REVEAL DAY!
This has probably been the most physically demanding project we’ve done so far. Mixing concrete and shoveling gravel in 90 degree weather has not been the most fun we’ve ever had. We’ve spent the last several weekends working from morning to night on this patio and our bodies are wrecked but you guys, WORTH IT. Just as a reminder, the major things we had planned for back here were: expanding our deck, pouring large concrete pavers, painting the brick exterior, and spreading gravel.
We went from this…:
…to this:
I am so freaking proud of how this space turned out and we cannot wait to be able to sit out here and just relax.
These concrete pavers were a major labor of love. We had planned on renting a concrete mixer to knock them all out at once but ended up spending 3 weekends mixing concrete by the bucket.
For those that follow me on Instagram, you might remember we had an issue with a couple of pavers. I tried resurfacing one and patching the other buuuuuut in the end, they still didn’t turn out. You can kind of see them in this photo in the back corner.
So we’ll have to bust those out and pour new ones but not anytime soon. We’re going to hold off on working on exterior projects until the weather cools off a bit. In the fall, we’ll work on Phase 2 of this project which will be to re-pour those two pavers, pour two concrete pads for our future outdoor kitchen, and build a step from the patio to the yard. We had planned on adding an outdoor fireplace but as of right now, we’re going to stick with our fire pit.
We plan on painting our entire house white eventually, but for now we went ahead and started limewashing the brick parts of our exterior. We’ve never loved this particular brick and we’re not even sure what to call our siding color but I’ll admit I got really nervous when I started getting the limewash up. Thankfully, after finishing this wall, I’m really happy we did it! I do want to get some mats for the stairs from the garage though.
We decided to build this planter to hide the giant foundation wall and to add a little greenery back here. This space doesn’t get a ton of light so we picked up a few hostas and we’ll see how they do. This lattice is strictly to hide our outdoor meters but I kind of want to build one for the other side of the planter, too. I’m planning on hanging some potted succulents on the lattice. Unfortunately, Home Depot was out of the pots I wanted to use so I didn’t get that part done in time for reveal day but hopefully soon!
We left our old World Market outdoor sofa outside uncovered last season and unfortunately, it did not hold up. The frame itself is okay but all of the woven resin covering basically falls apart at the touch. So, we used the cushions we had from that sofa and Kyle built an outdoor loveseat and two chairs. The chairs still need a good sanding and another coat of stain before I can seal them but I love them.
We’d love to add a larger outdoor sofa in the same style so that we have even more seating out here. We love to entertain and although we haven’t done it as much over the last couple of years, we’re itching to start hosting again once we’re comfortable having people over.
We’ve had that little elephant plant stand since our apartment days and I’m so glad to have a permanent place for her as a little side table out here.
Since our deck project ended up being smaller in scale than we originally planned, we used our leftover materials to build this outdoor table. I love how it turned out and it’s going to be great having some place to set food and drinks. Between the rest of the leftover decking and some other leftover lumber that’s been living in our garage for a few years, we were also able to build a boardwalk and step from our walkway down into the patio.
It has been SO much nicer than the gravel and retaining wall situation we had. I can’t find a true before but you can see it on the right side of this photo:
Of course we finished this space just in time for it to get uncomfortably hot and aggressively humid but you’ll still find me sitting out there with a box fan by my side while I enjoy all of the blood, sweat, and tears (and believe me there were all three) that went into this space!
Before:
After:
Check out all of the other guest participant reveals right here!
Wow. What else can you say? Absolutely love it….what a difference! Especially love the planter….everything turned out great and will only get better in time!
Thanks 🙂
looks awesome!! Can I ask what lumber/stain you used for the slat wall? Trying to figure out what to use for my deck. Thank you!!
Thank you! We used Behr semi-transparent waterproofing stain and sealer tinted to Cordovan brown.
It looks absolutely amazing. Great job!
Thank you!
This is fantastic! Congrats!
Thank you!
This turned out awesome!!! I love how it still has the original character but is totally updated and fresh for modern style! What a great space to enjoy!
I tried to find you on Instagram but came up short. Would love to check out your feed if you’re there!
Thank you so much! I am on Instagram! You can find me @houseonthehillblog
The painted brick is the perfect backdrop for your beautiful new firepit area.
Thank you!
This turned out great!! I can’t believe you poured that concrete yourself – so impressive! Hope you get to spend lots of time out there 🙂
Thank you so much! We’ve been spending as many evenings as possible out there so far 🙂
I love this space and I’m currently using it as inspiration for my back yard! I was curious, what concrete did you use?? I love this light color you did for the concrete pavers.
Thank you so much! We used bags of Sakrete high strength concrete mix.
Thanks so much for sharing the information. How did you pour it into perfect squares? Did you use a mold?
You’re welcome! We built wood forms to pour the concrete into which we leveled and then set with wooden stakes. The first time we did pavers we used 2x4s but we had a bunch of scrap plywood when we did these so we ripped that down to make the forms.
So helpful! I really appreciate you sharing this and writing back to me. I want to make a space like this in my backyard and it’s nice being able to pick your brain. How did you set it with wooden stakes? Also what size did your pavers come out to, I love the large pieces you did.
You’re welcome! Our pavers are 4ft x 4ft. We’ve done the stakes a couple of different ways. When we did them along the side of our house we screwed a stake into the center of each side of the forms and then tapped the stakes into the ground to secure them, making sure the form was level. When we did the patio, we were concerned we wouldn’t have space to get a drill between the pavers to unscrew the stakes so we leveled each paver and then tapped a stake into the ground snugly against each side to keep the forms in place while the concrete set.