For the past two years, I have been tackling the house one room at a time. I started with the guest bedroom, moved to the living room which snowballed into the kitchen. Then, I made some updates to the Master Bedroom and bathroom, re-vamped the family room, renovated my girls bedroom and even had some time to tackle our smallest bathroom by converting it into a pantry. The only room in the house that I haven’t touched is the guest bathroom and the hallway. Those are next. 

In the meantime, I’ve been needing to make some changes to our outdoor space.

We have this great covered patio right off of the kitchen and family room. It serves as our dining room since we don’t have a formal dining room in the house. And, our outdoor space is large enough, that together with our more traditional patio set, we can comfortably seat 14 people for dinner without having to pull out extra tables and chairs.

My wood planked deck was crying out for some major TLC! The varnish had all but worn off over the years and there were a number of rough patches that were getting pretty dangerous to bare feet.

With summer around the corner and the great weather we had last week, it was ideal to start this project.

It took me two days to strip down the stain and varnish and smooth out the planks. I grumbled about it the whole time but stuck with it. My plan for staining was to do a two-tone finish to create a faux rug. I’ve really been liking the two-tone wood finishes I’ve been seeing on blogs and pinterest.

I love that floor!!!

Mine did not look like the one online. 

Instead of getting fancy, I opted for simple stripes letting the planks serve as my guide. Let me tell you…I’m glad that I did because it totally didn’t work! It looked RIDICULOUS. Once the wood took the varnish, the contrast between the dark wood stain and un-stained finish wasn’t that noticeable and the lines were not crisp and clean. It looked like a hot mess.


I was so disappointed. I went back to my original plan which was to paint my faux rug. So much faster and so much easier.

I ended up mixing Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® in Old White and Pure White for the border and white stripes and Greek Blue for the blue stripes. I was so close to painting it Barcelona Orange but chickened out. 

It took me about six months to find the different chairs and each one is spray painted in a different shade of blue, white or green.

My “outdoor” table came from the Habitat for Humanity Restore on clearance for $30 and a stripped it, re-stained the top and painted the base in French Linen with the intention of selling it. It never did make it to the store. 

The white dresser came from a yard sale and was supposed to get sold at the store, too…but it never made it here. It’s ideal for my outdoor decorations and dishes.

 The deck frame is stained in Dark Walnut and shows every single doggie print. But, it is so smooth and clean. It’s a nice change.

I need to find a new place for the ladder and shampoos since you can see them so nicely displayed from outside. My six year old pointed that out to me. What an eye she has! 

I might do a stencil pattern on the stripes to add some more visual interest and have been eyeing a new one. This just might be the excuse I need to buy it. 

At the shop this week, I am working on creating a permanent shelving area to display the various pieces of home decor and collectibles that we come across. I’ve been keeping an eye on crates on craigslist and figured I needed about 40 of them to create some shelving. 

It actually took a lot fewer than I was expecting so I have a bundle of leftovers that I can sell.

Things are coming together! 

Wait until you see what we have planned for this weekend! 😉