Patio furniture… Finally!

We finally invested and got a patio dining set.  We are thrilled, I don’t think we have eaten one meal inside since. This was not an easy decision though, we have been quite the patio furniture shoppers. We spent a Saturday searching for something that would work in our space.  We first hit up Home depot and debated getting this…

I really liked the look of it and the price was pretty good at $479, but we weren’t sold.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t purchase something without looking a couple places to make sure I am getting the best deal, so we headed to BJ’s.  Justin had seen a patio set there that he wanted to show me…

This thing is huge! Seating for 8, it was very nice, but pretty pricey at $999.  We really weren’t looking to spend that much and we really do not need seating for 8.   It had a nice tile top and it is bar height.  We measured it and it turned out it would just fit in our patio, but you might have trouble when trying to get in and out of your seat if you’re sitting near the screen.  We would prefer to be comfortable and not have to suck in our guts to scooch out of our seats.  So we moved on and headed to Lowe’s aka our second home.  That’s where we found this guy…

We love it.  It’s so pretty and comfortable. So we snatched it up and purchased it for $498. Guess what else, we got it home and it fits perfectly.  We now even can have more that two guests over for dinner(our kitchen table only seats 4) Woot woot!  Here she is in her new home(yes it’s a girl)…

Yay.

Fits so well.

I also think it matches our other patio chairs nicely.

While at Lowe’s we also got a new plant.

Pretty sweet right?  It’s called a yucca plant.  I hope I don’t kill it!  I have trouble keeping plants alive, usually I over water them.  I am going to try my best with the yucca and hopefully it will live a long happy life.

We are moving along with finishing up the patio area and that means updated list!

Patio to do list:

1. screen patio. 
2. replace fan.
3. texture drywall.
4. paint patio and doors.
5. tile and grout floor.
6. find patio furniture.
7. enjoy!

Getting pretty close to being finished with this space!

Laying Pavers

As you hopefully already know, you should not grill in an enclosed area.  AKA we cannot use the big green egg in our patio.  This is how we have been dealing with this dilemma…

Yes, that is a piece of particle board.  You don’t have to tell us we are high class… we know.  Also as you can see, Char man was checking out how fancy the particle board was as well.  Would you like another view of our set up?

We just put the particle board next to the door and wheeled that heavy sucker right out of the patio.  From there we can grill safely.   If we didn’t put something sturdy in the yard to put the egg on it would sink right into the grass.  The egg is like 200 pounds, pretty hefty.  I was digging the particle board, but Justin decided pavers might look a little nicer.  So it is time to part with the particle board and move on.   Justin picked out these pavers from Lowe’s.

Then from there he built a two sided wood frame to place against the patio in the size he wanted the area to be.  This made it so he knew how much he needed to dig and where he needed to dig.  Then he started removing the sod in that area.  He also dug out some of the soil so the pavers would be level with the patio.   From there he poured in a layer of sand.

He used a rake to get the sand spread and level.

Once the sand was in he started laying the pavers, making sure they were level with the patio as he went.  Once all of the pavers were in place, he poured on another layer of sand.  He then swept the sand into all of the spaces between the pavers.

He’s so talented.

Now the egg has a nice solid area to live on.

Love it.

The excess sand will eventually wash away.  It is almost completely gone already.   Here’s a close up.

I love that the area doesn’t take up too much of our already small yard, but is big enough to grill and hang out on.

Painting the patio

Next on the list for the patio was painting, so that’s what I did.  Since the wall connecting the patio and the house is now textured, it was time to paint.  So we brought a piece of siding to Lowe’s and had them match the color perfectly for the outdoor paint.  We wanted the patio to be a perfect match so it didn’t look odd next to the siding on the back of the house.  Did you know you can bring anything in to Lowe’s and they can create a paint to the exact color of that object?  Pretty sweet huh?  After getting the outdoor paint home, I got going on the project.

Yes, that is what I look like/what I wear when I paint.  And… yes I am wearing two long sleeve shirts.  I think I picked the coldest day of the last few months to paint the outdoor room.

Justin even helped out(a little.)  Can’t say he is as excited about painting as I am. Although I can sometimes manage to get him to help, but he will roll and that’s it.  I do the trim, taping and edging in.  I am just grateful when he will help for big projects!

Did I mention that I have never painted an outdoor space, let alone the outside of a house?  Well as you can sort of tell from the photos these walls are textured, REALLY textured.  I had quite the time getting in all of the small nooks and crannies.  Somehow I managed.

I think it turned out pretty good.

Matches perfect. Go Lowe’s!

Can’t wait to get some tile on that floor!  But I wasn’t done painting just yet…

These guys needed a fresh coat of paint badly.

Gross.

And more gross.  That’s after scrubbing them down, yuck!

Much better!  So far the patio has come a long way from this…

Still have a few things on the list:

1. screen patio. 
   
2. replace fan.
3. texture drywall.
4. paint patio and doors.
5. tile and grout floor.
6. find patio furniture.
7. enjoy!

Texturizing the patio walls

Since Justin and Kent finished up the screen for the patio, the wall that they took the siding off ended up looking like this…

The next step was to texturize that wall so we could begin painting.  So Kent stopped by and gave a quick lesson on how to texturize the wall and he dropped off a few cans of this…

This stuff is awesome.  Basically it sprays out as a foam like plaster.  It sprays on kind of bubbly like an “orange peel” texture.  We wanted it a little less bubbly so after spraying it on I used a putty knife to flatten out a bit.

There I am in action.  I used a piece of cardboard to block the screen and ceiling when spraying close to those areas.

Once I finished you could still see the green outdoor drywall, but it was mostly covered in the texture spray.  Here is a close up.

Perfect for an outdoor wall! It is a messy process though!

AH!

New fan for the patio

Remember this guy?

Pretty sick ceiling fan right?  Even though it’s pretty awesome, we decided it might be time for an upgrade.  Justin hauled that guy to the street and he purchased a new outdoor ceiling fan from Lowe’s.  Next thing I knew this was happening…

Let me tell you, Justin did not have a good time installing this bad boy.  He called his dad a couple times, turned the power on and off, and on and off.  After a couple hours finally the fan and the light were both working.

Here’s some fun shots of him working oh so hard…

and here it is all pretty and hung!

And that light isn’t just for show, oh no, it works!

Such an improvement!

Screening the patio! woo hoo

I woke up at 7:30am yesterday, in my opinion that is not late.  To Kent and Justin, I slept in.  I woke up to them already hard at work prepping our patio to install screens! Yay!

Charlie was project manager for the day.

They began with tearing out any siding that was under the covered patio.

Within minutes, bam! No more siding, only tyvek.  I know you’re on the edge of your seat, you need to know what happened next….

Well, from there Justin stood like this for a while, while Kent screwed the metal framing for the screen into place.  They made their way around the patio measuring out the right size framing for each wall of the patio.  Next thing I knew it looked like this…

Yes, that is a dog door.  Much needed in this home.  Once all the metal frame was cut and in place, they began installing the screen.  This is apparently the tedious part of the project.  Some hours later this is where they were at…

Oh yea! That is a screened in corner. Here’s some more screen for ya..

Plus some more glorious screen.

Once the screen was all in place, they went on to install outdoor drywall where they took down the siding.  Which looks like this…

Kent is apparently a master of all trades.  If you need something done in your home, chances are Kent knows how to do it.  I can clean or paint all day long, ask me to install a screen patio or some drywall and you’re outta luck.

There he is spackling away!

Here’s some more.

This post makes this job seem like a piece of cake, but this was an all day project.  Kent and Justin worked their butts off and I am very grateful for their hard work.  This patio now looks amazing and I am so excited to have the extra enclosed living space.

I am so thrilled that we can now leave our french doors open and not have to worry about little critters and bugs getting into our house.

There are still a few things to tackle before the patio is complete:

1. Texture the drywall.
2. Paint the finished drywall and surrounding posts a comparable color to the siding.
3. Tile and grout the patio floor.
4. Find outdoor furniture with table large enough to eat at.
5. Enjoy our new living area!

Big Green Egg

Justin has been itching to buy a grill for a long time.  So without further ado….

He bought a big green egg.  He was having trouble deciding whether to purchase a regular grill and spend a little less or just get what he wants(aka the big green egg.)  I told him he should just get the egg because if he bought a normal grill he would end up still wanting a big green egg, and buying one eventually.  Then we would end up with a grill we do not need AND a big green egg.   Here is it in action…

Pretty exciting huh?

It does make amazing food,  Everything that comes off of it is so juicy.  Overall I think it was a great investment on Justin’s part.  As for now the egg is living on out back patio, eventually Justin plans to buy some pavers and make a little outdoor spot where it can live.   I think we all know that I will keep you updated.