Patio Perk Up

Good morning, everyone! I hope you had a great weekend.

A couple of days ago I admitted that I was trying not to envy other peoples’ patios.

Well…instead of envying them, I thought I would try to fall more in love with my own.

Since covering our existing concrete patio with tumbled stone pavers was not in our budget (sigh), I looked for other ways I could make our humble little space a little more inviting.

Here is our patio before:

And this is what I did.

For the seating area (on the left side of the patio):

• I dragged out our paprika-colored chair cushions
• bought two outdoor throw pillows on sale at Target
• moved the toys out of the picture (just keepin’ it real until I can find a covered toy container for cheap!)
• bought a $10 hanging plant, took the hanger off and set it on this itty-bitty little plant stand.

Here is what it looked like before:

and here is what it looks like now:

For the dining area:

• I bought an umbrella earlier this year after stalking casually searching several different stores to find one that was the right size at the right price. Oh, and it had to match our existing paprika-colored cushions. Not an easy task.
• I also bought a $2 round vinyl tablecloth from Goodwill that can keep food from attracting any more ants that already live in our yard add ambience to our alfresco meals. I simply found the center of the tablecloth and cut a small curve in it so it would fit around our umbrella.
• Shocked at the cost of cute plastic plates at Target and Walmart, I went to the dollar store. I found plain white (which goes perfectly with everything!).
• Picked up more plants. Let’s see how long they last in my care. I so wish I had a green thumb.

Here is what the dining area looks like now:

Yep, I know it needs some of that paprika color to tie the two spaces together. Maybe I’ll make some cloth napkins to make it pop more. Still working on that one:)

And here the other corner of the patio where I added still more plants. Somebody stop me.

All in all, I’m really happy with how it turned out. (My husband even noticed, which is huge!)

I used (mostly) what I had and then added a few things to fill in the gaps.

I’d still like to add in some more lights so we can sit outside in the evening after the boys go to bed. I have some ideas on how to make your own for cheap that I’ll share later this week:)