Date night inspiration with Garden Trading
Since having children we have become a lot more creative in planning our date nights, often favouring the practicality and ease of staying in on an evening as oppose to having to organise baby sitters. Now that summer is fast approaching, I always find it becomes so much easier to make the most of the longer and warmer evenings and spending time outside after the children have gone to bed is definitely one of my favourite ways to unwind and relax with my husband.
Every time summer rolls around I find myself feeling inspired to make the garden space as accommodating and relaxing as possible. I try to think of how we use the garden as a family and always keep this in mind when buying pieces to see us through the season.
One of my first ports of call for inspiration is always the Garden Trading catalogue where I find myself drifting off, cuppa in hand, into an imaginary world of sheer home perfection. Garden Trading know how to produce pieces for the home that are going to sit easily with most decorative schemes and so I find it very easy to imagine and place their pieces in and around our home.
After a particularly full on day with our two little rascals, Eddy and I enjoyed a date night at home the other evening where we created a little sanctuary in the garden and spent a while reflecting together on our life lately. Garden Trading kindly sent us this beautiful bistro table and chairs set and some other lovely little pieces to get creative with. I thought this would make the perfect excuse to prepare a little at home date and it just felt really special to be able to sit under the trees, listening to the birds sing as we sipped some bubbly and munched our way through some strawberries and scones!
With just a few little accents and table top accessories, it was so easy and fun to create an inviting and pretty scene. This little tiffin box duo became the perfect house for our strawberries and it was the ideal container to pop them back in the fridge once we had finished. We filled the smaller tiffin box that came as part of the set with matches for our candles as again, it was just the ideal size- perfect for holding those little nick nacks!
I also loved the idea of this glass water bottle for keeping tap water on the table. We often have similar ones at mealtimes as they just look so nice and certainly make tap water seem a bit more special! These are especially great for days spent in the garden as they save your legs from running back and forth to the house when there are thirsty little ones around!
On reflection, I think one of my favourite elements of our set had to be these gorgeous linen napkins. They are just beautiful and so 'country chic' which pretty much summarises a lot of my personal taste in decor anyway. The beautiful lavender blue stripe is just lovely for summer; neutral too meaning that not only the ladies will enjoy using these over the summer months- my husband can testify to that!
Taking pause outside made me so aware of all the little creatures around us, from buzzing bees to the rabbits scampering at the bottom of the garden! Lovely as it is to be surrounded by nature, sometimes we find ourselves hosts to uninvited guests at our outdoor meals. These nature friendly wasp catchers are a great way to encourage wasps and flies away from your dinner. By filling with a few sprinkles of sugar you can kindly divert their attention for a few minutes peace. And with a cork top, it's easy enough to decant anything you catch back into its natural habitat once you are ready!
It's so good to be spending more and more time outside and it's made all the more enjoyable when you can transform a corner of the garden into a magical space for a stay at home date...even a little romance!
I've linked below to the products mentioned above if you are interested to replicate this look in your own garden space.
I hope you've enjoyed this post and feel inspired to make the most of the summer in your garden too!
Love,
*This post was written in collaboration with Garden Trading. Whilst I was kindly gifted the products mentioned, all opinions expressed are representative of Bunty Living.