It’s Porch, Patio and Pool season, and we are ready to party! Can’t wait to mix cocktails, test recipes and gather friends we’ve missed during dreary winter. Now all we have to do is get the Porch, Pool and Patio ready to party, too! The Wills Company can help you shake off the literal cobwebs at your house and prep outdoor spaces for poolside dining or a festive spring fling. Call our Handyman service (615-352-1228) to knock out a punch list of home improvements and spring cleaning, including:
Clean exterior surfaces such as pool decks, screen porches, patios and pathways
Tune up air-conditioning systems before the summer heat wave
Repair torn or missing screens on porches and windows
Replace broken or outdated ceiling fans
Clean windows and glass in exterior lamps and lanterns
Repair brick and stonework on patios and pathways
Clean gutters after the spring pollen bloom
Touch up exterior paint on house, pool house and garage
Repair garden fencing and furniture
Change hard-to-reach lightbulbs in the eaves
With a Wills Company handyman taking care of the to-do list, you can get down to party planning, which is infinitely more fun. We have a few ideas for that too — all of them involving local products, services and boutiques.
Colorful totes from Epergne
Update your beach towels with a collection of candy-colored Turkish T’s, available at Ash Blue
Show off a pair of timeless Brownlee Bathing Company swim trunks, available at Brownlee.co
Set a festive table, with tablecloths, napkins, vases and other accessories from Epergne
Nashville’s Independence Day celebration is as famous as our hot chicken. We like The Nashville Guru‘s lineup of events for 2017 which can be found by clicking HERE.
But once the fireworks are over, it’s time to get serious about summer. Where to begin? Try these ideas:
1. Let your house work while you play.
Planning a trip out of town? There’s no better time for those house repair and maintenance jobs that get in the way of life lived at home. Consider your empty house a rare chance to sand and refinish hardwood floors, re-caulk bathroom and kitchen tiles, or repaint indoors. Skip the dust, the fumes, and the “Oh no! You weren’t supposed to step there yet!” That’s a vacation in itself.
2. Pitch a tent.
Change your point of view, and the most mundane spot – your own backyard? – might reveal its exotic side. When did you last count lightening bugs for fun? Or examine the stars in your own slice of sky? Let our good Nashville crickets sing you to sleep? We’re definitely inspired to try.
3. Jump the Line.
Today, it might feel like summer lasts forever, but September is already in sight. Fall is Nashville’s very best time to tackle your house’s bigger challenges: exterior painting, roof replacement, wood trim clean-up, and masonry work all go better in those hot, dry weeks between August and the holidays. That’s the best time, too, to inspect and service your furnace, and to scour gutters and downspouts for leaves and debris. Pressure washing and window cleaning get your home ready for the decorating and entertaining that close out the year.
Don’t wait! In the new boomtown Nashville, there’s no such thing as last-minute scheduling for non-emergency work. High-quality experts and craftsmen – the only professionals we’d send you – are in tremendous, historic demand SO THE TIME TO SCHEDULE THIS WORK IS NOW. Call us to make a plan. We promise: you’re not even early.
Don’t let this happen to your house-project list!
4. Lighten your load.
Right now, our favorite summer accessory is this handsome Bagster, the “Dumpster in a Bag” from Waste Management.
Buy the bag empty from our local Hart Ace Hardware, then take it home and fill it with all that junk – and you know it’s junk – you just keep moving from spot to spot: from closet to attic, from basement to garage. Kitchen utility drawers, old toy chests. Mud room cubbies and the dining room (mail) table. And when you’ve purged your life of the 3,300 pounds (yes, that’s 1½ TONS) of junk and debris that’s been weighing you down? Waste Management will come pick it all up and take it away. Forever.
The Bagster accepts:
At $149, the Bagster’s not cheap. But imagine the space and peace you’d reclaim from a true clean sweep. Kind of like building a new wing on your house. Learn more at www.thebagster.com.
5. Crack open your mind.
We love the wild frontier that is popular culture these days. But it takes discipline and a radical curiosity to resist the urge to experience only what we already like and understand. So this summer, we’re going out of our way to expand our horizons. Here’s how:
(Skip this bullet if you’re under 30) Ask a teenager to share a playlist of the music he likes, or a video game she thinks is interesting. Promise not to mind any provocative language or images, then really settle in and pay attention.
Explore international news outlets. We’re making a habit of checking in on The Guardian of London (www.theguardian.com), the London Times (www.thetimes.co.uk). We’re not promising a full-out read every day, but even scanning headlines (or a quick Twitter check) can remind us we’re part of this larger, complex world – and it’s not always just about us.
Treat yourself or a loved one to a session on MasterClass, the instructional website where artists and legends share insights about their life and their craft. Learn “Comedy” from Steve Martin, “Country Music” from Reba McIntyre, “Performance” from Usher, “Cooking” from Gordon Ramsay, “Acting” from Kevin Spacey or Dustin Hoffman. There’s a long and varied list of Master Classes to choose – coming soon is Annie Leibovitz teaching “Photography” and Diane Von Furstenberg on “Building A Fashion Brand.” Browse the possibilities at MasterClass.com.
Serena Williams teaches Tennis, on MasterClass.com
