Well, I got distracted. I started off working on my office makeover a little while back, but now I’m switching gears to the outside while it’s still summer. I figured that it would only make sense to do this in order to get this accomplished before it gets too cold – hopefully!

Our house was a foreclosure. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this, but I wanted to restate that before I show you the before pictures. The clutter on the back porch is, unfortunately, all ours though. It’s hard to stay motivated to keep the porch clear when there’s no time we actually want to spend out there at this point.

Here are the before pictures:

• View #1 – The “left” back of the house. As you can see, it’s pretty crummy looking right now. We have a big propane tank in the middle of our view and yard. I plan to get that moved to a more obscure area so that we can enjoy the area without actually noticing our ugly propane tank.
• View #2 – Another view of the “left” back patio. We actually have two patios. I’m not showing a full view of the entire back side of the house because I’m already working on some of the other patio and I didn’t want to reveal it. I’ll show a full view when I post that. But the big piece of concrete coming out of the left side used to be a kennel. We weren’t sure if we were going to just break it up, but we think we’re going to use it for a greenhouse. The entire back porch needs to be broken up and a deck or new patio put in, but we will probably do that later. This makeover is more for the smaller things that make it look good on a budget.
• View #3 – The “middle” of the back of the house. The door on the left in this photo lines up with the door on the right in the last two photos, just to give you an idea. This is an extra little patio that covers a little cellar area in our basement. It has “air holes” in it which I plan to cover up with a rug, but overall the concrete is in good shape, just a blank slate though.
• View #4 – The “right” of the back of the house. The left of this photo lines right up with the right of the last photo. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with this area. Probably plant bushes or plants along the edge of the house to add some interest at least. I really want to put up shutters too, but I’m not sure if we’ll get to that this year. We have so many other things on our plate. But we’ll see.

So there’s my blank slate of a back porch and patio. It’s pretty boring right now, which is why I think I’ve had a hard time getting started on it. I’ve been wanting to build a new deck or patio BEFORE even attempting to make this look good. But I decided that I just need to work with what I have so we can enjoy it sooner because we might not have the budget for a new deck/patio for several years. Here is my mood board so you can get an idea of the feel I’m going for:



As with my office makeover, this is just to give myself and you guys a rough idea of what I’m going for. Accessories and furniture might not be exactly the same when it all comes together, but this is the feel I’m going for. For the patio in View #3, I plan on putting a lattice fence around 3/4 of the perimeter to give a more private feeling. I also have some other things cooked up, and plan on using the patio set I found on CraigsList. You can see it in the first two views already, but it’s not completed yet.

Some of the my inspiration for the area:
Image Credits: 1) romantichome.blogspot.com 2) bhg.com 3) Country Home Magazine 4) romantichome.blogspot.com 5) aubreyandlindsay.blogspot.com 6) younghouselove.com

I just love Cindy @ Romantic Home’s beautiful back patio. In the daytime (#1) it is so enchanting with all the accessories, plants, and fabrics, and in the evening (#4) it is so charming with the mood lighting. So pretty.

The lattice in #2 and #5 reminds me of the area I want to create out of my patio, private and cozy, yet letting in all the light possible.

I LOVE the idea of having a chandelier outside in #3. If I can convince my husband, I would love to do this over our little dinette set CraigsList find. That would be so pretty.

I don’t know if we have the space, but I would love to create a place for a hammock. That would be just so awesome to lay out there and read or work. I also love the chimenea and if my hubby would let me, I would love to sub out the firepit for that.

So there’s my plan for the back porch and patio. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish this before the end of summer. I will keep you guys posted on the upcoming projects and what we’re working on.