Outdoor Dining Room (Our Covered Patio Area)

Yesterday, I showed you the updates we’ve made this summer to our outdoor living room on the deck.  Today I’m continuing the backyard tour with the patio area under the deck.

At the bottom of the stairs, you can go right to the dining area or left to visit the land of fairies.  

This area under the deck was a giant mud/gravel pit when we moved in over 2 years ago.  The very first major diy project we completed here was this paver patio.  Unfortunately, this was a pre-blog project so I don’t have any real before pictures.  Just try to imagine nothing but mud and gravel.  Then imagine me and my daddy working side by side laying each of these pavers.  My dad did most of the work.  I wish he lived closer because I really love working on projects with him!

This patio area used to be our outdoor living space, but early this spring I decided to flip flop these areas.  This is how this patio looked last fall.


You saw yesterday that these chairs and coffee table were moved up to the deck.  I made this change because I wanted a larger outdoor dining table, and our deck just wasn’t large enough for a table that could seat eight.  Now this patio area is our new outdoor dining room, and there’s plenty of room at the table!

Trying to find an outdoor table that could seat eight was somewhat of a challenge probably due in most part to my criteria.  I didn’t want a glass top, and I didn’t want to spend a ton of money.  When we entertain outside “8” seems to be the magic number – I don’t know why – it’s usually our 4 plus another 4?  So it had to be a table for eight.

I finally had a lightbulb moment in Target one day when I saw that these square bistro folding tables were on sale.  I grabbed three of them (which cost much less than 1 giant table would have) to push together.

This was the perfect solution.  To keep them all together I laid a piece of scrap wood (I painted white) down across the top as a centerpiece.  The weight of the wood keeps the tables from shifting apart and creates a nice spot for lanterns and potted plants.  The chairs I already had (Bed, Bath & Beyond) and the white chairs on the ends are from Pier 1.

I made the old fence board sign back in June.

And if you’ve been around here for awhile you’ve seen the potting bench
We’ve been using it more as a drink station/buffet since the dining table is down here now.  
I love our dining space, but my favorite part of this patio area is the fire pit. 
There is some mossy goodness coming through the cracks now and it makes me so happy.  It’s the little things isn’t it? 
You can read about why I my dad built this little fence here

So now we’re at the end of our backyard tour.  I’d invite in through the sliding door to our basement but it’t not pretty.  Trust me.  You don’t want to see it right now. So I’ll leave you at the door.

P.S. I’ve recently decided that baskets filled with plants are the best thing ever.  What is the best thing ever for you right now? 

*Linking up at Home Stories A to Z

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  • Beautiful – I wish I had a covered space to lounge! And of course, I'd choose the path to visit the fairies!

    The best thing ever – ice cold margaritas (but I do love a great basket filled with greenery too!
    Kelly

  • great looking outdoor room – I love it and I want to run downstairs and fix up my patio! I bet it is pretty out there at night with the lights hung on the deck joists! (yes I saw them up there) it's a wonderful space! oh and my fav thing right now are those big gigantic bottles with one big huge leaf sticking out of them.. love that!

  • So pretty Carmel! I love the built in fire pit!!! I'm dying to put one in but in the meantime we're going with the Sanford & Sons route of using our old firepit on the driveway. The pop of blue from your planters and all the hanging ferns are gorgeous out there!!

  • This is a great space! My husband is working on our covered patio now. Seeing yours makes me even more anxious for ours to be done.

  • I saw this on Hometalk and wanted to pop over and see the rest of the pics – just great! I'm off to peruse the rest of your home on the web!!!!

    gena

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