A few weeks ago, I came home from work with a husband who had a twinkle in his eye and the giddiness of a 3rd grader up to no good.
"I've got an idea," he told me. Oh boy. I never know what to expect with this one. His idea - which turned out to be fantastic - was to transform our back patio area into something we'd actually use. We've never really spent much time out there. For one, it's ridiculously hot and buggy and muggy in the summer, and two, we didn't ever expect to be in this house for a super long time so we didn't want to do anything too elaborate. But now that Lailey is older and loves playing on her swing set, we really want a nice place to sit and relax while outside.
Come to think of it, this probably all started last year. If you didn't know, my husband is very resourceful. He can be mistaken as "cheap" at times, but a lot of times he's brilliant. He wanted a gas grill. So what did he do? He found a FREE grill on Craigslist, drove over 2 HOURS, AT NIGHT, brought it home, and it now sits on our back patio. And it works! And it's not hideous! One of his prouder resourcefulness moments. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. He started collecting all the stuff around the house that he didn't want or he's collected from yard sales and listed it on Ebay. A few days and several sales later, he'd gotten enough to start the patio project.
His first idea was a shade sail (pics to come). This is a cheap and easy way to make shade virtually anywhere. We found pictures online and youtube videos. That was what prompted the hammock idea. We purchased our hammock in Cancun on our honeymoon. We hung it a few times between two trees in our backyard but never did much with it past that. So now we can use it again.
Next, he found an amazing deal on 4 plastic chairs and a table on Craigslist. Of course, he had to drive an hour and a half, but he came home as proud as ever. The set was 20 years old (!) but it was so well made back then and taken care of that it looks almost brand new. And it's comfortable too.
A few trips to Lowe's for hardware, and he's up and running. Digging holes, pouring concrete, measuring and re-measuring. He loves a good "man project."
All in all it didn't cost much, and he paid for it all by selling stuff. I'm super proud of him. It's been a fun couple of days being outside and seeing it come all together. Check out the before and after pictures!
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| First dinner outside |
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| Relaxing |
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| Fun in the hammock |
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| BEFORE |
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| AFTER!!! |
A few weeks ago, I came home from work with a husband who had a twinkle in his eye and the giddiness of a 3rd grader up to no good. "I've got an idea," he told me. Oh boy. I never know what to expect with this one. His idea - which turned out to be fantastic - was to transform our back patio area into something we'd actually use. We've never really spent much time out there. For one, it's ridiculously hot and buggy and muggy in the summer, and two, we didn't ever expect to be in this house for a super long time so we didn't want to do anything too elaborate. But now that Lailey is older and loves playing on her swing set, we really want a nice place to sit and relax while outside. 
Come to think of it, this probably all started last year. If you didn't know, my husband is very resourceful. He can be mistaken as "cheap" at times, but a lot of times he's brilliant. He wanted a gas grill. So what did he do? He found a FREE grill on Craigslist, drove over 2 HOURS, AT NIGHT, brought it home, and it now sits on our back patio. And it works! And it's not hideous! One of his prouder resourcefulness moments. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. He started collecting all the stuff around the house that he didn't want or he's collected from yard sales and listed it on Ebay. A few days and several sales later, he'd gotten enough to start the patio project. 
His first idea was a shade sail (pics to come). This is a cheap and easy way to make shade virtually anywhere. We found pictures online and youtube videos. That was what prompted the hammock idea. We purchased our hammock in Cancun on our honeymoon. We hung it a few times between two trees in our backyard but never did much with it past that. So now we can use it again.
Next, he found an amazing deal on 4 plastic chairs and a table on Craigslist. Of course, he had to drive an hour and a half, but he came home as proud as ever. The set was 20 years old (!) but it was so well made back then and taken care of that it looks almost brand new. And it's comfortable too. 
A few trips to Lowe's for hardware, and he's up and running. Digging holes, pouring concrete, measuring and re-measuring. He loves a good "man project." 
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1 comment:
Sarah, what a great blog! I will have to check out some more of it later. Love the backyard- The kiddos will enjoy it for years to come :)
Blessings,
Shana Mullis
- check out my blogs if you get a chance - www.3lilchickadees.blogspot.com is my personal blog and www.ksrus.blogspot.com is our family blog. I just love blogging :)
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