Hey hey! We’re back with a little bit of an update today, and thought it would be fun to check in with all of you. We hope you’re staying well and safe and enjoying the summer in your own way. We were thrilled to reveal our back yard makeover part 1 in May, where we changed over the side dining area, hid that horrible pool pump, and finished off our fence expansion. We were making the most of quarantine, y’all.
Here’s a glimpse at this area, with the before and after. While we built a privacy wall around the dining area, we actually knocked down the old fence, and expanded the entire yard.
Even our neighbors have been saying they didn’t realize our yard was so big.
We’re still waiting for the wood to dry out, so we hope to paint it and have a full how-to on that, soon.
But we love the changes that it made. It was definitely time for the fence to go.
If you take a step back on this side of the pool, here’s a little glimpse at our progress from the time we found the house, until now. We’ve come so far, inside and out! We knew that we were ready to invest in some landscaping and privacy, to help with all things curb appeal, so we’ve slowly but surely been chiseling away at all things landscaping.
We were thrilled to share all about our cabana plans about a month ago, and thought we’d share an update today. Because per typical us, the plans have, uh, expanded a little.
It’s what we do.
{Get your free printable here!}
We’ve actually gotten quite busy {and we’re soooo grateful} after taking a small breather with all things covid on the business side, so it took us a moment to get back to our own projects. But I’ve realized while we love working with clients, I’m happier when I have one of my own projects going, too. There’s just something so gratifying about improving your home, where you call the final shots.
Here’s a view of the pool when we first found the home. By the time we took ownership, it was totally brown with dead birds, etc. {Thanks, old owners.} But this shed. It kind of feels like the last remaining symbol of how far we’ve come. When we took on phase one this spring, we left the shed because of storage needs, and just spray painted it white, since we’ve known we would eventually replace it. We just weren’t sure when.
Once upon a time, it was grey, but the sun turned it an odd purplish color.
Over four years ago, we almost walked away from our house because of this shed. Actually, we did.
We were taking a risk as it was, to make the leap from one market to another. We came from one horrible market where our home took a year to sell and we took a loss, to another one that was outlandish. They call Nashville the next California on the housing market. We had to pay closing on both homes and were stretched as it was, when our business actually hit a dry spot.
Cue panic attack.
When we had our inspection, we kind of wondered why it had an air conditioning unit in the side of this little shed. But the inspector found nothing alarming. {Side note, inspector MISSED A LOT – In retrospect, maybe we’re glad he missed these things or we would have totally bailed.} But when we were checking out the HVAC, the old owner showed up, and whilst casually chatting with Jamin, told us this was once an outdoor toilet area because he didn’t want kids tracking up the house to use said bathroom.
So he dug a barrel and put it into the ground, and made it into a toilet area. Then covered it up to sell the house, because “you know how those inspectors are.”
Jamin replied with “Yes. Yes we do.”
When he told us this, we were mortified, since it was an EPA issue. And we walked away. I cried. We’d fallen in love with a house, even though it didn’t make sense. She needed a TON of TLC and a complete overhaul. {See a glimpse of our progress, here.}
Needless to say, he came back around and because he offered to report and care for it properly, as well as knock a little off the price… we agreed to a new contract.
Tearing it down the other day, gave us so much gratification.
Even though it didn’t budge when there was a little bit of this action.
And even though we weren’t sure what we might find underneath the shed.
So, {Rawr} Jamin took matters into his own hands.
For what it’s worth, the whole thing was collapsing. And eaten by termites. And the barrel… is STILL there. EW. Let’s just say we’re leaving it be.
So now that it’s cleared out of the way, we’ve established our area, marked it all off, and we’re ready to get started! More on all of that coming as we go. But back to that whole, if you give a mouse a cookie bit. The cabana has gone from an open air kind of set up, to a full fledged detached screened in porch.
PS. is there a wood shortage where you guys are? We were told that some of the mills have shut down, and there’s no one around to cut wood. So that, and everyone DIY-ing around here, means that lumber yards are scarce.
Here’s a little bit of an overhead view, with our pieces inside, and the entire set up. One side will have closets for pool storage and supplies, while the other end will be a bar area with a tiny fridge and TV. Because we figured, why not? I think this is kind of what happens when an enneagram 4 + 7 get married + work together.
Here’s the view of the closet side, with doors on each side, which can meet in the middle to save space.
And a rough drawing of the bar side. We can’t wait to show you the “final” over all look! This drawing looks kinda funny but we promise it’s going to look great in real life. We were truly going with that cabana feel.
Here’s some of our finds, a little revised from last time…
{Some of these are affiliate links so we can keep on sharing!}
Paint: We plan to pull from the same as the Side porch area:
Ceiling = SW Kendal Green + SW breaktime
Walls = Super paint Satin Extra White
But you can see we’re also all about shades of yellow, salmon, navy and more. We’re all about the traditional/mod cabana feel.
Lighting:
We’re obsessed with Kichler lighting. It’s no secret here. But we love the idea of these Elias wall lights on each side for the exterior
We also want to add a series of these twinkler lights, which are perfect for projecting stars at night.
And to keep it cool, a few of these fans because we love their streamlined look.
Tile
Of course we had to pull from our Jeffrey Court Faves : our Curated Selection. We adore balancing act mosaic for a stylish pattern at the bar, + we’ve decided to go with castle rock under foot for a great floor in the cabana.
Furniture
We took advantage of the sales over Memorial Day weekend, and jumped on these swing + cushion combos. We love the bright fun feel they’ll bring into the space. But the cushions never arrived, and we’re trying to figure it out. We ordered these for the same colorful effect.
As well as some pieces for this sofa. We love that we can break it up or keep it as one, and rearrange as needed. We used a combo of these pieces here + here.
Accessories:
Pillows: we’re all about the colors with these 1, 2, 3 {probably my favorite for that fun cabana feel}
Tiny fridge: can it be any cuter? Comes in lots of colors and the coral was just right.
Rug: Because a cabana needs a rug worthy of said cabana, amirite? The photos don’t do it justice.
Barstools: we figured this would be just perfect for all things outdoor seating.
Tray: because it was I had a giftcard and had to use it before they went out of bidnass.
Barn door hardware: something like this
Art: yet to be decided, because you know we’ll add that, too. But we do adore this We already own her pool boy bell and ADORE it.
Side table: for some kitschy fun and and because pinapples.
_____
And that wraps up our progress so far! It’s really hot outside.
Wish us luck!
Pam says
Love what you’re doing and yes, there is a lumber shortage. I dodged a bullet this summer. My old deck was a complete tear down situation. My builder was great and now I have a beautiful new deck. However, had I waited one week, maybe less, before giving him the go-ahead for this, I would now have only some foundation posts and a bit of framing done. That means I would not be able to walk out my door to the deck without falling several feet down to the ground – yikes. Fortunately he had procured all the necessary lumber as soon as I hired him, so he was able to complete the deck. It was sooo close to being a disaster because no telling when enough lumber would be available. I don’t know the whole story on the lumber situation but I’m so glad I didn’t wait to make my decision on this. Whew. This all happened the first week in June. Thought you might be interested in knowing this.
ashley @ the handmade home says
Ahhh! Who knew?! So crazy! So glad you got your deck taken care of. I know you’ve been enjoying it! We had to go to four different places for wood, and sub in other sizes. Items for our clients are taking forever to come in, too. We’re trying to order months in advance to avoid it all but it’s kind of impossible to be able to tell what will be on backorder and when it will actually come back in stock. It’s really crazy all the things that this has affected.