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A Perked Up Patio

First things first; you guys are beyond amazing! Thank you for the Small Cool love yesterday. Voting runs through Friday, so there’s still time to ‘Favorite’ our little home. Jack sends his (slobbery) kisses!

Scott and I spent the past holiday weekend back home in Cincinnati with family. We came home Sunday afternoon exhausted and happy, but by Monday morning, we were so ready to put some life back into our sad, gloomy patio. I did take the obligatory ‘before’ photos, but you guys, let’s not dwell on the past. It was dirty, empty (we pack up most of our outdoor furniture and stash it for the winter) and – more or less – reflected the gray weather we’d had for most of the weekend.

And since it was an overcast and chilly day on Monday (the idea of going to the beach had been tossed around at some point, but between our – er, my – sleep in session and the rain, it wasn’t happening), we got productive!

We scraped, sanded and touched up last year’s flower boxes, rubbed down our old table and bench with Restor-a-Finish (in walnut), shined up our glossy chairs and pulled out the pillows. Knowing that we’ll be renting in the near future, we invested only in the plants themselves (we spent $80 at Home Depot to fill both planters, our mini herb garden and decorative succulents) and gave our year-after-year furniture some old fashioned elbow grease.

Okay, that’s not completely true.

The only new addition to the patio is the trio of floral planters on the table. We picked them up at one of our favorite flea markets while still in Cincinnati, filled them with jade plants (also from the Depot) and set them atop an olive wood cheese plate from HomeGoods. They make my heart so happy; funny how something so simple can do that.

Of course we broke the patio in with cold beers, and we spent a good 30 minutes admiring what a difference! some plants and a solid clean-up job can do. Miracles, we tell you.

How’s your outdoor sprucing coming along?

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  • Yasemin5.29.13 - 7:45 AM

    The rug looks beautiful, and loved the penguin flower pot:)
    Great ideas, thanks for sharing.

    Yasemin from breadpassion.comReplyCancel

  • Cassandra J.5.29.13 - 8:23 AM

    Hi Kim, I’m a new reader and am LOVING the blog you guys have! My boyfriend and I have three cats, so we’ve really enjoyed the posts about preventing pet problems (now that’s a tongue-twister), but we also love the minimalist style that you two have created in your home. I know it’s small, so you probably are FORCED to minimize the amount of “stuff” you have, but it’s something that we are currently working on, even in our 1760 sq ft home!

    Love the patio (that rug!) — worked on ours yesterday a bit, too… it’s coming along! Just dreading the NC summer heat that’s quickly approaching…ReplyCancel

    • Kim5.30.13 - 7:53 AM

      Cassandra – 3 cats! Now that’s a lot of love :) So glad you’ve found us!ReplyCancel

  • Hannah K.5.29.13 - 8:55 AM

    We’re very lucky to have some space in Erie – a nice sized backyard, a patio, and a covered patio. But sometimes it gets overwhelming and feels like we’re not making any progress!! So..it’s going slow, but we’re working on it!!ReplyCancel

  • tracey5.29.13 - 9:10 AM

    You need to stop posting pictures, it just makes us ALL want to visit and stay for a long time!ReplyCancel

  • kristin5.29.13 - 9:11 AM

    I really love how you hung your bikes! I was just trying to think through that problem in our garage yesterday!ReplyCancel

  • Kim5.29.13 - 9:18 AM

    Hannah, yes, I could see how that would be so overwhelming! We’ve only ever had a tiny space, so we can breeze through it in an afternoon!

    Kristin, we used to hang them in our office/second bedroom turned studio. See here: https://yellowbrickhome.com/2010/01/25/theres-a-bike-on-the-ceiling/ReplyCancel

  • Nicole T.5.29.13 - 10:11 AM

    I love these Jade plants!!! :) Your patio looks great! Love it!ReplyCancel

  • Erin || Sewbon.com5.29.13 - 10:59 AM

    I’m in LOVE with those trio of floral planters! Gorg! Thanks for sharing!ReplyCancel

  • Julie Hoerandner5.29.13 - 12:19 PM

    Adorable – so sweet. Love all the blues. It makes such a difference how high the next porch is from you – makes your space seem so much bigger. Where did you get the stringed round lights?ReplyCancel

  • Jaime Lopez5.29.13 - 12:44 PM

    Oh your patio looks so great. I love the strung lights and all the beautiful plants. Last year we did a big overhaul to our patio/backyard and I am still trying to fill in the space with character and charm. Love seeing the updates!

    – JaimeReplyCancel

  • Kim5.29.13 - 1:07 PM

    Julie, the cafe lights were from Target last year. I’ve seen them pop up on blogs this year though, so they might still have them!ReplyCancel

  • Trude5.29.13 - 1:19 PM

    Looks gorgeous! Love all the groupings of three. The tealights in different sized mason jars are a great touch too. I’m going into major spruce up mode this weekend to get ready to host a birthday BBQ for the boy the weekend after that. People will actually be out there, need to fancy it up STAT, so thanks for the ideas! :)ReplyCancel

  • Kim5.29.13 - 1:25 PM

    Trude, fun! When is your boy’s birthday? Sounds like his birthday falls on the same weekend as Scott – June 9!ReplyCancel

  • Dana5.29.13 - 2:38 PM

    This is definitely somewhere I’d like to spend an evening. Can I ask where you got the beautiful outdoor rug?ReplyCancel

  • Kim5.29.13 - 2:50 PM

    Hi Dana, thanks! The rug was purchased from World Market last summer.ReplyCancel

  • Julia @cuckoo4design5.29.13 - 3:27 PM

    Love the added little details and there is nothing like braking in a patio with some cold brewhas ;)ReplyCancel

  • ann5.29.13 - 3:33 PM

    The patio looks so inviting and we wish we lived closer so we could enjoy it with you. I think your Monday spruce up was just what you needed after our weekend.ReplyCancel

  • Trude5.29.13 - 3:49 PM

    Yup, his is on the 6th, so we’ll be celebrating on the 8th, and all he wants to do is BBQ for everyone and drink beer. I love simple requests. :) Woohoo for June babies, so many more party options!ReplyCancel

  • Amanda5.30.13 - 5:00 AM

    I absolutely love your patio, and it’s furnishings. What a great difference the little things make, eh?ReplyCancel

  • Jodi5.30.13 - 11:18 AM

    it looks so great!!ReplyCancel

  • blair @ the fox and she5.30.13 - 12:01 PM

    i love your white chairs out there! where did you find those?ReplyCancel

  • Kim5.30.13 - 1:00 PM

    Blair, thanks! We got those on Overstock last year! Actually, this post goes into more detail about where we found almost everything on the patio:

    https://yellowbrickhome.com/2012/06/21/patio-season/ReplyCancel

  • […] way Kim and Scott over at Yellow Brick Home perked up their patio gives me hope that I can do the same for ours, at least a bit. (It’s urgent: I’m […]ReplyCancel

  • Jackie B5.31.13 - 9:40 PM

    Love this patio! And the planters from the flea market are super cute.

    I’m trying to tame the jungle of our hedges first, but this inspired me to add some color to the patio to make it more inviting. Thanks!ReplyCancel

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We’re Kim + Scott, Chicago based content creators behind the Home + Lifestyle brand Yellow Brick Home.

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