Pete Rheller

When I received news that my son had married a beautiful Japanese native I was thrilled. I got even more excited when I found out that they had plans to spend their summer vacation in our home in New Jersey to get to know my husband and I. I was thrilled about the prospect of welcoming a new addition into our family; I only have one son so you can imagine how big a deal it is for me for her wife to have a good impression of us. I thought of a great idea to make her welcome in our home, I did a little bit of research and decided to redo our living patio, Japanese style to make her feel welcome and so she doesn’t get home sick.

The first thing I bought was glass mosaic tiles and made sure they were the shade and color that resembled cherry tree leaves. I then created a mural on the patio floor that was Japanese inspired and furbished furniture that are handcrafted of Japanese design to accent it even further. My son was so delighted to see what an effort I made to make his new wife welcome in our home when they arrived. I think even she appreciated the gesture and was even teary eyed when we told her we did the patio just for her.