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Moroccan Outdoor Movie Night

Like the famous Peter Allen song, Everything Old is New Again, things have a way of coming back into style.  We see it in fashion and home decor all the time, but it happens in the way we live as well – record players are hip and outdoor movie theaters are the all rage. From drive-ins to backyard viewing, watching movies outdoors is a major summer-time phenomenon.

But if like me you lack a backyard or yard space of any kind, the thought of creating an outdoor movie night might seem unlikely.  If you read my post on inner city outdoor entertaining, you know that I’m all about embracing our spaces and making the most of them.  With a little creativity and friends who are always willing to play along (#blessed) I created a Moroccan inspired outdoor movie night in the courtyard of a friend’s condo complex.

Why Moroccan?  Because Moroccan inspired design is all about layers, beautiful details and bold colours – the perfect way to transform a boring, urban courtyard.  As with all of my designs there’s one element that starts things off, inspires me and gets the ball rolling, in this case it was the amazing rugs I found at HomeSense.  Definitely Moroccan in feel, but the unconventional colours made them modern and absolutely perfect for our night under the stars.

From there it was all about the textures.  Layered pillows and woven throws create a cozy space to catch the show.  The carved table from West Elm was perfect in both scale and design. Candles and lanterns complete the look.

Since this was a common space in the condo complex, one of the neighbours had locked their bikes onto the railing.  Try as we did, we could not find the owners to kindly ask them to move them.  Because I couldn’t have unsightly bikes messing up the look of the experience or the photos for that matter, old farmhouse doors were the answer!  Not only did the hide the bikes beautifully, they added a unique structural element to the space and allowed me to create an additional seating area.

And lastly, the food.  The Moroccan theme translated easily into a causal Middle Eastern Mezze style platter of olives, bread, dips like hummus and harissa carrot dip, stuffed grape leaves and baklava. Oh and popcorn and prosecco, because well what’s a movie without the supporting cast 😉

Good food, good friends, and a classic: Casablanca, come together to create the perfect summers night in the city.

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Photography: Michelle Johnson

This post was sponsored by La Marca Prosecco and Smartfood Popcorn; as always all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support this blog, without them I couldn't do what I love!