Last year we had a new concrete patio poured, bought all new outdoor furniture and had such high hopes for our new backyard space... well, little did we know, sh*t would hit the fan and we would end up having to start all over next year. (UGH) If you haven't heard the whole story... bad quality furniture... concrete stains... concrete pops... you can read all about it here. It took nearly 7 months,100's of phone calls made by ME and lots of follow up to get everything resolved and the companies to reimburse us... but it happened. Thank goodness...
Personally though, I never want to talk about World Market, Bed Bath and Beyond or concrete patios -- ever again... So, on to bigger and better things, quite literally!
We went into this Spring knowing that we had to make some changes in our backyard... the plus side of going through all of that last year, was that we really figured out what worked for the space and what didn't. A few things we realized right away:
We needed shade... LOTS of shade.
We should invest in a patio rug(s)
Our fit pit area is great for entertaining/bonfires... but not keeping you warm when you're sitting on the patio and watching TV. We needed a fire table.
Our backyard gets great sun... why we need shade (hah)... but it works so well with solar lights, so we wanted to add more of those. We currently have these ones on our fence posts & they give off great light!
So, when early April rolled around I made sure to buy some outdoor furniture right away -- because if you remember from last Spring, everything I wanted was also sold out! We purchased a sectional from Target but once we put it on the patio, it seemed SO small. We quickly realized we would either need a lot more furniture or something large to fill up the patio space.
(the sectional isn't listed on Target's website anymore... so I've linked the loveseat instead)
Cue the pergola that Nathan has been trying to convince me to buy for the past year... we saw this one on display at Home Depot and love how the shade teetered back and forth; and that we could easily add curtains to one of the open sides for even more shade. The price wasn't outrageous... so we bought it. We had it delivered to the house and assembled it together. Assembly took about 6 hours... but everything was labeled perfectly, which made assembly a lot easier. The quality is great (so far) - but I'll make sure to keep you posted... we do plan on sealing the cedar post before Winter comes.
We ended up buying a smaller dining table -- not sure why, but Nathan requested a round one -- and we kept the metal hairpin chairs from last year; I personally think they are holding up great. I plan on buying this huge citronella candle for the dining table, from Target... and maybe eventually we will get a round rug for underneath the dining area (but baby steps!).
We still need to buy the two matching club chairs to go with our new sectional... but shocking, they are sold out right now. So, we may not have those until next year at this point (hah!) ...hopefully sooner than that though!
The hunt for a good fire table was REAL... every option we looked at was SO expensive, and we really didn't want to spend $500-$1,000 on a fire table. Well, we were at Home Depot one day and spotted this one, tucked away... and the price was under $250!! So, naturally, we bought it and it has been PERFECT for movie nights outside -- favorite purchase so far!
The rug is from Target and we went with a 7'x10' rug... if you know me at all, you know I think "the bigger the better" when it comes to area rugs... so we splurged and bought one that would really fill the pergola space.
I feel like we really nailed down the basic pieces we needed this year... and we will slowly add plants, solar lights, curtains and accessories over the Summer... but until then, we are truly enjoying the transformation of this space! It's working much better for us and I know we will be out here 100x more this Summer!
Interested in how to "build" an outdoor space in phases? Read this blog post!
I break it down, so that you don't have to buy everything at once!
See something you like? Shop below!
& PIN THIS IMAGE!
1. club chairs / 2. loveseat / 3. pergola / 4. fire table / 5. area rug / 6. candle /
7. hairpin chairs / 8. dining table
Talk soon friends,
Kayleigh