Casual Modern Backyard Patio Makeover

Hey guys! Today is a special day because it is the first day of the 2018 Spring One Room Challenge! If you recall, I participated in my very first ORC back in the fall when I made over my mom’s kitchen for only $1500! It was such a great experience, despite the occasional mental break down and flood of tears, I have decided to join in again as a guest participant!

For those of you who are not familiar with the One Room Challenge or ORC it is a bi-annual event hosted by Linda at Calling it Home and media partner House Beautiful where bloggers are challenged to make over a room in six weeks and provide weekly updates. I’m not going to lie, it’s a bit stressful at times, but totally worth it!

 

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For this challenge, I will be taking things outside to give our backyard and patio a Casual Modern vibe. When we bought our house the backyard was a nightmare, seriously! See?

The landscaping, if you can call it that, hadn’t been touched in years! There was a giant shed with gaping holes. The fence was held together with bungee cords in spots. And there was a huge pile of hideous bark mulch on a slope next to the covered patio. 

Since we bought the house we have been tackling the backyard in phases, because, well, money doesn’t grow on trees, but I am still holding out hope for The Powerball or Mega Millions 🙂 Anyway, phase one was the paver patio. Phase two was a new fence,  side yard hardscaping, and a new shed.  Phase three was new landscaping and a fire pit area. And today, the backyard looks like this.

Now that we have all the basics down, it’s time to pretty things up a bit and add all the finishing touches with phase four.

First, the furniture. Our conversation set and bar stools were Craigslist finds when we were on a tight budget and while they served us well, they don’t fit my vision for the overall design. Not to mention our cushion was maimed by my favorite squirrel. Seriously, this squirrel and I have beef. He has a serious addiction to my pumpkins and eats them every year. Last year I bought ceramic pumpkins to keep him away and I think this was my payback……

The dining set. While we did buy this set new, it no longer fits our needs. I’ll explain. We love eating outside and enjoying our temperate climate, however, I can’t leave the cushions out because my thug squirrel eats them. But when we want to sit outside, we have to haul all the cushions back out which is a HUGE pain. Moral of the story is, we need less cushions so we will sit outside more. Very simple.

Second, the patio ceiling. You likely have not seen this in detail because I think it’s super ugly and try to crop it out of pictures, but here it is, up close in all its glory.

It flat out looks unfinished, probably because it is. I like having the lights on the patio because they are useful and on a dimmer, but I HATE cords people! My OCD just can’t handle the exposed electrical and unfinished ceiling anymore. So we will be addressing this.

Third, string lights! a few years ago for our chili cook-off party we hung white Christmas lights across the backyard. And let me tell you, it was magical! I wanted to be outside every night! Now the goal is to find a way to add lights that can stay up all summer or at least be easier to put up and take down.

This is my overall vision for the space, which is why I am calling it Casual Modern.

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So that’s the plan folks! Join me again next week to see how it’s all coming along 🙂 Did I mention we are building the furniture?! 😉 YEP!

Sign up here so you don’t miss any of our progress! It’s going to be a crazy few weeks!

Don’t forget to stop by the One Room Challenge to check out all the other participants and be prepared to be inspired!

This post, Casual Modern Backyard Patio Makeover, appeared first on Garrison Street Design Studio.