Sorry for being MIA Guys!! Life has gotten the better of me this past week. It’s been a good week though. I have enjoyed spending time in the barn helping the kids with their animal chores, as well as working with our crew on our embryo flush program.
I’ve had a couple little side projects as well that have been wearing me thin. Today I’m sharing one of those with you. It’s a patio seating area, Ta-dah!
Planing the Patio Seating Area
I have big plans for this patio area and thought about not sharing this now, but I know it’s probably going to be getting into late summer before it’s all finished and I’m working on enjoying things along the way, not just when a project is ‘complete.’ Because the reality is that projects are rarely complete, but rather a continuous work in project.
In the background you will notice the scaffolding that is still up for the roof project, as well as the overgrown lilacs that will be getting replaced. My plan is to replace these lilacs with smaller hydrangeas, leaving space to set the grill back into this bed on some pavers so that it is tucked out of the wind and conveniently located right off the deck. The deck will also be getting replaced, as the steps and one corner are sinking because the footings weren’t set deep enough into virgin ground.
Little Quick Fire Hydrangea
Patio Lighting
I am also planning to add patio/cafe lighting. I can’t wait for this to come to fruition. I’ve been doing research on this and I know that I want to go with the commercial grade lights that are ordered in the specific length that is needed. I would love to be able to hang these so they have a romantic drape to them, but with our wind they will have to be strung tight so they can’t clank together and break the bulbs. Here is an example of the lights with a link to the blog that gives DIY instructions for hanging them:
Patio Furniture
My first thought when deciding to rework this patio space was to add a bistro table with two chairs so that I could sit outside and work from my laptop. I freeze working inside most days so the idea of having an outdoor space to work is definitely appealing. I searched and searched, but couldn’t find any that met my two criteria. 1: I needed to like the look (duh) and 2: It has to be heavy so that it wouldn’t get blown away in our wind. I stopped into a store the sells better quality/heavier duty patio furniture sets and I found one set that I liked. It was heavy enough, included a love seat, two chairs and a coffee table, and it cost $2,000! Ouch. Isn’t that crazy? I really liked the idea of the loveseat and a unified sitting area, but not enough to spend $2,000.
Patio Accessories
Then I decided to check some local stores to see what more reasonably priced options I could come up with. To my surprise by July 4th stores are clearing out their patio furniture sections! I came up with a whole lot of nothing. At least where patio furniture is concerned. I did however, find these metal lanterns that add a lot of visual interest, this cheery botanical patio rug and this propane-fed fire feature, all at 65% off!! Thanks Target!
I picked up two strands of mini led rope lights in the patio furniture/outdoor section at Target and filled the lanterns with them. There are large rocks at the bottoms of the lanterns to keep them from blowing over. I pushed the strands of rope lights through the wire strands of the lanters randomly to help spread the rope lighting out and get the lights to fill the lanterns from top to bottom.
Outdoor Lanterns // Mini LED Rope Lights
The Personal Touch
I loaded them up and decided that I could work with the patio furniture I had at home to pull it all together. Now here’s where the project gets hairy. The fire feature was on display in the store and looked great. I assumed/envisioned the propane tank fitting underneath the table – out of sight, out of mind. A clean, crisp, well put together space. BUT, the propane tank doesn’t fit under it. The instructions say to set it a few feet away from the table with the cord running between the tank and the table… not aesthetically pleasing. That just wasn’t going to work.
So what did I do? I built a darling little box to cover the ugly propane tank. I built the box all from scrap wood I had laying around my shop. I started with scraps of 2×4 that I ripped in half lengthwise to make 2×2’s. I build the frame from these boards, then cut strips of underlayment to create a shiplap look. The corners were trimmed with 1/4” thick slats. Originally I had thought of attaching the top with hinges, but when I realized I didn’t have any hinges I decided to make a top that fits over the box, like a gift box. I then finished it with adding the ledge at the top to hold a plant. Because it was built from multiple types of scrap wood it needed to be painted. I found a sample pot of this duck egg-ish blue color in my paint stash, which just happened to match one of the colors in the rug perfectly.
This side project within the patio project took me about seven hours from start to finish – starting from scratch with no plans to work from so making it up as I went, cutting all the material, building, filling all of the nail holes, then sanding the filler once it dried and finally painting it. I’m so proud of how it turned out, I just love it! My plan it to pick up a shallow planter pot and fill it with low profile succulents.
Can you envision it – the less obtrusive landscape plants, the patio lights, the ambiance? I would also like to add a large outdoor wall clock to the brick wall behind the seating area, like this one:
And I’m thinking about building a wall planter that looks similar to this:
Found on Pinterest, but without a valid link
Enjoying Each Moment
But in the meantime I am going to enjoy it as is. I am going to enjoy that it calls to my kids to come roast some marshmallows. I am going to take full advantage of those few moments where life slows down around a fire and we are able to bask in the glow of quality family time.
Looks amazing.