I know: it’s a sorry, sorry sight.
But honestly: I had no idea what to do with this space, to the point where it sat unused (and apparently unswept) for nearly a year.
Having a yard was already much too much outdoor space for me to wrap my little New York City girl mind around; I couldn’t handle the additional challenge of figuring out what to do with a patio, as well. First of all, it was attached to my office – a room that we barely use anyways – so I frequently forgot it even existed. And second, I couldn’t imagine why I’d sit there as opposed to…well, anywhere else. If we wanted to eat dinner outdoors, we’d probably sit at the big table in the yard, right?. And if we wanted to lounge around outside…well, we own a fire pit.
A fire pit! It doesn’t get more lounge-y than that.
The challenge: how to make my patio a place that differentiated itself from the other outdoor spaces in our home, and still felt cozy and pretty and like somewhere I’d like to pass an afternoon with some tea and the latest US Weekly.
The after, after the jump.
You know how I always go on and on about free-association techniques and how they really work when it comes to helping you figure out what you want to eat? They also help you figure out how to decorate.
How I decided on the decor scheme for our patio: I thought about places I really love, places I feel comfortable and happy and peaceful, and the one place I kept coming back to over and over is the place where I used to go on summer vacations when I was a little girl and the place where we got married: Ogunquit, Maine. There’s a hotel there called the Pink Blossom, and it’s all white wicker furniture and floral seat cushions and ocean breezes, and it’s where I feel more relaxed than anywhere else in the world.
One trip to Christmas Tree Shops and about $250 later: my own little roof-deck seaside cottage.
What I bought:
– A 4-piece white faux wicker patio set (it’s actually resin, making it a bit more resistant to the elements)
– Dusty-rose outdoor seat cushions (to replace the not-very-pretty set that came with the furniture)
– A rope votive holder/vase thing
– 2 buoys with ropes to attach them to the railings
– 2 pieces of faux coral
– A T.J.Maxx planter that was already sitting in our backyard
– My birch-bark candles from this JITH segment
An outdoor rug would have pulled the space together nicely, but there’s a tree hanging over the patio that sheds constantly (as you can see), and I honestly just don’t feel like plucking brambles out of a rug every day. The point of the space is to be relaxing, not persnickety.
