Spring is just around the corner and with the sun shining a little more, all I can think about is getting outdoors.  I love making my home as cozy as can be during the colder months, adding warmth and texture with pillows, blankets, and a crackling fire, but when the temperatures warm up I’m ready to come out of my cocoon and do some outdoor living.  Are you with me?

My design dreaming takes a bit of a shift too.  I’m no longer stuck, only, on things like paint colors and placing pictures here and there.  I’m now contemplating ways to adorn the exterior side of things, as well.  Currently, I have no plans to make major changes to the exterior of our home, however I still love to look and be inspired by other people’s homes.  This is one of my favorite things about taking walks – – looking at houses.  The love continues, as I have an entire pin board dedicated to exteriors.  I love to look at homes that are extremely different than mine – different styles, different eras, different materials, different parts of the world.  I look for littles bits of same, and I look for details that differ, that I might be able to somehow emulate.  Interiors can often be replicated, but exteriors, many times, can only be imitated by way of the finest of details.

In the front of a home, my eye is always drawn to color, windows, doors and flowers, and in the back, if we are so lucky to get a peek, I love looking at the decorated details around the patio or pool that make outdoor living inviting.

Here are a few outdoor details to steal this spring, no matter what style of home you live in:

 

Shutters / I love shutters.  Maybe because my house doesn’t have them.  Or, maybe because I’ve daydreamed of looking out of a two story window and then closing my shutters when ready to retire for the day.  I love the look these pretty storm shutters.  They have me dreaming of living near the sea.

And, what about shutters with a sweet inset design?  Character added in an instant.

Window Boxes / Who doesn’t love a good window box?  I’m partial to the flowing floral kind, but I’m just as much loving the idea of simple greens for a more modern look.  Pretty, right?

An Interesting Door / I’m a huge fan of painted doors.  For awhile, I was painting my front door a different color every year.  Right now it is yellow, and again, I’m itching for an update.

I’m also crazy for Dutch doors.  I mean who wouldn’t love to just leave half the door open to let in the beautiful breeze?  And, they look amazing no matter what side of the door you are on.  I’m definitely going to go Dutch when it comes to doors in my one day some day house.

Tell me, if you could add any look or detail (big or small) to your exteiror what would it be?  

Images:  Style Me Pretty / Tapco / Cult of Tomorrow / Jelanie Blog / Domino

This post is in collaboration with The Tapco Group.  All ideas and opinions are my own.