Kick Off the Summer Entertaining Season with Style and Ease
Memorial Day weekend is upon us, signaling the start of summer and the summer entertaining season. With its salt-water pools, outdoor kitchens, peaceful setting and generous public and private entertaining spaces, The Retreat at Mountain Brook is the perfect place for relaxed summer get-togethers with friends and family. The property features two poolside outdoor kitchens with stacked-stone bars, vaulted roofs, ceiling fans and gas and charcoal grills. The new, championship-modeled tennis courts and the Flora Johnston Nature Trail (see details below) also provide opportunities to enjoy the outdoors with guests. Because playing host can sometimes spark anxiety, we want to share some tips for making a Memorial Day party and other summer holiday gatherings as easy and stress-free as possible. We’d also like to pass along this amazing shrimp-and-crab-stuffed-pasta-shells recipe from our friend Sherry with the blog Rosemary and the Goat. It’s a great dish for a warm-weather party. Memorial Day Entertaining Tips: • Don’t feel like you have to provide every bite of food. Consider cooking the main dish and supplying drinks and asking your guests to bring sides and desserts. • Remember the flowers. Decorating your indoor and outdoor entertaining spaces with some arrangements of locally grown flowers such as camellias, hydrangeas or jasmine doesn’t have to cost a lot, and it can make a big impact. • Pick up some battery-operated, flameless candles or lanterns. They create a charming ambiance for evening dining on a patio or balcony. • Let your friends and family help. If someone offers to help set up, man the grill or assist you in cleaning, take them up on it. Guests will feel much better helping rather than idling as you do all the work. • Put a new spin on the patriotic theme. If you want to honor the spirit of the day but aren’t crazy about stars and stripes in your decorating, try a simple red and white or blue and white color palette. Serve strawberries, raspberries or blueberries to add color through food. The nautical look is popular this year, and you can inexpensively accent your décor with it by wrapping hardware-store rope around the vases and using coastal-style, flameless lanterns. As promised, more about the Flora Johnston Nature Trail, located right next to The Retreat: The Flora Johnston Nature Trail actually contains two trails, an upper and lower, that follow a branch of Shades Creek. Along approximately 2 miles of paths, you’ll find rock outcroppings and several places to sit and view the creek or do some bird watching. The trails are an easy walk perfect for families and groups.
It’s Always a Do Dah Day at The Retreat
Four-legged as well as two-legged neighbors and potential residents got a taste of The Retreat at Mountain Brook Saturday at one of Birmingham’s most popular events – Do Dah Day, a festival that invites people to enjoy music, food and a parade with their pets. The event began in 1979 and has raised more than $1.3 million for Jefferson County animal shelters since 1992. In keeping with The Retreat’s pet-friendly, community-involved atmosphere, staff members manned a booth at the festival. They gave away dog treats and accessories, citrus-flavored water and information about the newly renovated, luxury community and its future offerings for residents and those in surrounding areas. “We had a lot of inquires,” says Amy Hodges, property manager. “A lot of people thought it was a retreat for dogs. We had to tell them it’s a retreat for dogs and people.” (See below for more photos of the fun at The Retreat’s Do Dah Day booth.) A 6,500 square foot, leash-free dog park will open at The Retreat in June and will include obstacle-course-style activity stations called The King of the Hill and Over Rover. Residents of The Retreat and nearby Mountain Brook and Eastwood neighborhoods are welcome to visit with their furry companions. Dog treats also are available in The Retreat’s resident lounges. Studies have shown spending time with pets, particularly dogs, can reduce stress, anxiety and depression. The American Heart Association has linked pet ownership with a reduced risk for heart disease. The developers of The Retreat understand the importance of giving residents and other community members places to spend quality playtime with their pets and to socialize with each other, Hodges says. A community garden adjacent to the dog park also aims to bring people together. In addition to the booth at Do Dah Day, The Retreat at Mountain Brook had a presence this past weekend at an event celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, at the Levite Jewish Community Center. The celebration featured a kids’ carnival, arts and crafts, food, music, a bike parade and more. Hodges says the goal of attending events like these is to spread word about changes at The Retreat, which was built in four phases from 1974 to 1987 and has undergone a complete exterior and interior renewal since its purchase by Heller Stone Properties in 2014. The 517-unit, 80-acre property bordering the community of Mountain Brook is nestled in an established, wooded neighborhood next to a nature preserve, yet is minutes from downtown Birmingham, restaurants, shops and entertainment. Formerly known as The Enclave, the community was once sought after, but had fallen into disrepair. For many people who learn about or see the renovations, “it’s bringing back memories of what the property was in the 1970s and 1980s,” Hodges says. If you’d like to meet the new Retreat at Mountain Brook, please join us for a happy hour between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of every month. We’ll announce other upcoming events here as well. See more of our new friends: [huge_it_gallery id=”2″]
Decorate Your Outdoor Space Like A Pro
The Retreat at Mountain Brook’s balconies, sunrooms, patios and fenced yards offer a wealth of outdoor spaces for personal enjoyment and for entertaining friends and family. As with any outside area, decorating in a way that is both inviting and practical is key to taking advantage of all the possibilities, says Suzanne Martenson, owner and founder of Stems and Styles in Homewood, Ala. Here are some tips the event stylist and floral designer shares for making the most of an outdoor space: Strike a balance between style and function. Martenson recommends placing a basket against the wall of a balcony or covered patio and filling it with rolled-up throw blankets. It’s an opportunity to add color and texture to the space, and the blankets are convenient when guests are over or you’re enjoying a glass of wine outside and there’s a chill in the air. “People can grab them and wrap up,” she says. “It’s always a nice, inviting touch to have.” Consider creating a container garden of herbs or adding herbs to flower planters, Martenson says. Not only will the herbs add visual interest, but they’ll come in handy. “You can always have them for cooking, and in the hot Alabama weather, they take the heat and the sun well and don’t require a lot of water,” she says. “Plus, they look nice mixed in with your annuals.” Bring the indoors out with furniture and rugs. A wide range of comfortable furniture in a variety of styles, from sleek to rustic, is now made to last outdoors, Martenson says. “There are sectionals and loveseats that really make you feel like you’ve extended your living room,” she says. A table on a patio, balcony or in a sunroom also can extend entertaining space. Today’s outdoor rugs can barely be distinguished from their indoor counterparts. “They really warm up the space,” Martenson says. Be strategic with color. Use a neutral pallet – tans, grays and whites – for large items such as furniture, Martenson advises. Then add color with accents like pillows and other small items. This way you can inexpensively change the entire look seasonally – or when you get tired of the current one – by replacing the accents. “If you buy a full printed sofa, you’re going to be stuck with it for awhile,” Martenson says.
