I’m a sucker for string lights both indoors and out. I just find them completely irresistible. One of the prettiest spaces I’ve seen that’s decorated with string lights is the rooftop at the Gramercy Park Hotel:

The food’s not bad but it’s the atmosphere that makes it so special.

And my other favorite spot is Freemans which is also in New York:

It’s been years but I still think that entrance at the end of an alley is one of the cutest in the entire city.

I’ve always fantasized about having a garden all lit up by hundreds of lights. The closest I ever got was wrapping a tree at our last house like this:

But what I’ve always had in mind is something more like this:

No, no one’s getting married in our backyard but we don’t need a reason to make things more festive, right?

The tricky part about string lights, of course, is the wiring. The part of our garden that I want to light up is not close to the house or any electrical outlet and I don’t want a huge cord running all the way across the yard.

But I recently stumbled on these solar string lights from Grandin Road:

I also found these on a site called LampLust:

They’re nylon and supposed to be okay outdoors year round but I don’t know if I trust that.

Anyway, they’re both so much cuter than the usual solar lighting so I’m thinking about giving one of them a try. Have you tried any solar lights? Do you have any recommendations?

So what fun things do you have planned for this first weekend of summer? We’ve got back to back concerts (including Norah Jones – love her!) and other than that, I’m looking forward to relaxing at home with the pups before we hit the road next week. Have a good one and I’ll see you all Monday!

(Photos: 1, 5-9.via Pinterest as linked 2-3.Gramercy Park Hotel 4.Freemans)

As I mentioned on Friday, I’m starting to turn my attention to the garden now that I can stand going outside again. It looks like we’ll need some new dining chairs (and probably a table too) since the old ones have taken a beating with all the rain and snow the last year. One option I’m considering is the classic Tolix.

I’ve loved them for as long as I can remember and I know they’re sturdy and comfortable too.

Don’t they look great in all of these gardens?

My second option is to just get a couple of benches:

I like that you can squeeze as many people on a bench as you need but it’s not the most convenient when you want to get up from the table if you’re wedged in between people.

The third option is to just get more French cafe chairs (which are what I have now).

You can never go wrong with cafe chairs as far as I’m concerned.

If you’re new to FTRB, you can see my chairs in this old post.

Shall we take a vote?

(Photos: 1.Vogue 2.Campagne Décoration 3-5.Tumblr 6.Martha Stewart)