Gina Marchese
Where I live: I live in the Brodie Creek neighborhood of Little Rock with my husband, Brett Pharis, and two dogs and two cats. We built our home and have lived in it for eight years.
Occupation: I am the race director for the Little Rock Marathon.
My favorite space: My favorite space is our whole backyard: the porch, pool and gardens.
Why? My job is very hectic October through March, and I rejuvenate in our backyard. Our porch is set with vintage metal sofas and chairs which we acquired from my grandmother and Brett's parents. In the summer, the porch is perfect for sipping a mint julep under the ceiling fan. In the spring and fall, the door stays wide open to the porch, and our pets love to go in and out. We think that they love the backyard as much as we do. The pool is unique because our backyard is not level, and the pool is built into the grade. We love roses and lined our fence with New Dawn and Knockout roses. In our vegetable garden, we grow tomatoes, green beans, okra, peppers, squash, lettuce, basil and zinnias. In the summer, we make lots of pesto and can the tomatoes, which we devour during the winter.
If I could make one change to improve this space, I would: I've already done it. I wanted the center steps off the porch to go all the way across, and we did that this spring.
HomeStyle on 11/29/2014