A Tour of Our Back Patio Spaces: The Before
Come take a tour of our backyard and the patio spaces I’ll be working on this summer! See the before of our backyard patio before any big changes happen!
One of the most-requested spaces to see more details of in our new house (can I still call it “new” if we’ve been here nearly 10 months?) is the backyard. I shared a little backyard tour a while ago over on YouTube, but I haven’t ever done a deep dive here on the blog.
Now that we’re officially in the middle of our first spring at this house, it felt like a great time to take a minute to immortalize the “before” of our back patio spaces. Because I’m itching to get out in the backyard this spring and summer, and that means some changes are imminent!
We’ve done very little to the backyard at our house so far, but we have brought out some furniture and made things cozier. So, first of all, let’s take it all the way back to move-in day so you can see what we were working with.
Our Back Patio: Before
There are two patios in the backyard (three if you count the small landing area in front of our storage shed). One is the big, main patio right off the kitchen (pictured above), and the other is a (much) smaller patio off my office. I’m really the only one who uses that one, and we’re using it as a bit of a “test run” for some of what I want to do on the main patio (more on that in a second).
Both patios have really seen better days. The concrete is stained and dingy looking, the awning for the big patio was installed way too low and is sagging. The lighting is ugly and florescent and there’s just not a lot of personality anywhere.
But we’re gonna fix all that.
My Mini Patio: The Plans
Let’s start with the plans for my little patio. This is what I plan to work on over the next few weeks because it’s basically my little guinea pig for some of the projects I want to tackle on the big patio.
Here’s what I’m thinking so far:
- I’m going to break up all the brown by painting the trim and doors black. I don’t love the brown siding all over the house but the paint is pretty new and I am not interested in a full house repaint anytime soon. But I think with some black accents it could look a lot more modern and clean.
- I’m going to stain the concrete patio floor. I debated this for a lonnnnnnng time because stain isn’t the permanent solution I want. I really want to tile the patio with a thin brick veneer. But that’s super pricey and a huge commitment. And, I have a strict rule for myself that I cannot take on any super major hard-to-reverse projects in the first year of living at a house. Concrete stain is cheap and pretty easy, and I can still tile over it if I want to someday.
- Next, I’ll swap out the florescent light (probably for a fan) and mayyyyybe paint the ceiling blue? I did this at our last house and loved it, but I’m not sure how it’ll look with all the brown. So, this one’s a hard “maybe”.
- And then, I’ll add all the plants. I have a giant planter just waiting for a fruit tree of some sort, along with some hanging planters waiting in the wings. I’ve even got a little hanging swing that I’m thinking about adding on one side of the patio, but I’m not committed to that yet.
The Main Patio: The Plans
Once my little patio is done, I’ll turn my attention to the main patio! Long-term, we’ll be ripping out the current awning to completely replace it, but that’s years (and years) down the road. For now, we’re just going to deal with what we’ve got.
The last time we talked about my back patio inspiration, I was still debating furniture for this space. Since then, I found this gorgeous couch and these super cozy chairs, and paired them with this low coffee table and this side table. The furniture fits the space perfectly and looks great with what we already had out there.
I feel great about the furniture setup and layout, but things still just feel a little dingy and dirty. I have a ton of plans for this space over time, but assuming all goes well on my mini patio, I plan to pretty much replicate the same projects over here this year. Stain the floors, paint the trim, get rid of those florescent lights.
And for now, that’s probably all that I’ll tackle. I really want to live with the space for a full summer before I make too many decisions! But, I think that will feel like a great start and will definitely make things feel a little more us.
Backyard Patio Accessories, Sources, & Links
Here’s a rundown of a few things we have and love for the patio that I haven’t linked yet:
- Closed Storage Cabinet
- Patio Fans
- Diamond Pattern Rug
- Patio Chairs
- Cordless Lamps
- Tablecloth
- And I’m using this table as a patio table but it’s very much not meant for outside so do that at your own risk.
You can see everything in my cart and what I’m still eyeing for the patio right here!