Shaking off the Winter Blues and Outfitting the Deck... {Home}

This deck was one of our first big renovations when we moved into this small white siding home in the summer of 2010...

I still remember when this handyman gave me a call and said, we're building a new deck right? After his heavy foot went through a deck board.

One day I'll dig up an unfortunate before shot.

This is how we found our deck after a cold winter... still in great shape and our patio furniture did well too.

You see those green lounge chairs? The previous owners left those behind in the backyard... just dirty and unloved.

The small table to the left came from Kijiji along with two fold up chairs. The other chairs are handy-me-downs from family.

So yes... a mismatch of patio furniture that did the trick for the last few years.

That is until we visited Ikea in the States... and you may recall from here that we came home with this Ransby table and this Karlso umbrella:

So our deck went from this:

To this: 

We've already had several meals at this Ransby table (which extends to accommodate a larger crowd) and we're delighted with the shade the umbrella provides... 

But the leaning umbrella required extra weight at the base to be purchased separately.

So a few quick texts later...

... this handyman had the umbrella secure to the deck boards. 

Out of the four options he sent me from Home Depot, I selected the dark grey slate patio stone which rung in at $6 each.

We weighed the options of drilling through the deck boards but these slate patio stones allow us to move the umbrella if we ever choose to do so, without leaving holes behind. 

My handyman snoozed nice and long on one of those lounge chairs, as the umbrella kept him cool and comfortable...

You may have noticed that colorful rug which we picked up in the States too... about a $60 purchase at Target. It's not your typical outdoor rug... it's an indoor/outdoor rug, so it's soft on your feet, and so far it's kept up with the outdoor conditions. 

I just give it a sweep every now and then.

While our outdoor space has a come a long way, there's still a few more tweaks we would like to make:

• Brush a protector over the Ransby table - it is made out of acacia wood
• Replace the loungers with a sectional or other alternative
• Replace mismatching chairs with a more colorful option
• Buy flower pots for the deck
• Plant flowers
• Purchase a white umbrella, to replace the brown, for the Ransby table

I love for the outdoors to feel like a comfortable extension of the indoors... 

How is your outdoor space coming along?