Outdoor Upgrades

Although the weather still seems to be a bit confused, it's summertime in Chicago, and thus begins my yearly petitioning of trying to convince Dan that we need a patio out in the backyard. In true cheapskate form, we would DIY this project, which means we need to find a free weekend to tackle it, but I'm holding out hope!

Thanks to Pinterest, I obviously already have a billion ideas for how I would pretty up our little patio.

A cinder block planter would be a definite must-have -

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As would some simple storage -

A strand of twinkle lights, a hula hoop and some chain from the hardware store would make for the perfect DIY lighting -

And I'd probably grab some of the logs from under the stairs and spray paint them a fun color for seating... because... why not? -

Table options are endless. Like making one out of pallets -

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Or simply tracking down an old beat up table and adding log-stump stools around the sides -

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My favorite is something like this DIY live-edge table WITH A BUILT-IN ICE BUCKET - 

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A few funky mismatched tiles make for a wipeable "runner" on any table, which is perfect for outside -

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What do you think? Is DIY'ing a patio worth the cost? How about difficulty level? I'm fairly certain we could do this no problem, but that would also not be the first time I've said that ;).

Happy Tuesday friends! It's a big one.