This is the best time of year to be outside in my book. I literally find myself wanting to take a picture every day of the clouds. You know I love fall, so I won’t gush too much. Something key to enjoying the outdoors is having a comfortable space to watch the kids, relax, sit, and just be.
We have been trying to sell our house for about two months now. The other week, before an open house, I literally had an idea to do a makeover under our deck. It was one of those ideas that once it came, I had a hard time wondering why I hadn’t thought of it before. I vaguely remember searching pinterest pictures for under the deck patio makeovers when we bought our house, but then life happened. That makeover never happened till now, and it needed it. Here was the before.
Pretty plain right? Not a mess, but definitely not inviting. We have had amazing feedback on our house. If there is a complaint it is the size of the backyard. I am hoping this little makeover helps it sell.
Since the idea came to me late in the day, I had about 24 hours to fix it up. I’m telling you, I used a lot of spraypaint
I had an old bench and chair sitting in my basement gifted from a friend who knew I could do something with them. I used a beautiful color of Rustoleum spray paint and went to town on them. It took less than two cans of paint with a few light layers drying complete between each coat.
Please forgive me for not wearing a mask, we were outside and it was quick light coats, but you should wear a mask. Let’s not even mention that I’m doing this in my PJ’s… thanks!
I ran a couple of errands to get some supplies. My goal was to brighten up the space and make it feel warm for less. I started with two outdoor rugs from Five and Below. I went for the pink and love it. I placed them next to each other to create one larger rug and it worked great.
Next, we made a coffee table. I got cement blocks at Home Depot. It was my work out for day to load those in the van and then unload them and carry them around to the back yard. Matt helped make me make a simple top. He picked some different width boards we had lying around and braced them together with two boards screwed in below. Next, he he did a light/quick spray paint over the boards using a different color on each board. Then he did a light coat of stain over it and quickly wiped it off. I love how the stain muted the colors a little bit and blended them together.
I had a log that I had taken from my parents’ wood pile sitting in the garage. My initial idea was to create a little wood log end table with it, like the one I did for Reagan’s nightstand, but it worked great for this makeover project. Matt was excited to see it leave the garage as well. Win, win! I brushed two coats of polyurethane on it, used a table top from Home Depot (that I spray-painted lime green) and laid it on top. It was a simple and cheap end table!
I bought a few plain boring planters, primed them, and then spray painted the bottom half hot pink. I intended to go back and paint the tops black, but I forgot about that until seeing these pictures. 🙂 Opps!
Mums do a lot to make a space feel happy and friendly. I love the color they add as well! Next, I bought a few hanging plants on clearance at Wal-mart for $2.50 each. Matt rigged up an old yellow chain, and we hung them up from our deck. If you are wanting some fun white lights for outdoors, run to Wal-mart. I bought four boxes for $5.00 each. They are fun, white lights that can be used indoors or outdoors. I want to go back and get more. They are in the Christmas section. I’m not being paid to say this at all. What a great deal though, right!? My last set of white lights I bought for Reagan’s room were easily $12-$15. I got sidetracked 🙂 back to my makeover.
I found this cute kitchen rug at Wal-Mart as well. You might remember I bought a few when I made my carpet bag. This one I decided to use outside. I sprayed a couple of coats of Rustoleum’s waterproof spray on it (letting it dry completely between each coat).
I’ve made a lot of wreath’s, but this cute one for $3.00 at Target got me. It was cheap, cute, and I don’t care if it gets rained on and ruined. It didn’t take me any time.
We are loving our new area. It is so bright and cheerful. It’s a much better seat to enjoy looking out at the woods and watching my kids play.
Of course this makeover got me thinking bigger. I’d love to put a big wall art to hang above the bench and some metal sheets to cover the under deck to make it waterproof. Hopefully though someone else will fall in love with this house (including this area) and I will be blessed to not have to keep creating at this house.
We were pretty sad that no one at the open house fell in love with this space and gave us an offer. I know God has a plan, and we are trying to persevere until we know it. What is the craziest thing you have ever done to sell a house? Did you ever makeover a space quickly too!?
I hope I can keep these flowers alive until the house sells. Otherwise everything else created here, can go with us to Indiana. I did this in a about 8 hours with four kids in tow. You can do so much more than you think, if you just go for it.
Would you have gone bold and bright with the colors too!? I walk outside and the colors just make me smile. When a space does that to you, I think it’s a good sign you accomplished what you set out to do.
Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you have a great day and get to use you imagination this week!
Disclosure: There is an amazon affiliate link in this post. I was not paid anything buy Walmart or Rustoluem for this post. I truly just want to spell out where I got everything, so you can make a space you love for less too!
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