megdanielle

Freddy is awesome at setting project budgets. When we bought our house, he budgeted out every single one of the rooms and I scoffed at his detail down to the nails he’d needed to purchase. Of course I was amazed when we were able to accomplish what we set out to do at our budgeted amounts; that’s when he really became the project master of the house – not just with his handy skills but with his planning know-how.

When Freddy approached me with a budgeted number and a challenge to makeover our deck area, I gladly took him up on his offer! Our deck is accessed through my favorite room of the house, which hosts a fireplace and (currently) the patio table and chair set passed down from my parents; the room is functioning as our dining room today but it’s in preparation to become our future relaxation room.

The deck is big enough for a few chairs and harbors an awfully dilapidated grill that was left over from its previous owner. The grill, in turn, harbors an awfully mean looking family hornets. The space is definitely in need of a little summer TLC! In all honesty, we’ll probably tear the deck down sooner or later and replace it – which means the updates need to be mobile. 

With all of that in mind, I began scouring magazines for ideas (Thank you HGTV and Better Homes and Gardens magazines!) and drawing up some sketches on my sketch pad. I clipped out examples or ideas from my magazines and pasted them into my drawings. Then I started adding up the costs… Let me tell you, this project budgeting comes a lot easier to my husband!

I knew I wanted an outdoor rug, first and foremost, to highlight our existing seating area. (We purchased the green Adirondack chairs back in our apartment days and got a great little side table thrown in on a Craigslist deal for some patio chairs and a table late last fall.) I read a suggestion for a potting bench turned outdoor bar that would go perfectly to the right of the doorway and I could have Freddy build me a corner bench to save some of my budget. With a few more odds, ends, and color – I started seeing how I could have my deck under budget after all!

I found the picture seen above in the top right corner of my sketch pad that used a table and lattice instead of purchasing or building a potting bench and it dawned on me – we have a rickety old table downstairs holding our laundry detergent that is the PERFECT size for this! It was a leftover when we moved in. I could paint the table with some outdoor paint and add a lower shelf and have my own version! Here’s a picture of the before:

Then I got on www.rugsusa.com at the prompting of some magazine suggestions and found the cutest outdoor rug for $40 (flat rate – no shipping charges added!). Wouldn’t you believe it, that rug arrived today and it is EXACTLY what I had in mind! That’s not always a sure bet off a computer screen!

Don’t you love it?! I have scouted a few more odds and ends that I haven’t picked up yet but I was so excited today that I couldn’t wait to share the beginning planning stages!