Finally, after writing a few long, deep posts, I’m back to sharing some inspirational mood. And honestly, after almost a month of life thoughts, I’ve missed the “light” type of blogs.

It’s already summer, which, frankly, is my least favorite season, since I can’t stand hot weather. But still there’s also a big portion of inspiration in summer months. Long days, evening/night walks, fresh breeze in the evenings, beautiful sunsets and twilight, road-trips, different sceneries of nature etc. Apart from all this, one of my most favorite things about summer has been the balcony. Cleaning and preparing balcony for the warm season has always been N1 in my bucket lists. And now it becomes even more valuable, since all these restrictions. In many countries, wearing masks became mandatory even on streets, even if you’re walking alone to breathe some fresh air in the evenings. For me it’s absurd, but let’s not focus on that. Hence balconies are becoming the perfect life saver. Once you use it right, it becomes the best place for everything, you can enjoy it alone or with friends/family. So if before this you have been using it as a storage room, full of chaos and unnecessary stuff, it’s right time to declutter the space and use it wisely. It doesn’t matter if the area is big or small, if it’s “beautiful” or not, because the most essential part here are the decorations and the atmosphere, which we’re going to create ourselves.

My balcony isn’t too big, but I kind of divided it into two parts: a boho style place to sit and relax, and the “greenhouse” or the “little garden“, as I call it. So let’s start with the “renovating” process. All the photos are as usual down below.

1. The first step is of course cleaning the balcony. Next, in order spend a quite lot of time in there you obviously need a sitting-area. If you’re lucky with a big space, you can put a little sofa with a table. In my case, it’s an egg chair and a little poof, which serves both as a side table and chair. To make it more comfortable, throw pillows come to the rescue. The more the better. And don’t forget about a blanket, in case it gets a little cold in the evenings, or you decide to take a nap. Almost forgot about a curtain, if you don’t want the outer world to see you, it’s the perfect cover, also a nice piece of decor. A little tip-use a proper curtain with solid thick material, otherwise it’ll fade out under the sun. Now I put a beautiful mandala tapestry over the thick curtain, as I already had a bad experience with it.

2. The significant part for the atmosphere of a garden or illusion of being outdoors, are of course flowers. Or you can choose plants, or herbs, doesn’t really matter. Gardening has become a very enjoyable hobby for me. Many psychologists say that “playing” with soil is a good stress reliever. Also it’s so nice seeing your own planted flowers grow and blossom. In my experience, the best flowers for the balcony are petunias, roses and marigolds, they grow the best, have many flowers and are more sun-resistant.

3. I think my balcony wouldn’t be as cozy, if it wasn’t for the fairy lights and candles. Again, these are the things that are good for every season and occasion, they just make the dullest place much better. Even though, you may see lots of “perfect balcony” photos with a bunch of real candles around, for me, it’s totally pointless to put real ones in here for three reasons: they melt under the sun, they can catch fire, with all the flowers around, and they can constantly be blown out by wind. Luckily the mankind has made electric candles, which are a great substitute for here. And putting candles in lamp-like candleholders would add more aesthetic. So when evening comes, turn on all the lights, and enjoy the magic. I especially love the little twinkle lights in the flowers, which look like fireflies in a magical garden, straight from a fantasy movie.

4. And of course, we’ll need other decorations. There’s no garden without a gnome, is there? He would be the guard of your property. The little huts remind me of hobbit and Hagrid’s hut. And of course we need some wildlife around here-cute little bunnies, owls and hedgehogs. Other good idea would be a dream catcher. I know it’s supposed to be above your bed, but still, it’ll look nice with feathers floating in the air with wind. And speaking of wind, don’t forget about wind chimes, which both look and sound great, even though some of my neighbors might disagree. The best part is that you can make these decorations yourself, add some details and touches to it, so it’ll correspond with your theme or color scheme, if you have one.

I guess, that’s pretty much it with my decorations. But you can add a plenty of your own ideas-a little rug (if it’s not dusty in the place you live), a blanket fort, a cosmos projector, fake leaves, lights hanging from the ceiling etc. If you have a parrot, you can take his cage out, he’ll be happy to tweet with other birds. Kesha enjoys being out, as it’s a great chance for him to hang out with his sparrow friend.

And now some ideas of what you can do, once the beautiful balcony is ready. The possibilities are endless. Well actually no, they’re not, but still there’s a lot of them. You can sit here alone, listening to music, reading, sky/star gazing, you can have sunbathes in the daytime, you can meditate here, or do some yoga or stretching exercises, if the space’s big, and there’s nobody looking at you. Sometimes I just sit and watch people come and go, I don’t know why, but it’s relaxing. It’s also a great place to make art, paint, do diy projects, without being concerned about leaving a stain on something valuable at home. You can hang out with friends or family members here, just sit and chat, play games, eat or drink something summery. You can even do photoshoots here, with all the beautiful flowers and lights around. So pretty much everything you do at home( even for example wasting your time in internet), you can do in here, but it’ll feel much better, and one big pro-you’ll be breathing fresh air. If you have a movie projector, this would be the best outdoor movie theater, with some popcorn and coke. Especially now when all the theaters are closed, this would be just perfect. So just unleash your imagination, create the coziest spot and enjoy!