Patio Makeover

Back in 2011 we bought wooden deck furniture for the backyard. And we loved that furniture very much. Even the dogs loved it. But over time, the factory finish wore off, the wood started to weather, and it needed to be refinished.

So two years ago I took a week of vacation time and spruced it up. I sanded down each of the chairs, tables, and loveseat, restained them, and gave them a few coats of varathane.

But even with storing and covering the furniture up each winter, it started peeling again this spring. Add to that the fact that it seems to rain at least twice a week here, and we never had dry cushions to sit on. It just didn't seem worth it anymore.

So we started to look around for something new. What we really wanted were chairs that didn't need cushions, but we couldn't find anything that was both comfortable and nice to look at.

Enter the new kids...

We found a "conversation set" at Home Depot that we (I) really liked. Yes, I know, it has cushions. But they are made of a higher quality material than the old ones, so I was willing to give them a chance.

I specifically looked for a patio set with only chairs. That's not so easy to find - almost everything comes with a loveseat nowadays. That's fine when you have it all to yourself, but not always so fun when there's a group and you're sharing the space.

While we were trying them out in the store, Tom mentioned we could buy tarps and I could fashion covers for the chairs for when we weren't using them. That way we wouldn't have to find a place to store them. I felt like an idiot - why didn't we think of that for the old set?

One huge difference with these new chairs is that they're made of metal, so no worries of peeling varnish and weathered wood. And if the metal gets some scratches or dings we can just give it a quick coat of spray paint and it'll be as good as new.

Look how thick and cushy that seat is. This is a spot that is comfortable to hang out in.

And the round centre table is big enough to hold food and drinks for everyone. There's even a shelf underneath for magazines or whatever we need to tuck away while the top is being used.

We still have our outdoor fold-down bar as well, though I'll be completely honest and show you that the top has not held up to our punishing weather. (Go ahead, zoom in, I don't mind.)

It has been through 3 full years of sun, rain, and snow though, so it's to be expected I guess. I'd advise anyone building their own to hang it in a protected area if you don't want to have to refinish it.

The inside is still as good as new though. We love having this space-saver.

The rest of the backyard is our big project this summer. First we're going to enclose the bottom of the deck to keep the dogs out from under there, but we'll put in a door so that we can still use the space for storage. Then we're going to pull up all of the old grass, put in new dirt, level it up, and re-sod. We've had a terrible time keeping grass growing - having dogs doesn't help - so we thought it was time to get a good solid base in first and go from there. Then maybe we can tackle that terrible, peeling fence that's in the background of all of my photos.

We always have a dozen projects on the go - hopefully we'll get time (and enough good weather) to enjoy our new patio!