The Perfect Patio

Lori Cohen
by Lori Cohen
2 Materials
$250
9 Hours
Easy

When we moved into our house a little over a year and a half ago the backyard was a little overwhelming. Actually that is an understatement.. It was terrifyingly overwhelming! In our subdivision, we have an oddity of a backyard. It's almost a third of an acre! We have 10 separate houses with backyards that back up to ours! Being the crafty person I am I have been trying to figure out what to do. So I figured the best place to start was the patio. I did a couple things here in there. I put up a shiplap wall on one side to block the sun and on the other side a couple of boards that I wanted to build on once I figure it out what I was doing. Needless to say it was beige and boring. One of the great things we own is a portable hot tub. We had it in the back of our yard but because of the distance we rarely used it. So we decided to locate it off of our patio. Are funds right now are extremely limited. So my husband actually came up with a brilliant idea. Yes my uncrafty husband actually thought about a type of deck that we could put off of the patio that wouldn't cost us much money but would look nice. And his idea was to put two fence panels down with support underneath. So when you're looking at the picture to the left of our patio is that. It's the first installation of our wood slash deck / patio. We are also going to put another two fence panels in the front for our firepit. That project is listed on another page. On the main patio to make it look more dramatic we decided to paint it a very dark charcoal black. All of the beems, faccia, and ceiling were painted. We also stained the shiplap wall a beautiful cognac. Yhe best part of the patio is the stenciled floor. We chose a sand textured base with a black stencil. The how to's on this are on another page. We added some cafe lights and the entire thing looks amazing at night. And of course the hutch I built out of Michael's crates is still the center focal point of the patio. Hope you enjoy the before and afters! We love the dramatic finished area!

The finished patio!

The before. Beige and boring.

Super expansive area! And super ugly!

To the left of the patio are the two fence panels with a rug on top. Still working on finishing the base which will be a two by four playing all the way around the perimeter.

This Hutch is one of my first projects I posted on hometalk. I still love it and it looks great on the patio. In order to hang the TV above it I needed to add some support beams. I bought some two-by-fours and nail them into the fascia and then used Liquid Nails at the base to glue it to the concrete patio. Painted that charcoal black as well

My favorite part is the stenciled floor! It is so dramatic and stunning. Definitely not beige and boring any more! The how-to's will be listed in another project page.

Such a difference with a little bit of paint right?

love the start to our backyard! excited to keep building on it. I'm looking forward to sharing all of the details! Look for my post on stenciling floors and building a deck out of fence panels. Hope you like the new look!

Suggested materials:
  • Behr outdoor paint - Midnight Black   (Home Depot)
  • Thompson Stain - Cognac   (Walmart)
Frequently asked questions
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  1 question
  • SJ Lavold SJ Lavold on Dec 11, 2022

    What region do you live in? Depending on the water/drought situation, a future grass lawn may not be very practical. However, some grass patches are good because the roots keep the topsoil from blowing away. Have you considered building movable raised beds for growing flowers, ve goes and herbs? By making them movable, you can reposition them as you develop more ideas about your space.



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