While this is in no way "done", I took on several projects these past couple weeks to liven up the back patio and make it look, well, less crappy and a bit more inviting. There is still work to do and there are still things I need to figure out plant-wise, but I thought I'd show the evolution from when we first moved in, which is actually quite a lot.
before after
Patio design for me is a hella challenge, as I'm very minimalist in nature and yet I appreciate an inviting vibe, a good amount of greenery, and functionality to boot.
As you can see from the above "Before" photo, it was pretty bland and VERY gray. Now, my painting the house this spring helped quite a bit, but one thing I know is how much hotter a patio can feel in the summer with concrete pavers. It only got into the mid-70s this past week and the heat was emanating from it like crazy making me literally not want to go beyond the covered area. Not good. So I've still got my work cut out. Do I stain the pavers to look like brick and warm it up a bit (this has been inspiring me today...)? Do we get an umbrella even though it's in shade by mid-afternoon being the east side of the house? I dunno. Along with that, I don't want to buy half a million planter pots which just mean more things to water and dang, I think I have enough in the ground and in our raised beds to tend to, not to mention that frost-proof clay pots are quite spendy and I have no interest in adding plastic or "composite" (read: more plastic) to the patio.
But in the meantime, this is an overview of what has been done so far to transform the area over the past 10 months...
The left side of the covered area of the patio houses the exterior unit for our heat pump, so, similar to what I did at our last place, I built a potting bench with slats on the side to ensure the essential airflow in and out of the unit, made from repurposed wood. As the solar inverter is now mounted on the wall by the back door, I wanted to add some "us" to the other side of the door, so I did what we often don't think about - I hung photos! Because it's covered AND east-facing, they are totally safe from the elements and get very little sun...plus now there's some history and charm for an unused area...and some garden tools to grab as needed!
I've also moved the brittle-but-beloved stained glass piece my dad made and gave me a couple years before his death onto the other potting bench, leaning against our bedroom window (we literally have no windows in the house that are shaped for this one to hang as we did in our last bay-window-crazy home) to embrace the light while being protected from winds by the plants.
For the uncovered area, I picked up a small tiled bistro-size table at World Market - ironically, the same one I owned years ago in P-town and sold before we moved to the farm (insert eye-roll here, I know), and some metal tulip chairs on clearance that I painted black to match the table's base. I've always loved the 'li'l rock' of those chairs ever since my great-granny had them on her farm in Southern Illinois when I was a kid, and the blue of the Mexican tile on the table match with the house without being, well, 'matchy matchy'. I'm not 100% on the chairs being black (I spray painted these clearance finds to match the base because blue and white options looked weird) but they are easy to move around and comfy comfy. along with that there was the mental anguish of trying to figure out how to cover up the base from the old fire pit, as I didn't want to put the new portable one there and create the same seating issues as before. Finally, I just spread a bunch of old bricks that were left behind by the seller on the middle portion, grabbed my galvanized steel Ikea planters I've had for like 15 years, covered the plants inside, and painted the outsides with 'terracotta satin' (thank you Pinterest!). Terracotta planters themselves can crack in severe cold and rain, and these ones I already had but looked drab AF in their silver on the cold gray patio, so I took 7 of the 10 and they are definitely transformed. As far as the layout of them here? I dunno. Several of these are going to depend on how the seedlings look once grown, so it's a wait-and-see approach right now.
Functionality also is a big thing to me. The 250 gallon rain tank, with an overflow hose that flows excess water out the gravel side path instead of back onto the patio (!) like the old downspout did, makes it way easy to water plants on this side of the garden. Hooks for watering cans and garden tools and sun hats, a place for the hose (rarely used but vital), and a 5-line retractable clothesline which I absolutely LOVE that was left in the garage by the seller? Vital.
So it's definitely evolving. Looking out from the patio to the garden is changing a lot. There are over a hundred new plantings along the fence which promise to grow nice and tall, the grassy area I kept that the ducks and the dog love to rest in (and me too on particularly warm evenings...). I have a bunch of ideas for further utilizing the patio space, but want to ensure we're keeping it clean yet cozy, minimalist yet comforting, and ensuring the eco-friendly sanctuary vibe I've been working at so hard for just under a year to create in all of our gardens, whether it be in the front, side, or here in back.
So many patio design ideas out there have huge furniture sets which just don't work for me. The placement of the patio is such that one can't get a full view of the back garden, which is why I built the deck this past winter to ease into our recliners over in that area instead to watch the flowers grow, the bees buzz about and the multitude of birds who have now made this sanctuary theirs as well. It's my favorite place for coffee in the early mornings....and now I just want to figure out a way to make the patio emanate that peaceful vibe as well. All while remembering we have ducks who like to hang out there and occasionally poop right on the pavers.
Ideas...???
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