Patio Plans

Hi!

So, Thursday, I was sick! I woke up at 3am feeling nauseous, and it lasted the whole day. I was a bit surprised as this is not something I usually feel (unless it's morning sickness-- which it's not!! ;-)).  I felt weak and just wanted to sleep, but I got the kids off to school and laid down pretty much the whole day.  I also had a slight fever.  DS came home from school and said he felt a bit woozy too.  He threw up and then felt better!  DD was a great help with helping HH fix dinner and then cleaning up the kitchen after all by herself!  Friday I was feeling better.

Last sunny Friday afternoon, sitting on the back patio with HH, I had a great idea to re-do the space. I've been thinking about it for a while, but wasn't sure what to do.

I definitely wanted to remove the cedar wall for the breezeway or perhaps just replace the top half of the wall with storm windows (which we already have).  Well, Wednesday I tore things up and got started on that project.


Then I discovered that instead of 4 storm windows, we only have 2 that aren't broken.  So, I've decided to use the windows we got from our inlaws and the window that used to be in our kitchen.  This involves a bit more framing, but I think will be quite nice.

Since there's now a big hole in the wall, a bird flew in! I tried to take a picture, but the bird is hard to see.  It's just behind the top left cross thing in the door.


So, I'd like to have the breezeway be more of a sitting area, sorta like this.

It used to look like this.


We have plans to put in a deck in the breezeway so you don't have to step down. Wouldn't it be fun to paint it like the back room floor?


Anyway, back to the patio plans...
 I want to have a picnic table that's movable. Perhaps we can build one like this from Pneumatic Addict Furniture, except bigger.

Kinda like one of these tables.

(I remembered that the old ReStore in Summerside sold kitchen tables for $10. I thought this might be a great solution to my picnic table problem.  However, when I went to the ReStore in C'town, their tables were $50!  So, a lot more than I thought-maybe I'm remembering prices from when the S'side store was closing, but I think they were always that price! Needless to say, I didn't buy one but will keep it in mind...)

 I can move my favorite stump that holds up the current table to the breezeway to use as a side table in the sitting area.

I was looking and I guess I never did a post on the Stump table!  I found this stump down the road where we go to put the canoe or sailboat in the water.  I tried and tried to get it in the car, but it was too heavy so HH went later to get it for me.  It stayed in the corner of the front garden for a while and then I decided to use it to make a picnic table. I took the old cover of the Canoe-zzi,

put some stain on it and made it the top of the table. We attached one end of the table to the breezeway wall and the other sits on the stump.

I also made the benches from some extra wood we had.  HH says they need a triangle cut out at the bottom so they're not so rocky, but I haven't done that yet!

Ok, focus! Back to my patio plans....

I want to bring over the cedar bench (that used to be in the old living room- Here it is covered with some fabric),

and make the other cedar swing  into a bench by adding legs (from wood we already have).

I can put a cushion (which we already have) on one of the benches and cover the other with a blanket (which we already have).  Then I'll move the fire pit over and make a living room-like arrangement around it with the cedar benches, black wrought iron chairs and the Adirondack chairs.  I can put cushions (which we already have from the old red couch)

 on 2 or 3 Adirondacks.  I can pretty up the sink with a skirt of fabric (which I already have).  I can basically do this whole thing without spending anything. Which is good!

This arrangement will be perfect for Spring because it's a sheltered spot on the southwest side of the house.  However, in the summer it gets too hot and mosquitoey.  Last year (and the year before) we had the screened room up. This pic is from June 2012!

Maybe we can rig up another screened room this year. They're great to have, but the wind ends up blowing them around and tearing them up.

So, lots of exciting projects to do...

Have a great weekend! :-)