One of my favorite things to do growing up was to relax outside. I loved to sit in my parents hammock reading and enjoying the summer evenings. Even right now I LOVE to sit out on my parents back patio. There is something so relaxing about being outside, breathing the fresh air and being away from the world. I decided I wanted to create a space in my own backyard that I could enjoy, spend time in, and create memories with my family. Our backyard and patio are pretty small so I had the challenge of creating a relaxing space in a small area. I knew we could still transform it into something relaxing and enjoyable.
Above is what the patio looked like before. We had our grill, ugly glass table, a few chairs, and a weird fire pit placed on the patio. It was far from relaxing and cute. I had envisioned creating two spaces, a place to eat at and a place to relax.
The focal point of this project was this table. It was the very first thing I had thought about doing when transforming our patio. We are on a very tight budget over here with my husband in school and me just becoming a stay at home mom. I knew I had to come up with something inexpensive. If you look into buying a new patio table they are hundreds of dollars so that was not an option for us. I needed to figure out something very cheap but cute. I then looked into making a pallet table. My original plan was to make the entire thing out of pallet boards, which would have been completely free. I then talked to my dad about making the table and he started brainstorming and he helped me come up with a plan on how to make the table we made. We ended up buying some wood to make the base of the table so it would be sturdy and last. We used the pallet boards for the top and the shelf on the table. My dad and I designed it and made it together. It was such a fun project to do together and inexpensive! We spent less than $40 on this table! Seriously the cutest most inexpensive table you can get. We are working on a DIY post on how to make this table so stay tuned.
I absolutely love the rustic look that the boards from pallets add to the table. The top is my favorite part of the table. It was just what I had envisioned.
We created this shelf on the table to add some support and to create a place to store plants or to display cute decorative items. The feet on the legs were something we thought of about halfway into making the table. My mom remembered she had some leftover feet from a project she done years ago. She pulled them out and they went perfect with the table.
To set the table I wanted to create a romantic feeling with candles. Basically all the decorations we used on the patio were repurposed from somewhere else. The hens and chicks I had already had planted in a planter so i transplanted them into these white pots that I had inside. The metal lantern was a decoration from my wedding reception.
For the seating at the table my mom found, and gifted us this adorable bench from Wayfair that I thought fit perfectly with the table. I absolutely love the bench. Don’t worry I have the perfect spot for it inside during the winter months.
We still needed more seating at the table so we headed out to our favorite stores (thrift stores) in search for two more chairs. I spotted these old wood chairs that I thought would look perfect with the table. I wasn’t liking the look of the wood on them so I knew I wanted to paint them. I had envisioned painting them to match the metal on the bench so it all flowed together.
I think we got the look of old metal chairs and I love them! They don’t match exactly with the bench but they still turned out cute! I will do a post in the future to show how I got this metal look. In the above picture you can also see the details in the rug. This rug is from mine and Justin’s first house. We bought it for $20 at a discount store. When we moved to this house we never used it and just had it stored away. My mom remembered it and pulled it out and thought it would be perfect for the patio. I thought it matched the concrete color too closely so I thought it would be fun to paint a design on it. I added these grey stripes to the rug and I think it adds some cute personality.
Once we had the table all built, I still wanted to create a seating area on the patio but was drawing a blank on what to do with little money.
My mom, like I mentioned earlier, is a thrift store shopper. She went to her local thrift store one morning and saw some awesome patio furniture. She called me and told me to go check it out. I went and fell in love with these patio chairs instantly. I sat in them and fell even more in love. They bounce and were so comfortable.
The chairs were originally black, which I liked. I wanted to keep them black but my mom had the idea of painting them white. Now that the patio is done I am so glad we painted them white . I think they match the table and make everything flow together.
I found these adorable textured pillows at Marshalls for a great deal. They make the chairs even more comfortable.
Like I mentioned ealier we tried to decorate with things that we already had, with a few new additions. The awesome huge lantern is one my mom found on decorsteals.com and I love it in this space. The striped blanket I found at TJ Maxx. I had gift card leftover from my birthday that I used on the blanket(yay!). All the plants that you see on the patio we found on clearance or got a great deal on. We found them all at Lowe’s, The Home Depot, and Walmart. This is why creating a patio at the end of the summer season is such a great idea, almost everything patio related is on clearance.
The basket was one we already had and filled with clearance plants from Walmart. We also already had the lantern in the basket and the geometric accessories. It’s fun to find items you already have and combine them into a new space.
The finishing touch to the space were these outdoor patio lights. A back patio wouldn’t be complete without strung lights. My mom had these Edison bulbed hanging lights leftover from her back patio and gave them to me to use. I don’t have an awning to hang them from so I had to figure out how to hang them. We got the idea to cement pvc pipe into pots and connect hooks to hang the lights off of. When we first hung the lights they made the pvc pipe bend and I was all stressed out and sad it didn’t work out. For the time being we tied a string to the posts and placed a stake in the ground to hold them straight up. Eventually I am going to make posts out of wood that won’t bed over. For now the lights will have to be held up with the pvc pipes being anchored to the grass.
I had to add some pictures of the patio at night with the cute romantic lighting.
Thanks for taking the time to read my long post. This patio turned out even cuter than I ever thought it would. I would like to thank my husband for allowing me to work many hours on these projects and my mom and dad for helping me with them. I am so excited to spend time out on this patio for the remainder of the summer and into the fall. I had a lot of fun creating this fun space, and I hope this space inspires you to create your own relaxing outdoor oasis.