Your Backyard Party Checklist

Think of the backyard party as the dinner party’s easygoing little sibling. Not sure if you’ll have eight people or 18? No problem — just ask folks to bring something extra to throw on the grill. Hate cleaning house just to have people over? Now you don’t have to! Of course, for all its laid-back charm, a backyard barbecue still requires some forethought. Here’s an outdoor party prep countdown that will help you check things off in advance, so you can feel more relaxed on party day.
One Month Before

Check your schedule. It’s easy to let the summer slip by without getting to all the things you wanted to do — so if hosting more backyard gatherings is on your summer list, make plans before the grilling season gets rolling. Look over the next few months on your calendar, decide when you might like to host, and mark it down.Clean and maintain the grill. Both charcoal and gas grills can use a good deep cleaning at the start of grilling season to keep them in top condition. For gas grill safety, it’s also important to inspect the fuel line for cracks and to make sure burner holes aren’t clogged with grease.

Assess the outdoor furniture. Wish you could seat a few more friends around the fire pit? Craving a more comfy outdoor lounge zone? Items ordered online can take weeks to ship (and local deals can get snapped up fast), so if you’re looking to add to or replace your outdoor furniture, set a budget and start shopping sooner rather than later.For a large or formal gathering, invite guests now. If it’s an important occasion — like graduation or a milestone birthday — be sure to give guests a heads-up about a month in advance so that they can mark it on the calendar.

Stock up on backyard party essentials. We reach for the same go-to items at nearly every backyard party, so make things easier on yourself and pull together a party kit in advance. Store these items in the same place so that you know just where to find the cooler and bug repellant wipes on party day.

  • Fuel for grill (propane tank or charcoal)
  • Skewers
  • Heavy-duty aluminum foil
  • Reusable outdoor dinnerware
  • Lightweight platters for transporting food
  • Cooler or ice bucket
  • Bug repellent towelettes
  • Sunscreen
  • String lights or lanterns
  • Wireless outdoor speakers
  • Umbrellas or shade sails

Three Weeks BeforeDecide on the menu and create a shopping list. Whether you’re going for classic burgers and hot dogs or a vegan veggie-centric menu, your head will feel clearer if you get the plan on paper (or on your phone) in advance. List the dishes and sides you plan to cook, and then create a master shopping list — bonus points for dividing the list into sections for perishable and nonperishable items.

Decide on outdoor games and activities. Want to roast marshmallows over your fire pit, rent a bouncy house for the kiddos or play boules on the lawn? Figure out what (if any) activities you’d like to have during your party, and pick up or reserve necessary supplies.

Two Weeks BeforeOrganize friends’ contributions if it’s a potluck. Collaborate with your guests to make sure each type of dish (main, side, salad, dessert) is represented, and be prepared to offer specific ideas or direction if asked. Folks are more likely to step up to help if you make things as simple and clear as possible.

Shop for nonperishable items and do a little kitchen prep. Pick up wine, beer, condiments and pantry staples, and store them out of the way until party day. If you have any recipes on your party list that can be made ahead and frozen, do it now and you’ll thank yourself later. Even something as quick as making a batch of simple syrup to store in the fridge for homemade lemonade can ease your party prep workload later on.

Week of PartyGet a final head count. Check in with guests who haven’t RSVP’d, and confirm what everyone is bringing if it’s a potluck.

Tidy up the guest bathroom. One great thing about entertaining in the backyard is that you don’t have to stress about getting the indoors looking guest-perfect, with one exception: the bathroom. Carve out time to tidy up the powder room, stock it with extra toilet paper and hand towels, and top off the soap.

Decide on the music. Pick your playlist or streaming channel to strike the right mood (or opt to go music-free). If you have a new outdoor sound system, be sure to test it out before the party so that you’re clear on how everything works.

Clean out the fridge. You’re going to need more space than you think for all those party dishes and chilling beverages, so make some room before you hit the market.

Shop for perishable ingredients and make a few dishes in advance. Pick up perishable goods, including fresh fruits, veggies, cheeses and meats, up to two days before the party, but wait until the day before (or morning of) to buy fresh seafood. Look over your menu and pick out a few recipes that can be prepared (or partially prepped) in advance.

Day of PartyChill the drinks. Make sure the cold beverages make it into the fridge about four hours before party time to chill; transfer them to an ice-filled cooler (if using) about 20 minutes before guests are due to arrive.

Cue up the party playlist. Turning on the music will help get you in the mood while you finish prepping for the party — and if early birds arrive, it will feel festive, even if everything isn’t ready.

Set up an outdoor cleanup station. You’ll want to have a garbage can and a recycling bin available in the party area, plus a dishpan for transporting reusable dishes and platters to the kitchen for cleanup.

Organize the grill staging area. Get out your serving platters, tongs, grill brush and any other tools you like to have on hand while you cook.

Set up a self-serve food table. Help guests help themselves by setting out the necessities:

  • Dishes
  • Flatware
  • Napkins
  • Cups
  • A basket with bug repellant wipes and sunscreen
  • A bucket of ice with tongs
  • Serving spoons

Finish preparing the food. The thing that makes barbecues less stressful than a capital-D Dinner Party is that your guests actually expect most of the cooking to happen after they arrive — so don’t stress if you’d hoped to have more done before the first guests show up. Pour some icy cold beverages and chat while you grill.

Kick back and savor your well-deserved relaxation time. Don’t be afraid to hand over the grilling tongs to someone else — and if people ask if they can help carry dirty dishes to the kitchen, say yes!

#GivingBackCampaign Update

“What are your goals?” This is often asked of me in regards to my real estate business. My answer…. to donate at least $10,000 annually through my Giving Back Campaign. Thank you all for your loyalty and referrals as you all are a part of this campaign. Together we are making a difference in our community.

Click/Tap the image above to read the entire article.

How To Mix Patterns Like A Pro

Introducing a new pattern to a space adds a lot of life, energy and personality in a way a solid color rarely can. But why restrict yourself to playing with just one pattern? Combining two or more may seem daunting, but if you follow some of these formulas, you’ll be mixing and matching like a pro in no time.
First, to make it easier to understand how different patterns relate, let’s identify four major categories of patterns. In reality, patterns are endless in number, but when it comes to mixing different types, we’ll start by looking at the main ones.
1. Stripes. Stripes, especially in a two-color, one-to-one ratio as seen here, are probably the easiest pattern to work with, so much so that you can treat them as a “neutral.” That means they can mix easily with any other pattern, almost as if they weren’t a pattern at all.

Classic navy-and-white or black-and-white stripes are the most classic and timeless, but you can use stripes to add bright colors as well. In a tone-on-tone effect like this pink bedding, the hue is actually softer and less dramatic than when used as a solid.Either way, stripes work beautifully with other stripes or with completely different patterns.

Some designers also consider polka dots to be in the category of neutral patterns, with a repeating shape so simple that it reads as more of a texture. The round lines add an extra sense of softness, which can feel a bit feminine or romantic and make a space welcoming.

Foolproof Plan 1: Dots and StripesMix a few different sizes of stripes, and maybe a polka dot too, and you’ve got a hard-to-go-wrong scheme with plenty of personality and energy.

2. Geometrics. A geometric pattern is made of repeating forms that are usually very simple and linear, often using basic shapes like triangles, squares and circles. Technically, stripes are a geometric pattern, but in interior design a true geometric is one notch more complex than that, such as this wallpaper with its repeating hexagons.

Geometrics can be much more complex than a simple repeating shape, however. This room shows a simple striped rug, a chevron pillow and richly patterned side chairs: All are geometric, using simple angular lines, but the degree of complexity varies greatly.Using just angular geometrics, with no curves, is one of the easiest ways to mix multiple patterns without worry.

Foolproof Plan 2: Same-Scale GeometricsAnother easy way to mix multiple geometric patterns is to choose patterns with a similar thickness to the lines. These pillows use very different patterns, but they all contain thin lines at approximately the same scale. A single pillow in a chunky pattern might look out of place, but since they all share a similar line weight they look coordinated.

3. Florals. Florals are essentially the complete opposite of stripes: They feature complex, curving lines in patterns that feel natural and wild.
Botanical prints also include leafy patterns that don’t feature blossoms but have a similar organic nature, and, just as in nature, these differing prints tend to mesh together easily (as long as their lush color palettes coordinate).

Foolproof Plan 3: Sharp Angles With Bold FloralsOpposites attract. Combine a neutral, angular geometric featuring triangles (or basic stripes) and let a pop of colorful floral with gentle curves play against the sharp lines.

4. Organics. There are lots of other organic patterns that take inspiration from nature or feature motifs or images that are non-geometric. Animal prints fall under this category, as well as natural textures like marbling or strié (which looks a bit like wood grain, but in fabric or paper).A zebra stripe, being essentially just a variation on a basic black-and-white stripe, is a great element to toss into any design (in a small dose) to add a little organic drama.

This is where things start to get a bit complicated, since there are many patterns that can sit in a gray area between geometric and organic, such as ikat patterns or tribal-inspired prints, which feature somewhat geometric-looking repeating lines but with an organic rawness.Luckily, there are other aspects of a pattern we can look at to guide us in how to mix and match.

Other Considerations

Color. Mixing patterns within a restrained color palette is a great way to use a variety of actual patterns without having any jarring contrast. Nautical schemes, for example, often use a variety of different fabrics, all in blue and white, to let the different lines and shapes provide the visual interest.
Instead of choosing one color pairing to use for every patterned piece, you can also try picking one favorite fabric or item and using that piece to inspire colors for the other accents. Here, you can see that each fabric draws colors from the ottoman upholstery, so the collection has lots of variety but is tied together and cohesive.
Sometimes just having the same background color — usually a neutral — can help tie patterns together. These disparate pillows don’t share a strict color scheme of motif, but they all have a soft white background to relate them to one another, which helps them feel like a set.
Foolproof Plan 4: Black and White

It’s about as classic as they come: Mixing several patterns in strict black and white virtually always works, even if the scales and styles are different. To play it extra safe, keep all the patterns at least 50 percent white so you don’t accidentally overdo the black, unless you’re going for a gothic look.

ScaleThe size of a pattern can be at least as important as its style. A very small pattern can easily be missed from a distance, while a bold pattern will command attention even from across the room.

Mixing scales of patterns can be tricky, though not if you take one of these two approaches: going all different or all the same. This room uses the former approach, with a large-scale stripe on the chairs and a much-smaller-scale pattern on the rug. The chairs are clearly able to dominate, and the contrast of the almost textural rug pattern looks intentional.

This room uses three patterns at the same scale: one stripe, one chevron and one more organic pattern. They all appear to be the same “size,” with the linear stripes and chevrons at about the same spacing as the objects in the more complex print. The science isn’t exact, but to a casual glance no one pattern sticks out as being much larger or smaller than the others.Naturally, it also helps that these differing fabrics are in roughly the same color scheme as well. Combining differing strategies for mixing patterns definitely helps get a great result.

Ways to Mix a Lot of Pattern

Traditional rugs. Rugs in rich, traditional patterns are a bit like stripes in that they can almost be treated like a neutral with no pattern at all. Their fine, intricate designs and rich, sophisticated colors make them easy to mix with other patterns that are either more subtle, more bold or both.

Traditional motifs. Like a traditional rug, other delicate, timeless patterns such as toile and fine china prints can be easily tossed into a space and contrasted against other traditional elements or much more contemporary designs.This room feels rich and sumptuous partly because it includes three diverse patterns, but to the casual glance, only the geometric wall treatment feels like a true pattern. The traditional umbrella stand and rug appear much less graphic, blending in perfectly yet holding their own.

Painterly dots. Here’s a trendy look that’s easy to use at home. Painterly dots blend the versatile character of polka dots with an organic, casual elegance for an effect that’s easy to mix and always adds vibrancy and fun.

Chevron. Chevron is a classic for a reason: This simple pattern is just one notch more bold than a classic stripe, meaning it’s still easy to mix with nearly anything, but it also gives a real sense of dynamic energy because of its many diagonal lines.Foolproof Plan 5: The Powerful Trio

Here’s a potent recipe: Mix a chevron or plain stripe with a smaller geometric and a cheerful floral to achieve an easy yet dramatic look.

Other Approaches 

The 60-30-10 approach. This is a great ratio for mixing two or more major patterns with a small accent. Choose a major pattern to dominate the space and let that be about 60 percent of the visible pattern, such as this large area rug. Then choose a second, coordinating pattern to be 30 percent, like these striped drapes. Lastly, let just about 10 percent be a bold, contrasting choice, such as these marbled fabric chairs, or try a mix of pillows.The math doesn’t need to be exact, but if you clearly have a structure of dominant and non-dominant patterns, the whole set can be bold yet coherent.

This balance can often be achieved by repeating one pattern in multiple places, such as in this room, which features the same fabric on the ottoman and drapery. A second pattern is found in the subtle rug, and then a single pillow gives a touch of a third pattern.Keep in mind, the pattern you’re seeing the most of shouldn’t be so bold that it becomes overwhelming when you use that much of it. The more you plan to use, the less intense the main pattern should be.

The pillow approach. Rather than picking a dominant pattern, you can take the opposite route and let all of the patterns be equally small accents. This is most often seen in mixed pillow collections where no two are alike. By using just a small dash of each pattern, you make sure than no single pattern stands out. This approach is fairly easy because you can add and subtract accessories over time, with low commitment. Just be sure to include a few solids, and choose patterns from distinctly different categories.

Feel ready to go pro status? You can combine the last two approaches to mix a ton of pattern and keep it all balanced. In this space, about 60 percent of the pattern is in the subtle wall treatment, with 30 percent in the geometric rug and 10 percent spread between the eclectic, mismatched pillows.If that seems like too much for you, just stick to a simpler technique. However, keep in mind that items like pillows are easy to move between rooms (or return to the store) if you find the look isn’t quite adding up. Play with it until it feels just right, and trust your own eye.