All posts filed under: Patio

Neutral Patio Decor

Published by

Initially, I bought pillows to coordinate with the fabric of the outdoor sofa. A little back story on the outdoor sofa: we moved from North Dakota where Colter (our dog) lived inside. He liked to lay on the sofa and in an attempt to successfully transition him to an outside dog, I decided that he needed an outdoor sofa. My mom took me to a discount fabric store where we found some outdoor fabric and foam and someone to make a bench seat and pillow covers. Matt made the sofa based on the bench cushion dimensions. Last year, I started ignoring the brightly colored sofa cushions and bought orange decor for fall and red and green decor for Christmas. The back door was an eye soar and originally planned to replace it but I eventually chose the cheaper option: paint. The front door is black so I decided to paint the back door black too. I sanded and scraped and painted the frame and the door. Matt installed new hinges and weather stripping. In addition …

Patio Door Makeover

Published by

The old sea foam green back door has been a thorn in my side. My original plan was to install a new dutch door and frame but instead of spending $3000, I spent $50 on paint and liquid masking. It made a huge difference! This back door has been driving me insane since we first moved into the house. It is the original back door, so I understand it is old. It is also the door right off the driveway so I am sure even before us, it was used frequently (we rarely use the front door). The usage and age was definitely showing and it was time to replace it or repaint it. BEFORE As I sanded and scraped the door, I found traces of three different colors. It’s an old door but like most things, paint makes things look new. I purchased a new door handle and deadbolt but this old door has issues and the new handle did not work well so I just cleaned the old one and re-installed it. There …

Backyard Projects

Published by

In addition to inside projects, we have been working on the backyard as well. When we started looking for our first home, a big backyard was one of our priorities because we have an 85 pound dog. Our realtor found this home and even though it did not have the big open backyard, we really loved it and we liked the covered patio and pool, which we have really enjoyed and our dog seems to be pretty happy with it too. The pool has required some work but I’m sure we and the dog will appreciate it when it’s 90 degrees. Initial Updates The portion of the yard with the pool was fenced in but that included the grassy areas so we needed to fence in just the pool not an entire portion of the yard. So my husband built a wooden fence to meet up with the mesh fence the former owners put up, only blocking off the pool (eventually, he will replace the mesh fencing with more wooden fencing). In order to transition …