TRANSFORMING MY NEGLECTED DECK INTO THE PATIO OF MY DREAMS

Written By The Sorry Girls

If you didn’t know, I have been documenting my latest home improvement projects through a series called That 70s House. For today’s project, I’m taking on a makeover of our neglected porch. My hope was that with some DIY projects and retro marketplace finds, I could turn our farmhouse-style porch into a 70s-inspired oasis.

When we moved into our home, we realised that our porch was in poor condition, but I really wanted to use it for the summer. That said, we weren't ready to undertake a complete reconstruction, so we decided to focus on improving the aesthetics for now. Our porch is long and narrow, which made the layout a bit of a challenge.

MOOD BOARD / PLANNING

The first thing I did was plan out the layout of the deck and what aesthetic I was going for. I wanted a space where I could work on nice days and even use it as a dining area.

Additionally, I wanted a cozy seating spot where we could relax under the stars because they are super visible from the deck. While I wasn't ready to tackle full-scale gardening, I hoped to incorporate a small vegetable and herb garden into the space to use for cooking and honestly just bring life into the space.

 
 

CLEANING & PREPPING

I started cleaning up the porch, which I had hoped would mean removing the old and stained carpet. Unfortunately, beneath the carpet, I discovered metal sheeting instead of wood, making it impossible to remove for now. Nonetheless, I figured out a way to work around this by covering it with outdoor rugs!

BAR TABLE DIY

Next, I decided to build an outdoor table using salvaged materials. I had a tabletop made of water-resistant mango wood, which had been sitting in our garage for a while. To construct the table legs, I cut rectangular pieces from half-inch plywood and formed boxes by screwing them together. I also had leftover tiles from a previous makeover that I wanted to incorporate into the space. Although tiling directly onto wood is not recommended, given that this was purely decorative, I decided to bypass that rule. Soooo, I tiled the legs and am obsessed with how they turned out.

GAME CHANGING ELEMENTS

While working on the porch, I received some exciting packages from Best Buy, the sponsor for this project. Best Buy offers a wide range of outdoor products, including patio furniture, outdoor cooking appliances, and outdoor speakers. Among the items I received were an outdoor pizza oven and a portable, water-resistant Sonos speaker. These additions would undoubtedly make our patio experience TOP notch.

If you’re interested, here are all the items I received from Best Buy for this makeover:

FINISHING TOUCHES

To complete the overall look, I took to local thrift stores and Facebook Marketplace to find some items to finish off the space. I got some super comfortable (and beautiful) chairs that would be perfect for the seating area and bar stools that would work perfectly for the table I made (perfect, that is, after shaving off a few inches to match the height). I also picked up matching bolster pillows, a wooden planter, a vintage ice bucket, plastic wine glasses, and unique patterned pillowcases that I'm going to turn into fabric napkins. 

FINAL RESULTS

Once everything was styled to my liking, my husband and I enjoyed the final results by making pizza on our new outdoor pizza oven from Best Buy! I am SO happy with the results of this makeover and seriously cannot wait to use this patio over the course of the summer! What is your favourite part of the makeover?

Watch the whole transformation from start to finish here:

The Sorry Girls
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