ORC – Patio Reveal Day

Calling It Home’s One Room Challenge, where you decorate one room in six weeks from start to finish, is like having a newborn.  Those first six sleep deprived weeks are both joyful, tearful, blissful and insane.  And then the baby starts sleeping and you forget about those weeks and you want to do it all over again and again.  At least that’s what happens to me.

I’m pregnant with my third child so that could be why the analogy feels so fitting.  Well at the end of week six, I’m exhausted and I could use a drink that isn’t a “mocktail.”

For those allowed cocktails, let me show you our new favorite spot for drinks and dinner.  Our revamped patio…

And here is what it looked like six weeks ago…

Goodbye to that unused, unattractive table and chairs that the previous owner of our home just left behind.  Hello to the custom Christopher Farr Cloth cushions, Serena and Lily pillows, bench handmade by my husband, Dash and Albert Rug, Turf clad coffee table, vintage faux bamboo chairs and a vintage elephant side table.  Each of these pieces makes me super happy.

Isn’t that bench amazing?!  I’m super proud of my husband’s secret woodworking skills.  He should never have revealed his skills because now I’m constantly coming up with projects for him.

It’s hard to pick a winner but I must say this fabric makes me the happiest of them all.  I’ve been dreaming of having it in my home for the past eight years when I first saw it in Australian Vogue.  It didn’t hurt that my mom had the left over fabric from the One Room Challenge that I did four times ago of her pool house.  I took the left over fabric from her sofa.  Thanks mom!

Back to the project this time around.  In addition to my favorite Christopher Far Cloth Fabric, I also loved the Montecito pillow from Serena and Lily.  It’s the softest outdoor pillow I have ever felt.  I have no idea how they pulled it off.

The other loves are the grass ottoman that I got at the Filoli Gardens boutique.  It’s a beautiful local garden that I visit often with my girls and for month’s on end, I would walk by that grass ottoman and wish for it to be mine.  They have a once a year sale and I grabbed it faster than you can say, “sold sweetie.”

Those vintage bamboo chairs I bought about eight years ago at a thrift store for $40.  I sprayed them in an outdoor spray paint and we’ll see how long they last outdoors.  We don’t have a spot for them indoors.

Remember New York Seltzer?  I thought they went to the land of Tab.  I drank one after the shoot and it was delicious – absolutely packed with sugar but delicious.  Also, that flower looks straight out of a cartoon but I assure you it’s a real peony.

Down those steps comes our newly revamped bar/bar-b-que area…

As a refresher, here is what it looked like six weeks ago…

They say the heart of the home is the kitchen, for us it’s our bar-b-que.  We use this spot all the time from May through October.  And I have HATED the red chipped tile since we moved in two years ago.I absolutely love the new tile and I’m so happy that we decided to tile the entire bar.  What a difference!

I wanted an antique blue/white tile to go with our 1936 spanish colonial home.  But sometimes “wants” run a couple hundred a square foot.  Enter this faux antique from Wayfair tile for $5.65 sq/ft!

We nearly cheaped out and didn’t fully tile the back but I’m thrilled we went the extra mile.  That hole to the right will be getting a refrigerator and that brick area is where a wood burning fire pit goes.

That Salamat Designs light, hanging over the bar, was a battle to get with my husband; we tried out three different lights until we landed on that one – the best one!  It was my top choice all along.  Luckily for me, Salamat Designs is based out of San Francisco and they let me come to their warehouse earlier this week to get the light.  It’s actually only up by fishing wire right now.  Electrician will be out next week – because it truly has only been six weeks.

Moving right along, just beyond the bar is a large farmhouse table that my husband also built.  We didn’t do any changes to it but I did put together a tablescape.  PS – I cut that palm frond from our own back yard!

I tried to keep the tablesetting as simple as possible which is tough for a maximalist like me.

Those flower pots are some of my favorites ever for tablescapes; they were a gift from my mom.

You can see that just beyond the table sit two green wicker chairs that are positioned to look out on the lawn.

I just had new cushions made for the green chairs.  Even though the least was done here, this is where I spend most of my time, sitting and watching the girls run on the lawn.

It’s all very new but I can already say that we use it all the time.

Some find a spot to dance

Some lounge on it like little queens.

It’s a pretty awesome spot.  I’m not going to lie.  Now to invite people over.

I encourage you to go check out all the participants and their hard work in the One Room Challenge at Linda’s blog, here.