Once we realized in late Spring, it would be a while in California before things went back to ‘our new normal’ of living life during a pandemic; Hasani and I decided now is the time to show our outdoor spaces some major love. When our outdoor spaces are looking pretty, I love being outside to enjoy them. Last Spring and Summer we took off, and our lawn, plants, and patio suffered. Hot Mess Express! This year, I swear our outdoor spaces are living their best lives! Everything is blooming, the lawn is lush (we rolled out new sod in June) and the Summer in Sacramento temperature wise was been so mild.
Knowing we would be spending a lot of time at home this Summer and beyond, I realized now is the Summer to make a few changes we’ve been longing to on our patio. The goal always is to make our spaces welcoming, relaxing, and feel good. I’m so in love with our current patio situation and how beautiful everything is and most of all how functional and intentional everything feels. Our patio has evolved so much over the years, little but little I’ve tweaked the space to work for our lifestyle.
Below is our patio, back in 2014. Just a table and lots of empty space. I’ve learned over the years when designing my own spaces, it takes time! I’m constantly tweaking and adjusting me home, design around here is never done!
“The goal always is to make our spaces welcoming, relaxing, and feel good”
Outdoor Dining
The first update we made to our outdoor space this year was a new dining table. We’ve been in need of a new outdoor dining room table and chairs for ages, our old one was on its last leg. A few years ago painted the table and benches and chairs and it really helped extend the life of the set. If you have and outdoor dining set that needs some TLC to check out this post, before and after post!
When it comes to dining outside, I wanted a large table that would seat at least eight without breaking the break and look beautiful with our existing furniture. The Matera Outdoor Dining table is the perfect addition in our patio, it flows so perfectly with our existing lounge furniture. Our old table had benches and two chairs, looking back I realized our guests never seemed comfortable on the bench and I decided all chairs would be best.
I love to mix and match various textures especially outside, I love the White Metal Naxos chairs, sold two per set at a great price, I bought three sets! The chairs are simple, modern and clean and wipe up easy! I paired the metal chairs with two wood Indio Chairs, the chairs actually match outdoor sofa. I snagged the chairs on a super sale! I LOOOVE the chairs, they all look so good together. I love that we can comfortable seat eight people around the table, We’ve had dinner outside several times this season and its been so nice, I love serving family style!
Matera Outdoor Dining Table
This Dining Room Table is a Great Size and Seats up to 8 people.
Framed Gold Lantern
This lantern is a beautiful outdoor statement piece for outdoor coffee tables and dining tables
Entertaining Made Easy
One of my absolute must for outdoor spaces is a console table! They’re perfect for holding all the things, from drinks to buffet style dinners. Using a simple, white tray, I created a tabletop bar station and added one below for sparkling water.
This Spring, I planted a lemon tree in my large outdoor planter, I love how it looks next to our back patio door. The last lemon tree I planted was a dwarf lemon tree and this time, I planted a normal one and to my amazement its thriving! I have a few lemons slowly popping up on the tree! To create more balance and add visual interest, I added an outdoor mirror above the console table. This Summer we also updated our outdoor light fixture with modern metal and glass ones, its amazing how much fresher it feels out here!
Outdoor Console Table
I love this console table! We use our table to hold drinks and food.
Outdoor Lounging
Our outdoor space feels like an extension of our home in the warmer months we gain so much additional square foot, making out home feel so much larger. For the lounge are on our patio, comfort is KEY! Its hard to choose my favorite spot to sit in! We’ve had our sofa for a few years and we love love it and our modern deep seating grey wicker chairs. I didn’t want everything feeling matchy-matchy, I found a set that would feel good together.
Below are a few of my tips for keeping our sofa covers bright white!
In the Summer Use Outdoor Furniture Covers when not in use, I use this Basics Sofa Cover and this Basic Chair Cover, I also use a Furniture Cover for our Coffee Table
I wash the cover 1-2x per season, once at the beginning of the Season and once towards the end of Summer, We typically use our outdoor space until late Fall (November) Having cushions that are removable is KEY!
When the covers look dusty, we use our shop vacuum to clean the cushions and it works so easy!
During the rainy months, I store the sofa cushions in the garage and just leave the outdoor furniture covers on.
I’ve been on the hunt for outdoor speakers for ages, but they’s either be too expensive or had to be hard-wired. This Summer, I finally found out Outdoor Speakers, they’re wireless and Bluetooth enabled and they sound sooooo good! I love being able to sit outside, choose a playlist and just enjoy. The Insta Sound Outdoor speakers are amazing and come in a pair!!
Wireless Outdoor Speakers
Set the Mood! Music is a must outdoors! These wireless outdoor blue tooth speakers are so good!
SOURCES // Indio Outdoor Sofa, Cammeray Modern Wicker Chairs, Indio Coffee Table, Indio Console Table (metal version) , Large White Planter (similar) White Candle Holder Large, White Candle Holder Small, Outdoor Mudcloth Pillows (similar), Grey Stripe Pillows, Blue & White Geometric Pillows, Door Color: Antiquity by Sherwin Williams, Outdoor Speakers
I’m loving home everything has come together this Summer, it feels incredible! We have a few more projects on our list we have yet to tackle! I really wanted to plant a Summer garden, but our raised garden needs some love! The plan is work on the garden in August and get it prepped for a fall garden, fingers crossed! Have you been spending time in your outdoor spaces and giving love?
