a brick patio

when we moved into this house 2 years ago, we knew it would be a constant work in progress.  and we love that.  we love making this place our own and learning new things along the way.

one of the things that drew us to this house was our back porch.  it's right off the kitchen and completely covered.  i blogged about it last spring in this post.  it's like another room.

we haven't done much to the porch since we've moved in.  added furniture, strung some lights and that's about it.

to the far right of the porch, there are steps that lead down to our backyard.  as soon as we moved in, we new this area was going to need some work.

exhibit A which i blogged about here:

every time you went into the back yard, you had to duck.  there were these random beams that prevented you from easily getting into the back yard.

we quickly realized that this section of the deck served no structural purpose, so we knew it had to go.

bye bye!

next problem to address?  safety.  we needed a hand rail.

done.

now, the lack of grass and appeal when you went down the stairs.  when ever it rained, this area became a mud pit.  so, last fall, the hubs laid first brick patio.

as you may have noticed, i've got myself a pretty handy man!!  =)

we used it some last fall.  roasting marshmallows and grilling.  but we couldn't wait until this spring when we could really take advantage of it!

as soon as i could, i planted some flowers and shaun got me some awesome green adirondack chairs for mother's day! we moved the grill and i added a random pallet in it's place for more flowers.

such an improvement, right???

we are probably outside everyday that it doesn't rain.  we love it out here.

but i felt like it was still missing something....

we were given this rod iron table and chairs a few years ago by shaun's dad.  it's a great set.  and very neutral...

it's just blends in with the brick patio.  so, the cooks got daring!

 

 

and i'm OBSESSED!!!

it's called peacock blue.  it's made by valspar and it's their outdoor, no rust spray paint.

i also made some pillows today too with some fabric i already had.  

i couldn't believe how well it matched.  i had to make pillows, right?!?!

i LOVE our back yard now.  i can't believe how far it's come in just 2 years.  (and yes, we added this playset this year too).  

from this...

to this...

we even added more lights.  we had some strung around the covered porch, but now they are hang over the brick patio too!

isn't it lovely?  

and see that swing on the porch?  2 things.  1 - i'm blogging from there right now.  and 2 - it got a little make-over too.

it used to be just brown wood.  no treatment, nothing fancy, just a brown wood swing.

so yesterday when we were at lowes, i found a quart of mis-tint paint for $2.50.  what do you think?

i've only put 1 coat on so far, and i think i like it...

kind of rustic, right?  i don't think i want a really "finished" look, but i'm also kind of worried it looks like i'm only half way finished.

be honest - what do you think??

SO - do you want to come over for a party???  we love to grill out and can't wait to be outside even more this summer!

it even smells good here!  i planted a gardenia bush this spring and love everything about it.

awwwww.  the smell of DIY!!  ;)