Alisa + me + babies | Our newly redecorated backyard
The fact that I love our house is a bit of a lucky surprise – purchasing a home that you’ve only seen on a FaceTime video is…well, a questionable decision, at best. But I do! I totally love it.
The one thing about our place that I wasn’t quite sure about when we decided to buy it: its size. It’s about the same square footage as the house we moved out of, which had been starting to feel a bit cramped for our growing family. And yet this house feels way more expansive to me – partially, I think, because it’s all on one level, but mostly because of our outdoor space.
Our patio area is accessible via sliding doors in our kitchen, and those doors are open virtually 100% of the time that we’re home (weather permitting, obviously), making it feel like our house has a whole extra – and pretty big – room. But even though we spend a ton of time on the patio, I haven’t really figured out how to arrange the space. I keep moving furniture in and out, and haven’t put any real effort into lighting it; it’s mostly just been an open play area for our kids.
I’ve been putting off the decorating process for months now, so I decided to invite over our friends Alisa and John to see the results (and eat some BBQ) the next day. The invitation, to be clear, came before I’d actually done anything at all to the backyard other than sweep away a bunch of dead leaves, thereby giving me impetus to move very, very quickly.
I did this all in about two – very sweaty – hours.
Before | After
Before | After
* * * MY BACKYARD MAKEOVER * * *
Dining Area: In went solar umbrella lights to brighten up the space so we can hang out even after nightfall (you can’t see them in these photos because it wasn’t dark enough, but trust me, they’re there) and a Weber Genesis Grill. As an FYI if you’re looking for an outdoor cooking station, this one (more photos of it are below) is kind of like the Ferrari of grills: it has a sear station, a separate burner for sautéing or what have you, and a 637 square inch cooking area. And if you order one from Ace Hardware, they’re offering free setup and delivery during Memorial Day Weekend, so you can go from grill-less to good-to-grill (hee) with next-to-zero effort on your part.
Seating Area: I moved in some lounge chairs that had been living in a different part of our backyard and tossed a couple of woven blankets and some bright pillows over them, and then hung vintage-y lights (also from Ace Hardware) along the eaves. More additions: a patterned tray that transformed a wooden stump into a pretty side table, extra pillows for floor seating, a massive wall mirror, and globe lights strung along the bar/serving table. Still to come: an outdoor area rug that will go under the dining table to pull together the two different colors (ugh) in the patio flooring.
* * * GIVEAWAY * * *
In celebration of the official start of the outdoor entertaining season (hooray!), Ace Hardware is giving you the chance to win $350 in gift cards so you can make over your own space. To enter, just comment below telling me your favorite grilling recipe (this is a totally selfish request on my part; I just would love some new ideas), and I’ll notify the winner via email next weekend.
Giveaway open through 11:59P.M. on Friday, May 27, 2016. Winner will be chosen at random. This post was created in collaboration with Ace Hardware.
