical sparkle of string lights. They don't just extend our garden time into the evenings…they actually transform the scale of our outdoor spaces in a way most people never think about. Let me explain.

GARDEN SPARKLES

When we design outdoor rooms, we think about the floors (paving, lawn), the walls (plants, fences), and the ceiling. A ceiling can be open to the sky, or it can be something like a pergola, an umbrella, or a tree canopy…something that brings the scale of the room down to a comfortable size.

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String lights do something different. They transform the ceiling from day to night. Strung above a garden room, they leave a mostly-open ceiling during the day, but at night, that same ceiling becomes cozy and magical. When the sky goes dark and the lights come up, the lit ceiling feels closer to us…and the whole space feels more intimate. Pretty cool.

A few places to go deeper if you want to play with this in your own garden:

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String light inspiration. I've been collecting magical evening-garden images on this PINTEREST BOARD for years. It's a good rabbit hole.

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How to hang them. This post from THE BRIGHT IDEAS BLOG walks through different hanging patterns and gets into the practical details.

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Drawing them in plan view. Want to show string lights in a plan view drawing? Draw a straight line, add tiny circles for the lights, and squares or circles for your posts…wa-la. I shared an example of THIS ON INSTAGRAM if you want to see it in action.

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Garden rooms, more generally. If the idea of designing outdoor rooms is new to you, THE POP-UP GARDEN post is a good place to start.

If you know someone who needs a little design inspiration, feel free to share this newsletter…anyone can subscribe right here. I also keep a VAULT of past issues tucked away if you ever want to go digging through old ones.♥︎

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May your summer evenings sparkle.

From the studio + garden,

Lisa

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P.S. If you missed our design membership enrollment this summer, doors open again this fall. You're warmly invited to join the WAITING LIST to be in the know.

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PAPER GARDEN WORKSHOP

Huge thanks to Mandy Orgler for bringing these graphics to life, issue after issue.