A Tour of Our Covered Patio {Where We are All Summer!}
April 24, 2025
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A tour of our covered patio, where we entertain most!
We had no idea how much we'd enjoy having a covered patio when we built our home. This is the spot we spend most of our evenings when the weather starts to warm up!
We had a large outdoor area at our last house, and added to it over the years to make it a beautiful oasis:
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If you'd like to see everything we did in the old backyard, be sure to check out these posts!
Our backyard was just so pretty and magical, and we definitely missed it after moving. But we soon realized how much we LOVE having a covered patio.
When we moved in, we placed our outdoor table and chairs out there, but we learned pretty quickly that we prefer to lounge in comfy chairs. :)
I sold our outdoor table and replaced it with our chairs that used to sit near our outdoor fireplace. This was how it looked soon after moving in:
It's around 200 square feet, which we've realized is a perfectly lovely size for conversations with a small group of friends.
You know how I love symmetry! It won out here too, does that surprise you? :)
A couple of years ago I moved seat configuration around a bit to give us a little more walking room along the side. Instead of two chairs on each end, I placed two under the large picture window to open things up a bit:
Those outdoor ottomans are actually filled with air! I love them -- they're so easy to move around and are great for propping up your feet.
My favorite part is that I just have to deflate them at the end of the season and they take up hardly any storage space.
We had an outlet installed at the patio ceiling when we built the house, and we hung a TV up there a couple years after moving in. The guy who set up our AV equipment recommended buying a regular inexpensive TV instead of one made for outside -- because ours is covered he said it will most likely last just as long.
He was right! We spent less than $200 on this one and it's still kicking! (We cover it for the winter months but otherwise it stays uncovered.)
I'd love to find a television mount that we can raise and lower, but I haven't been able to find something that has a pole (since it's so high up). I may have to rig something up to raise and lower it. :)
Usually we have music playing through the speakers in the ceiling. Best decision to have those installed!:
The chairs came from Menards 14 (!!) years ago. They have a little bit of rust here and there, but otherwise they've held up really well.
A few years ago I tried this Rejuvenate restorer to brighten up some of our outdoor plastic and metal:
I applied it again this year and it really does help to restore the metal and make it look new again.
It's such a little thing, but we didn't have a screen door at our old house, and it's been wonderful to open it up when the weather is nice. The cats are stationed there every minute it's open:
I love the little detailed trim on the ceiling -- it's a nice little touch. I was going to paint the ceiling "haint" blue but we rarely have bugs nesting up there.
By the way, the fan helps tremendously with bugs when we sit out at night. Mosquitos LOVE ME and I'm happy to find anything that helps.
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| See how I installed our patio lights without trees! |
This area sits four, but we often end up with neighbors and friends pulling up the dining chairs from the table on our big patio. We've had ten or more people gathered around the fire some nights!
Six years ago we extended our entertaining space with a concrete patio with a circular wood burning fire pit area. We use those areas for bigger parties or when we eat outside.
The fire pit is used most often on cooler spring and fall evenings:
Those plants and trees have grown so much in the past couple of years, I really need to do another backyard tour! Stay tuned for that this summer.
We are so fortunate to have these beautiful outdoor spaces! The weather this spring has been amazing, we just haven't had a chance to spend much time out there so far this year. I'm looking forward to more fun nights on our patio this season!
Do you have an outdoor area at your house -- covered or not? I always thought a screened porch would be lovely too. We've considered adding the rolling screens around our covered patio, but they are SO expensive, yikes!
Here's a list of the items with sources on our porch:
Chair cushions are from Lowe's
Outdoor trash can (super convenient!)
Black metal lanterns were from Costco last year
Outdoor faux candles with remote
Blue and white outdoor rug
Tall black planters
Propane tank covers/side tables
Tall black planters
Propane tank covers/side tables
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Gorgeous, although I was in love with your outdoor space at your old house....but I completely understand the maintenance! If I was building a house from scratch I would absolutely have a big list of what I must have and what I cannot have - and wood decking would be on it for sure! Trex...maybe. But not wood. And yes, patio pavers are a magnet for weeds....sigh. I'd love a screened porch actually a four seasons room....ahhhh some day!!
ReplyDeleteyour outdoor spaces are always so pretty and look like the perfect place to hunker down and relax. happy summer!
ReplyDeleteMy dad built a screened porch off their kitchen, and they LIVE in it nine months of the year - in Illinois. They have blankets for when it's chilly and a ceiling fan for when it's hot. It's gorgeous, and I'm trying to convince him to come out to Colorado and build one for us when he retires. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the maintenance on a wood deck. I always feel bad when my husband does all the work and I just enjoy. I really like your outdoor space!
ReplyDeleteI love your outdoor spaces - and this looks beautiful. I’m a sucker for comfy chairs on the patio. What’s your take on outdoor rugs? I’ve had trouble with them soaking up water (even on the covered porch). Just grabbed another similar to yours to try.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I’m so with you on being over decks. They are so muck work.
DeleteYou know, we’ve never had a problem! I know some are thicker than others and seem to hold more water. Ours have always been more lightweight so maybe that helps? This one is by far the lightest we’ve had.
DeleteThat is a really nice space! We had a deck at our old house (walkout basement) and an exposed aggregate patio at our new one (no walkout). I like the patio more for the sake of not having to walk down a flight of stairs to the yard. I'm also in the midwest (Missouri). Did you enjoy that ONE week of spring? It's so hot now, I wish we had some sort of covering to block the sun and to be able to add a fan. I always wondered about outdoor rugs. How often do you have to clear them off for cleaning?
ReplyDeleteAt the old house we should have cleaned them more — especially under the trees. But you can usually use a power sprayer and it comes clean easily. This one I’m thinking just once a year since it’s covered. :)
DeleteI love your outdoor patio. We have a large screened porch which we live in spring through fall, as well as an outside wooden deck (where we have our grill and more potted plants). We live in central Virginia with the Blue Ridge Mtns as our view. Since we live so close to the mountains (and on the eastern side), the wind during the winter comes blowing like crazy off the mountains and thus, we can't have a ceiling fan on our vaulted ceiling.
ReplyDeleteOur floor is wood decking and we don't think maintenance is bad. Once a year we power wash the wood. Every two to three years we restain (not paint) the wood. We would always get wood because we love the look. The railings and the trim actually take longer to clean than the wood (all the trim is white MiraTec and our railings are metal). Our rugs (and furniture) do get wet, but they dry quickly and have never been an issue. Our last rug was 6 years old and still in good shape, but I just got tired of it and replaced it with another rug that still looks brand new after being a year old.
We have another patio that is concrete and that takes as much work as the wood. Every year we also power wash the concrete and every other year we reseal the concrete. It has to be swept all the time so I actually like the wood better than the concrete.
ps I LOVE the heat and humidity so I am happy with this weather. I really do wish we had had some spring weather, though!
So pretty! I absolutely loved your previous yard, too. This looks like a perfect spot! We are just down the road from you, basically. We have a cement patio with table, chairs and some potted plants just off the kitchen and in-law suite. We have a small wood deck off the master which I never use. I still feel the need to decorate... What we live in all spring and fall (and summer when we can stand the humidity) is a screen porch off the other end of the kitchen. Last year for hubby's birthday we turned it into an outdoor living room by adding a ceiling fan, lattice up 5 feet for privacy, and an outdoor TV/stereo system. There is comfy furniture and a table, so we're set, mostly- this summer I am making plastic window covers to prolong the season and protect the furniture, and we will add a heater. Love it. Thank you for all the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI have weeds between my patio bricks...on the other hand, may I just say how nice it is to have your comment clicker at the END of your blog post? So many other posts have moved it to the top of the post and so I have to backtrack to the beginning when I want to read the comments.
ReplyDeleteYour patio area looks beautiful!