A special hello to you readers coming from Cassie’s home at Cassie Bustamante. Her home tour is always filled with fun surprises and Summer is no exception! If you haven’t visited her please check it out, I’ll be right here waiting.
As part of the Seasonal Simplicity home tour series hosted by April at House by Hoff and Krista at The Happy Housie I’m here today to share with you our outdoor summer home tour. This week 25 DIY and home bloggers will give you a beautiful glimpse into their summer homes with tons of inspiration.
A summer home tour of our primitive farmhouse exterior patio space. Come see where we spend our summer relaxing poolside in this quiet space.
Naturally summer brings us outdoors so I’m focusing on the back patio space. I recently completed a makeover where I swapped out the giant trestle dining table for a more casual and comfortable lounge area.
I built the outdoor dining table in August of 2014 and we loved it, it seats 10 adults easily so plenty of space. But as we’ve lived in this home for a few years now I’ve come to the realization that there was no comfortable lounging furniture on the patio.
The number of times we entertain where we need an enormous table are few so I decided to replace the big table with a sofa and swivel chairs (sources down below). And I built a sturdy truss style coffee table to fit the center of the space. So much better and so much more enticing. We typically eat dinner on the upper patio near the kitchen where I built a round outdoor dining table for that space.
This new lounge furniture has already gotten so much use and as summer goes along I can guarantee we will be out there every chance we get.
The patio is next to the pool for reference.
As usual every summer I bring out the tiki torches. They’re super inexpensive and help with the bugs at night.
I’ll show you my secret tiki torch installation tool.
I’m sure I’m not the first one to use a planting auger to make holes for their tiki torch posts.
This probably needs no instruction but you drill a hole into the ground with the auger. Pull up to get all the loose dirt out, insert the tiki torch post and firmly pack the dirt around the post.
Another option if you want a more portable tiki torch or don’t have a place to insert the post in the earth is this stand idea I made here:
*This post contains affiliate links below.
Back to the patio and the diy truss coffee table.
I built the coffee table using the lumber from the old dining table and I made free plans here so you can build it too. It’s a solid coffee table that provides a nice anchor to all the lounge furniture.
Just for kicks, because everyone loves a good before and after, I thought I would share a photo from the back patio when we moved in 4 years ago:
The previous owners had installed a koi pond. As beautiful and magnificent as koi are I actually didn’t want anything to do with the expense of maintaining a koi pond. So we relocated the koi to a friend’s pond, drained the whole thing and pulled up the liner, lights and pump and filled it all in so now we have the perfect grassy area for the firepit.
It’s amazing how much you can transform a space with a little planning and a lot of work! At the end of the day it’s definitely all worth it.
I hope you enjoyed my outdoor home tour for summer.
Be sure to stop by all the bloggers participating in the Seasonal Simplicity home tour.
Monday
Wednesday
Nina Hendrick Design Co. / The Wicker House / A Burst of Beautiful / Paint Me Pink / Town and Country Living
Thursday
Friday
SHOP THIS POST:
Source list:
– Hampton Bay Spring Haven sofa: The Home Depot
– Hampton Bay Spring Haven swivel chair: The Home Depot
– sofa & chairs cushion slipcovers: The Home Depot
Cassie Bustamante says
June 5, 2017 at 10:53 AMsuch a beautiful place to relax and hang out, and i have major pool envy! such a gorgeous sanctuary you have.
jcprime1 says
June 5, 2017 at 3:37 PMThanks Cassie. Fingers crossed for some true summer weather soon!
Amy says
June 5, 2017 at 12:45 PMYour back patio looks so nice. Love your new table and that you recycled your old one into it! Those swivel chairs look so comfy and that is so smart to have them on swivels. Beautifully done as always!
jcprime1 says
June 5, 2017 at 3:39 PMThank you Amy. You are correct those swivel chairs are everything! My kids particularly think they're fun but honestly they are such a great converstaion area solution AND we can see the pool with ease so I feel safe.
Jen Woodhouse says
June 5, 2017 at 1:00 PMI loved your trestle table, but I love your truss coffee table even more – even better that it's getting more use too! Beautiful space, Jaime!
jcprime1 says
June 5, 2017 at 3:42 PMThanks Jen. Agree – the truss coffee table is just that much better and we can still eat off it so #winning. Send me some Texas sun and temps soon!
reFresh reStyle says
June 5, 2017 at 1:44 PMBeautiful!! I could live out here all summer, especially after your pool is open! I love your home and your style!
Debbie
jcprime1 says
June 5, 2017 at 3:43 PMDebbie you are welcome anytime, it's not quite summer weather yet here in NY but soon. Your comments are always so kind, thank you.
Jennifer says
June 5, 2017 at 2:57 PMOh my gosh, the trees, the patio, the pool…it's like the space my dreams are made of!! What an awesome place to spend the summer!!
jcprime1 says
June 5, 2017 at 3:46 PMThank you Jennifer. It is dreamy but some days I feel like it's a jungle! I do love the greenery and I don't mind the weekly trimming and weeding – small price to pay. I'm still amazed at how everything just grows and grows and grows.
Krista thehappyhousie says
June 5, 2017 at 6:57 PMI love your outdoor space, Jaime! It looks so lush and green, like the perfect place to relax and enjoy the outdoors – all those shade trees are amazing!!
Cristina Garay says
June 5, 2017 at 9:29 PMYour outdoor space is beautiful! The new lounging area is the perfect spot to relax. Love how you shrank the table! 😀
Thanks for the Tiki torch installation info, I need to do that, just yesterday mosquitoes had a feast on me while working outdoors. :/
April Hoff says
June 6, 2017 at 1:18 PMJaime, that table is SO good! I am beyond impressed with your skills! I love your beautiful backyard for summer!
TidyMom says
June 6, 2017 at 1:19 PMwhat a beautiful space!!
Tricia SimplicityInTheSouth says
June 6, 2017 at 1:38 PMSuch a cozy space! I'd never want to leave. And I love the new table. You did an amazing job!
Norma Giannoni says
June 7, 2017 at 9:43 AMI love your outdoor space, Jaime! It looks like the perfect place to relax and enjoy some lemonade 🙂
Jennifer @ Town and Country Living says
June 7, 2017 at 5:35 PMLove your patio with its canopy of trees! Looks like the perfect place to enjoy summer.
Abby at Just a Girl and Her Blog says
June 9, 2017 at 7:20 PMLove your beautiful outdoor space, Jamie! What a perfect place to relax in the summer! It was so fun being "on tour" with you this week!
~Abby =)
Botanic Bleu says
June 10, 2017 at 12:19 AMJaime,
Your seating area on the terrace is so inviting… much more so than the koi pond. Great job restructuring and redesigning the space. All of the greenery (hostas are some of my favorites) under the big tree look lush. Here in north Texas, my yard never looks that lush. Summers are just too hot!
Judith
[email protected] says
June 10, 2017 at 3:40 PMI'm envious of your backyard. It looks amazing, and you have a pool. Yup, super envious! 🙂
Laura says
June 11, 2017 at 3:49 AMI love your outdoor space! I am jealous of your green thumb! All the plants and outdoor living space is perfection.
Unknown says
June 21, 2017 at 2:25 AMWhen will the coffee table plans be posted? I need that yesterday!
jcprime1 says
June 21, 2017 at 11:59 AMHope to have the coffee table plans tomorrow first thing.