… so part of our low-maintenance, easy-to-use mission involved finding a way to keep the cushions dry so they could be used, in the words of Shakira, whenever and wherever. All that shade is great for staying cool while lounging, but we realized it was keeping the cushions from drying out as quickly as we’d like… striped outdoor pillow | similar outdoor sofa | coffee table It used to be on our covered porch so this is the first time it has been fully out in the elements (although the way it sits against the house keeps it in the shade almost all day). It’s around 7 years old at this point and has been holding up great, partially thanks to an annual pressure washing of the cushions. The conversation area is anchored by this outdoor sofa we brought with us from Richmond. We’ve created (1) a comfy lounge/conversation area with an easy way to ensure the sofa is never soaked, (2) an outdoor dining/game table and (3) a placeholder TBD zone, which I’ll explain more in a second. Thanks to my resounding chorus of “let’s talk about function first,” so far I feel like we’ve done a great job at being super intentional about what we’re doing up here. outdoor armchairs | striped outdoor pillows | similar outdoor sofa | coffee table | dining table | black dining chairs So I’ve been a real stickler for making sure we don’t fall into that trap again here – and that we aren’t blowing money on outdoor furniture or decor that looks good but isn’t highly usable (aren’t I such a fun husband?). What this outdoor setup at our last house essentially taught us is that we do better when our outdoor spaces are easy to use and ready to be enjoyed at a moment’s notice. The chairs had fabric cushions that didn’t dry quickly, so having a meal out there took more planning & prep than we’d like, so it just never became a regular habit. Otherwise, over the last decade, our outdoor areas typically became just another space to maintain and clean, without much actual use in between a few random events per year.Ī notable example is the outdoor dining area in our last house, where I’m certain we spent far more hours blowing leaves and pressure washing the cushions than we ever did actually dining. It’s great to have a ton of “bonus” square footage, especially in a climate like ours where outdoor space can be used nearly year-round (I’m typing this post from that outdoor dining table that you see in these photos – and it’s a glorious and very comfortable 68 degrees out right now).īut let’s rewind and fill you in on our past: over the last ten years or so, we’ve realized that we were chronic under-utilizers of outdoor spaces (perhaps the one exception being the small backyard at our beach house which is where we realized we loved a smaller but private feeling outdoor space with thoughtful pieces that were selected to be as functional as possible). Such a big outdoor space can be a double-edged sword if you’re not careful about thinking through how you use it and what you actually need. Note: You can also view this video here on YouTube. Plus, you can see how the deck transitions from its daytime look to its evening look (that’s something they say on Project Runway a lot, right?). You can watch the video without sound, btw – it’s just a walk-through of the deck – no talking – so you can get a better feel for the space than photos can really capture). So before I dive into all the what and why of this space (including some tricks we employed to keep it low-maintenance) we thought this video would give you a better idea of exactly how big the deck is and how we’ve created some distinct “zones” (two of which are for real, and one that’s more of a “just for now” thing – but more on that in a second). In a sense, it’s the largest “room” in our entire house, which has posed some layout challenges for us as we figure out how to make the deck useful to us (but not furnished just for the sake of being furnished – more on this in a moment). You know, before we painted the house and replaced all of the rotting deck boards with Trex and those shaky old railings with new not-shaky ones (more on those updates here).Ī lot of old features – like the pergola and the chimney, both of which we removed as part of repairing the rot and water leak issues – disguised how big of a space this deck truly is. It was raining when we bought the house back in February so we didn’t spend much time out here, but you may remember this before photo that we shared along with all of the exterior before & afters back in May. Having all of this bonus living space up in the trees has quickly become one of the “rooms” we’re most thankful for, and you’ll see why in this post. In addition to our 1400 square feet of indoor space, we’re lucky that our house also has some pretty great outdoor spaces – including a large second-story deck off of our family room.
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