THE PRETTY AFTER

So sorry to leave you hanging on Friday with all of those ugly before pictures.

Bad blogger!  

As promised, I have some pretty after pictures for you.  

My favorite part of the whole project was, of course, making it look pretty.

Here you go!  I'll start with the porch.....

Even though we only extended the porch by approximately four feet, 

it made the whole space feel so much larger.

It also gave us enough space to add a small table with chairs to the porch.

Until it recently got bitterly cold, this was the perfect spot to eat breakfast and read the paper.

With the extra space, we were also able to add two chairs to the seating area.

The brick walls around the porch were replaced with white wood rails.

And new Timbertech steps were added.

Just off the porch is a new paver patio.  

Sure beats the old, ugly concrete pad that used to cover the backyard.

There are two levels of the patio.  

At the top is a table.

New sod was added along with trees that will eventually provide privacy.

The bottom level of the patio is where the fireplace will go.

Right now, we just have some chairs around our old fire pit. 

Once the fireplace is built, it too will provide some privacy.

This was the plan we started with.

Other than a few changes with landscaping, we stayed pretty true to the original plan.

We are very thankful for this space.   

I'm already looking forward to some warmer temperatures to we can get out there and enjoy it.

Thank you for following along during this project.

There were definitely some bumps along the way, 

but this was a long time coming and we are so happy to have it all finished.

Have a great week.

Count your blessings and be thankful!

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Between Naps on the Porch

THE UGLY BEFORE

I know I've mentioned several times that we had some work done 

on our backyard and backporch this summer. 

On Monday, I'll finally show you the after pictures.

But first, I wanted to show you the ugly before pictures.

The first step of the process was having this massive sweet gum tree removed.

It was huge, messy and mostly dead inside.

That was done back in the Spring.

Next, our contractor brought in a bobcat to tear up all the old concrete 

that was practically covering the entire upper portion of the backyard. 

It took a few short hours for the backyard to start looking like this...

And this.....

During the bobcat adventures, there was a little run in with that basketball goal over there.

The backboard got shattered.  Oops.  Fortunately, our contractor replaced it. 

Next up on the demolition plan was to tear out these brick walls that surrounded the back porch.

That was no easy feat.  Apparently, this porch was built like a fortress.

Once the demo was finished, they started to put the porch back together. 

The old floor was concrete.  

A subfloor of 2x6s was put in place to hold the Timbertech that would be added later.  

The porch was also extended about four feet. 

The porch was extended out over the old stairs. 

New stairs were eventually added to lead to the patio.

The backyard was prepped for a paver patio.

See the shattered backboard?

What a mess!

 You know it has to get worse before it gets better, right?

Let me tell you, it was pretty bad for a while.

We all avoided the backyard like the plague. 

After a few months of dirt, dust and gravel, the backyard was finally finished.

Just like most of the other projects we have tackled around here, it was well worth the wait. 

I am excited to finally show you the "After" on Monday.

Hope you all have a great weekend. 

Thanks for stopping by this week and being so kind to leave comments. 

They really do make my day.

OUTDOOR LIGHT FROM LAMPS.COM

Over the summer, I was contacted by Lamps.com.  They offered me a choice between several lamps or a credit to their store. Knowing we were already over budget on our backyard makeover, 

I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to pick out a light for our back porch.

I ended up choosing this one.

I loved the simple lines, the seeded glass and the oil rubbed bronze color. 

It looks great up against the cedar plank ceiling

It is the perfect size for this space and the fact that it only has one light works well too.

Because the switch for this light is grouped together with several more, 

we were not able to add a dimmer to this light.  I like the light to be nice and soft.  

I added a 15 watt bulb and it gives off just the right amount of light at night.

Here are a few other options from Lamps.com that I was considering.

1/2/3/4/5

A big thanks to Lamps.com for supplying our outdoor light.

A PEEK AT THE BACK PORCH

The long and dirty process of our backyard makeover has finally come to an end. 

Can I get an ALLELUIA!

I know I've been teasing you with promises of pictures.  

I plan to take pictures of the entire space this week and will give you more details then, 

but here are a few peeks at the new back porch ....

We added a large table on the paver patio, so we moved our old patio table onto the new deck. 

The table is an old black metal table that I covered with a table cloth and the chairs came from Ikea.

We have shared many meals at this table already.

These fun chairs came from Lowe's, the pillows are from Etsy and the rug is from Dash and Albert.

The light came from Lamps.com.  More on that tomorrow. 

We already had the sectional, but I added a few new pillows. 

The terra cotta pillow was a Frontgate Outlet bargain.

The blue pillows were made from napkins I found at Target.

We've been toying with the idea of painting the brick on our house. 

We wanted the porch to feel like a separate room, so we had the brick on the on the porch painted.

I really love the color (BM Kingsport Gray). We got a bid to have the entire house painted and

it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.  Maybe in the Spring. 

The weather lately has been amazing - nice and sunny during the day and cooler at night.

We have been taking full advantage of it by eating dinner on the porch.

(My little guy is gearing up to play football next year, 

so he's been wearing his big brother's pads and helmet around the house - oh and to dinner).

I'll take some pictures of the patio later this week, 

but here's a shot of the herringbone pattern.

We are so glad to have this project behind us.

Also, feeling very grateful that we are now able to share this space with our family and friends 

(and the pictures with you guys).

Thanks for being patient with me!

BACK PORCH PLANS

School's out for Summer!!  

I am officially the parent of a middle school student, and a fourth grader and a first grader. 

I have been busy entertaining my kids for the past week and half, therefore the blog took a backseat. 

I am looking forward to a fun and relaxing summer.

In the midst of all that fun and relaxing, we will be starting construction on our backyard. 

We are moving forward with the back porch expansion and the paver patios.

The landscaping and the fireplace will be phase two.

I have been fine tuning the details for the back porch.

The porch currently looks like this....

We will keep the sectional for now and add two of these chairs for additional seating.

We will also add this very durable Dash and Albert indoor/outdoor rug.

We decided to not screen in the porch.  Instead, the brick walls around the porch will 

be replaced with wood railings.  This will help open up the porch to the rest of the backyard.

We will add some outdoor curtains for privacy.

The concrete floor will be covered with Timbertech decking.

This should help warm up the space. 

We are contemplating painting the brick inside the porch Benjamin Moore Kingsport Gray.

I am not in love with the brick color on our house, 

but I don't necessarily want to paint the entire house.

I think just painting the brick inside the porch will help make it feel more like an outdoor room, 

rather than just a back porch.

Just off the porch will be two paver patios using these pavers in the Hampton Blend.

Once the construction is complete, 

we will add the finishing touches like lighting, pillows, plants and accessories.

That's the fun part for me. 

I'm not exactly looking forward the backyard being a mud put during the process,

but I'm sure Willee and the kids will enjoy it. 

I hope your summer is off to good start. 

Hang it there with me for the next few months.

I have plenty of projects to share!

A TASTE OF SPRING

Mother Nature has been playing some tricks on us lately.  

One day, it's 80 degrees and we are wearing shorts and the next thing you know, 

it's time to get the coats out again.  

I sure wish she would make up her mind. 

While she was blessing us with some sunshine earlier this week, 

I gave the back porch a good Spring cleaning.

 And in true Andrea fashion, I changed things up a bit. 

Last year, it looked like this....

I added a few branches with flowering buds from our neighbor's backyard.

And a few daffodils too.

The back porch, a good book and a cup of tea have been calling my name all week. 

Too bad I'm still catching up from vacation.

Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who has trouble relaxing when

there is work to be done. 

Don't worry, I'm working on that. Ha!

I hope you have a great weekend, despite Mother Nature's fickleness.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Part of my backyard currently looks like this....

There was a lot of this going on Saturday....

And right now, we are left with this.... 

And this is hanging out in the back yard too....

In the midst of all the destruction, we had a landscape architect come over and draw this...

I'm sure it looks a little crazy to you with all the arrows and such, 

but it was pretty amazing watching this woman work. 

She spent some time measuring the space and then talking with us about what we 

plan to use the space for and what we had on our "wish list". 

I showed her several images I had pinned as inspiration and wah lah, we ended up with this.

We will likely start on the plan this year and hopefully finish 

everything up next year.

Here are a few things we are planning to incorporate into the backyard design.

An outdoor fireplace is number one on our wish list. 

We are hoping to expand our back porch a bit and screen it in.   

We would love to have some sort of entry gate added to the backyard, 

along witha ton of low maintenance, lush landscaping.

We would like to replace the ugly concrete with a stone patio similar to this.

All images can be found here. 

If all this ends up happening, 

I think I'll just pitch a tent right next to the fireplace and live here year round.

I'll be sure to have a backyard warming party, and you'll all be invited!