Patio Project - Part 1

We started our first big project here at the new house last weekend - our backyard patio makeover! We have been in this house for almost 6 months and while we have done little things here and there, it feels really good to find ourselves with motivation and creative juices that are flowing again. Last year was a whirlwind to say the least. We did a lot of projects at our first house in preparation of the Junior League Tour of Kitchens, right after that we found out I was pregnant and then right after that we began the process of selling that first house and buying this one. Needless to say when we made the big move in October we were TIRED and that tiredness did not subside with the addition of Croix in December. BUT we are BACK and excited to tackle this new project! So excited in fact that one minute doodles were happening on a napkin in a restaurant and the next minute we were literally ripping our current patio apart.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, let me show you what we started with...AKA the before photos.

The backyard is long, so there are several views of this space, here is a shot standing in the grassy area looking at the patio/deck:

This patio came with few quirky yet cool features like this brick fireplace/grill you see in this shot. 

And this fire pit...

Here is a shot of the small deck leading onto the patio from the den:

And here is the view of the patio standing on the deck:

On the opposite side of the back yard, past the grassy area is this fence that is covering the air conditioning units + a door to our crawl space:

The backyard as a whole was one of the elements that really excited us about this house. We loved that it had a fence for Luke and loads of potential for us to create a fun area to entertain and relax. It's been used and abused and really needs a refresh, but beyond that we really want to make this outdoor space the best it can be so the plans we have dreamed up include: an outdoor kitchen complete with a pizza oven, a hot tub, a TV and a clean and tranquil vibe. Oh, and a shed of some kind to store outdoor equipment and tools. 

We are still working out a lot of the details but there were a few things we needed to do demo wise to get the ball rolling. First up,  we ripped up off the deck.

We decided the deck needed to go, because there was no real need for it. The backyard is only a few steps down from the den and the deck was making the space feel unnecessarily crowded and choppy. 

Next, we began tearing up the brick pavers:

We don't plan to keep the existing foot print of the patio, plus a lot of the pavers were in pretty bad shape so we decided to rip them out to create a clean slate. Interestingly, the pavers were just sitting atop concrete, so they came up pretty easily.

We made a lot of progress last weekend and as of now our backyard looks like a complete disaster zone; however, we all know sometimes it has to get uglier before it can get better!

All photos are my own.