The light at the end of the construction tunnel is getting bigger and brighter every day – we are hoping to be fully blinded by June. So it’s time to start showing you some of the finished spaces – starting with our kitchen patio. We’ve already spent many nights on this patio with family, kids playing soccer in the grass til 9 pm, grownups around the table, wine aplenty and I feel a flood of hope for the future, relief that we are happy here, and gratefulness that you are all still following along. Thank you 🙂 The landscaping and exterior construction was the second phase that we tackled, and it was a beast that almost devoured me whole. But we made it! Alive and with less mud! For today’s project, we partnered with Sunbrella on this patio, knowing that we wanted cushion fabric that provided comfort for our tushies for long hang sessions and durability from the weather/wine. Let me introduce you to our finished kitchen patio.
WHERE IS THIS KITCHEN PATIO?
The reason this patio was even a priority is that the living room (and deck on the right in the rendering) is west facing, which means that the afternoon sun is super hot over there and shadeless (the trees are too far away). Now that’s all fine and good – we’ll have umbrellas and can sit underneath the one big oak tree with friends (and it’s only hot/sunny a few months of the year). But on a daily basis when it’s just us four, we wanted somewhere closer to the shaded south-facing kitchen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It goes without saying that we are spoiled when it comes to places to hang out, but come 4 pm this area is full of shade and so lovely (and while I’m not a meteorologist a fun fact about being in the PNW is that 6 pm is the hottest time of the day, it does NOT cool down til 9 pm – truly baffling). So that’s why we invested in this patio early.
THREE YEARS AGO…
When we first bought the property it looked like this (above) and it was still charming. Sure, it needed work but the potential was so clear. The family that lived here before also had it as a little kitchen patio. They had a covered walkway that came from a carport with eccentric rooflines. We removed part of it because the walkway didn’t line up with the new kitchen windows and the new stairs. It had become incredibly awkward and was kinda falling down, so we took off half of it. Here’s a quick video tour if you want to walk through the space with me (just wait for the ad to play please and thank you!!!)
Source: https://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/our-back-patio-reveal-a-six-month-review-of-our-sunbrella-cushions
