I've blogged about my backyard many times before, but I've never officially finished it off and polished up the space.  Because our yard is so tiny I had to be very strategic about how I used it and what I included.   But recently I gave the back patio a HUGE makeover and I can't wait to share the results with you, I love it so much!

Since we have such perfect weather for indoor-outdoor living I decided to go with an outdoor living/dining space instead of something more causal like a fire pit or lounge chairs :



Also since we grill outside so much, it is nice to have a place to sit and eat instead of sitting inside at the kitchen table.

To make the patio more formal (and feel like an outdoor living room) the first thing I did was encase the A/C unit with a louvered screen (I've full tutorial on how I built it before)


I added outdoor seating (my x-leg bench with crate storage was one, and a little bistro table was the other.) The bench is PERFECT since all the kids outdoor toys are hidden away, but easily in reach when they want to play in the yard.



To make the area seem brighter and less dated, I primed and painted the pergola.  The old brown was so outdated, and one of the posts had recently replaced due to termite damage.  (That is why one post is grey in this ‘before’ photo) The white color makes the entire area feel bigger:


The process was pretty tedious, but totally worth it.  The pergola makeover itself, was part of a campaign I worked on with Behr. You can see my full story on the Behr website.



I also installed lighting which means we can use the space even after the sun goes down:

Our gas grill is hidden away under some climbing Wisteria. I just roll it out whenever I want to grill.

Overall, we just love the new space.  It is like adding another room onto the house.   A perfect place to spend my mornings with a cup of coffee.