Small Patio Renovation

Since I moved to San Diego, more than 6-years-ago, I have been dreaming about having a patio in my home . The city’s perfect weather makes the outdoors enjoyable most days of the year. In our
new home we have a small front patio and I had big dreams for it. My first thought was to turn it into a small French breakfast nook. Adam mentioned he wanted a comfortable sitting area to read and he was right—we both love to read.

The doors of the front patio are located in the living room area. After much thought, I decided to treat the patio as an extension of the living room. Doing this we would not only have a comfortable outdoor space to read, but it would also give some amplitude to the downstairs area. This way I would be able to use the patio for Alexander to play in and of course for small gatherings. When the patio doors are closed the colorful patio would be a nice accent in the room.

First thing I did? Well, of course, I went to Home Depot and bought about 8 pots and plants. What’s a small patio without them?

The patio’s floor was this rough colorless cement, so that was a big concern. I really wanted to use fake turf, it is amazing how the quality of turf has evolved—it looks even better than the real thing! The soft texture would be great for Alexander to play in and it would give the appearance of real grass. Adam was not sure about it, he was worried about maintenance. After giving it some thought for a few days, I decided to let it go. I went to Home Depot and Lowes looking for new ideas. I also searched online without finding what I was looking for. Finally I remembered that Ikea sells some cool patio furniture and flooring so I decided to pay them a visit. All my prayers were answered, they had amazing furniture and flooring—of course, at an amazing price!

This is the before and after of our patio adventure, I hope you like it:

BEFORE

DURING

This is the flooring from Ikea. They have a wood version as well, but my patio gets sun most of the day—I was afraid it would be high maintenance so I went with plastic.