Our Backyard Patio Makeover

If you follow me on Snapchat (I'm katevonskunkboy), you've probably seen WAY too many snaps of this tiny space.  When we first moved into this house, all of the extra bikes and plastic play toys and things like that landed here.  One sweaty day, I got fed up with how much clutter we had around the house and decided to start selling off bikes we weren't using and baby toys that Poe has obviously outgrown.  Once I had embraced that freeing-purging thing, I unearthed our back patio.  I knew immediately that this would be a space to host many fire pit nights and friend hangs.
Let's take a peek at how it looked before:


This space is cute.  It wasn't like, "Ugh.  My eyes!"  But.  My first issue was that our old fire pit was too large for the space and people were cracking their shins on the corners.  Ouch!  Plus, it didn't really match the rest of the decor.  It's a pretty classic looking pit, and I wanted something a little more neutral.  The chairs I got from Elsie's garage sale before she moved and the rug and grill were left here for us.  So... using many of the resources I already had (saving those dollars, man), how would I make this space more... Katie/Skunkboy-esque?


The first thing I did in the space was replace the polka dots with some color.  I knew I wanted this area to feel fun and colorful, so a rainbow fence was the obvious choice.  I toyed with painting the large wall rainbow as well, but ultimately I decided it would feel too overwhelming in such small patio.  Once the fence was painted, the black bench felt much too dark.  And hot.  It got SO stinking hot when the sun was out.  Oof.


I chose mint for the bench because it's light and airy, and Johnny and I spent many super sweaty nights painting the beige-y/grey walls a clean white.  Flamingos were obviously a must, and I dumped a whole bunch of wildflower seeds in the side yard.  Plants and flowers just make everything lovelier.  It's a fact.  We ended up selling our old fire pit for cheap, and bought this small, cute guy from Lowe's.  It's the perfect size for our marshmallow roasting nights!


I love the way our back patio is coming together.  I obviously have more to tackle, like getting some plants for those hanging pots and finishing up with the rest of the white paint, but I thought it was time to share my progress... you know, before everyone's all pumpkin spice/fall everything and I'm like, "Look at my summery patio!"  ;)

Now!  It's time to plan my next patio night with friends!  xo.