HOME | MADE :: Small Space Patio Makeover

     

Guess what is finally back? That's right, the HOME|MADE series! I am sorry for the little hiatus but sometimes that happens. But luckily I have a few projects to get you all caught up on! Everyone say YAY! ;)
 

As a reminder: HOME | MADE is a bi-monthly series on home renovations MADE into nicer living spaces and the things used to get it there, the supplies used and all the DIY details. ALL to make my house feel like a HOME. ;)
So . . . 

 

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Today I am sharing my outdoor living space. It's small but I'm gonna make it mighty! ;) When you live in a condo, you get what you get. I am fortunate that I have THREE patios - the other two are patio/balconies. But this is the main one I wanted to do a major overhaul on, as the front door is just to the left of this photo above. (but that's getting a complete makeover too and will be in another blog post.)

We had neglected this area of the house for some time, meaning we never used it, so why "liven it up"? Well that all changed when we got our puppy last fall. WHY it took getting a dog to actually want to start using our patio again baffles me too but let's just go with it. Sometimes my reasoning makes absolutely NO sense, except to me. ;) All I can say is we never really exited our house through the front door since we have a walk-out basement/garage so that could have something to do with it.

Here is my 'official' list to accomplish JUST with this space:
 
- power wash the deck
- remove mildew from deck
- paint the deck
- plant some new flowers
- spray paint old patio chairs
- spray paint old patio table
- spray paint star decor
- freshen up space with some new decor
- purchase patio rug

- plant some perennials 

- make a sign to hang by patio door 
- paint the fabric part of the chairs 


**so far I have been able to cross most things off . . . YAY! 

 

So here we go, the reason you are here . . .my progress on Project: Patio Makeover!

Step 1: 


I only have a few "before" pics as I was so excited to get started that I totally forgot to take some really good before pics (sorry) so we will start from here & go with it!

And here's the thing about this pic too, we had already cut the bushes down to where they hit below the balcony level, added some new flags, painted the star up by the door AND spray painted the old patio table, at this point!

So my first step was clearing the patio and cleaning it and removing all of the mildew from it. AND as you can see from the photo below after cleaning, how damaged some parts of the patio are from the weather and just aging, so we are going to fix all of that in our next phase (when the weather cools) and repair the splits and repaint it all.

Step 2:  
Painting! 

Buying all new furniture for our patio was out of the question, so this is an easy alternative to buying all new. Just breathe new life into what you have already! Spray paint & then spray paint some more! ;)

I knew I wanted to use the color scheme of navy, turquoise, light blues and white for the patio area as it matched some FAB clearance items I found in the Target patio area about a month or so ago.

The first thing I spray painted was the old patio table. This thing was 10 years old, black and had started to rust in spots. So I took some steel wool and buffed out the rust spots, clean it off and spray painted it a nice turquoise color.

Step 3: 
Painting the chairs!
I had never spray painted patio chairs, so I taped off the fabric from getting sprayed (even though I would love to paint that too) and away we sprayed. Indigo blue from Valspar was the color of choice for this and it was amazing for these chairs.   

 

 

Step 4: 
Decorating the patio! 

Like I mentioned already, I had grabbed some patio items on clearance at Target which inspired the whole color scheme into action, so this part of decorating was the part I was looking forward to the most!

A new chevron rug, chair cushions, pillows and of course a stool! Loved it all.

I hated to decorate without having painted the deck / patio area yet but we will do that when the humidity breaks and we know the paint has a chance to cure properly. I went ahead and added a few things out here so we could start enjoying it but will really tweak it in the next phase of this project! ;)

But here it is and it's definitely NOT finished but it's a HUGE improvement and we're off to a pretty good start. At least we can actually enjoy sitting out here and using this space now! 

Step 5: 
Enjoy! 
Our little pup, Chili, is loving being outside and looking for squirrels from the woods! ;) AND as you can see from the photo on the left, when he's NOT out here with me, he is peeking out and letting me know he needs to be! lol

 

So what do YOU think? It's a start. But a pretty good one as I have more projects done with this space, than not. The thing I have found when working with a small space is make it cozy. Buy a FAB rug, make your old chairs comfy with the addition of awesome pillows, get a new candle to burn, plant some fresh flowers and get some color out in the mix! You can transform even a small space, such as mine, into a place that you will LOVE! 

We all are loving our "new" space . . . lots of early morning coffee drinkin, magazine reading and down right chill-axin is happening out here now! ;)


A few more details for you . . . 
This is a shot of the tiny area, in front of the patio, that we have to plant in. I added some flowers in pots for now, until I decide on what perennials I want to plant out here as it only gets a little bit of light in the mornings.

Just so you can get an idea of what else is out here in front of my place, that's a sidewalk shown on the bottom right of this photo below and just to the right is woods. So this pathway-sidewalk has six condo units total in this building but there is one other building across from us, that only has four units. So it's very private and if you like living in the woods, you'd love it.

 
I really hope this post helped motivate you, if you are planning on tackling a small outdoor space to make into a little cozy haven to relax & just hang out! I can't wait to share some more updates with you soon as I already am working on them.
 
I would LOVE to hear if you have ever transformed an outdoor space recently or are planning one? What color scheme are you planning to use?

Please comment below with your thoughts as I would love to hear from you! 

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