The One Room Challenge is beginning and I’m tackling my outside space. Fall is my favorite time of year and I’d love to have a beautiful, relaxing space for our family. Here’s a look at the before photos of the area, my plan, and a moodboard.
Outside Patio Makeover
Our house sits on a corner lot. We have a large front yard and a large side yard that’s fenced in. The kids enjoy it a lot!
Because the house sits so far back, we don’t have much of a BACKyard, but there is a very large concrete patio as well as an admittedly rough-looking back porch.
I won’t be tackling the back porch quite yet — it’s actually in good shape, but whoever built it chose privacy fencing instead of a railing for whatever reason. To be honest, I don’t hate the privacy!
That being said, it’s time to do something with this back patio!
My husband and I really enjoy having fires, especially during the fall season. We are located in New York so fall is not only beautiful but has the BEST weather for sitting out by a fire! Of course, the kiddos love it too — s’mores!
For my husbands birthday last year, I got him a propane fire pit. No more starting fires, buying wood, or smelling like a campfire.
For the Fall 2021 One Room Challenge, I thought it would be fun to spruce up this outside space so we have a nice place to hang out and enjoy fall with our family! If you’d like to check out what the other participants are planning, here’s a link to that page!
This project will mainly involving building outside furniture, but before we get too far into my plans, let’s have a look at the “before” of this space.
The before pictures of the back outside patio
The concrete itself is in good shape, it just needs a bit of pressure washing to clean it up.
After it’s pressure washed, I’d really like to paint and possibly stencil the area! I haven’t decided on a stencil pattern yet or if I want to tackle stenciling this large of a space but I think it may be worth it!
Here’s another view. The larger windows are bedrooms and I think it would be nice to build some flower boxes to go under them!
I also haven’t decided if I want to do faux-flower boxes that include storage (like for the furniture cushions) or faux-flower boxes that are installed onto the house under the window. Either way, the flowers will definitely be “faux” because they won’t survive NY weather.
It also goes without saying that we haven’t quite tackled the “landscaping” of the back area at all. I’ll be cleaning it up a bit. It may have to involve the blade attachment for our weed-whacker but it’s getting done!
The plans for the space
Here’s my rough drawing of the space:
I’ll be using the existing rug that we own and our existing fire pit. The furniture will be built. I’m going to for a “L” shape couch. I’d like the part that comes out to be a removable ottoman so that we can move it from side to side or just remove it all-together if needed.
Here’s a look at the mood-board I put together:
The rug in this mood-board isn’t a 100% match for the rug we own but it’s pretty close!
The couch is one I’d like to build (because to buy it on SALE would be over $700) so I’m looking to create a dupe for less than $100.
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I don’t know if I want to do the table or build smaller end tables instead. I also don’t know if I want them to be wood or concrete. So many choices to make still! I’m a very on-the-fly decision maker so if you want to follow this project in real-time I would keep an eye on my Instagram stories!
Another budget-friendly hack I’m going to do for this space is to create my own outdoor cushions. I have plans that include old couch cushions, plastic, painter’s drop cloth, and some fabric weatherproofing spray. We will see if it turns out!
Be sure to check back each week for updates on this project! I’ll either be updating the blog or my instagram every step of the way! If you don’t want to miss anything, just sign up for my newsletter below!