The weather has truly been so lovely here in Maryland, during the month of September.
Cooler air temperatures coupled with the smile of the sunshine has made it just a little easier to let go of Summer’s hand and peacefully reach towards the new season that stretches out ahead.
Last week I returned to my writing chair and my keyboard for the first time in 2 months and I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge my gratitude for you…for meeting me back here after my brief blog break.
And also?
Thank you for your kind words that you shared with me in the comments after reading my first post back last week.
In case you missed it, you can catch up on my heart and my reflection of our Summer HERE in this post, “It Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect – To Be Good.”
And speaking of letting go of the seasons that have slipped under the wave of time and leaning in towards the next chapters waiting to be written…
Here is a fun little throwback, circa 2017.
Once upon a time…our backyard was home to a freshly custom built “Krout Sister Clubhouse.”
Yes, before I commissioned Shawn to hang shiplap and construct custom builtin bookcases from IKEA bookshelves…one of his first “contracting jobs” 🙂 was to build our 3 girls their very own outdoor sister headquarters.
Needless to say, Shawn along with the help of our dear neighbor, made 3 little ladies VERY happy.
And for years, the Krout Sister Clubhouse was home to many al fresco chicken nugget dinners, forts formed with pink blankets, beanbag chair chilling days, hide-n-seek home base, Halloween pillow case candy dumping and many more memories that make my heart rise and squeeze, when I pause long enough to linger here…
But, as we know all too well and as I have written HERE and HERE recently….our girls are growing up and our pink disc swings days have come and gone.
Yes, the sweet pink swing swing…has stilled.
And so?
One morning over the Summer, as Shawn and I were drinking our coffee together on the patio…our conversation led to this sliver of soil in our backyard that was being under utilized and held so much potential to be more…offer more.
You might remember this post from early Spring, when I shared pictures of our patio and my best tips on “How to create a beautiful backyard to enjoy.”
Well, if you know anything about me by now, I am all about making the most of our home and evaluating every nook and cranny, while always considering this one question…
How can this space work better for us?
And so?
While it was an emotional decision to make…as I left to pick up the girls from lacrosse camp…I gave Shawn the green light to cut down our beloved Krout Sister Clubhouse.
Today on the blog, I am sharing with you what our backyard looks like now, without the Krout Sister Clubhouse and how we have transformed this stretch of dirt into my favorite place to sip a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine at night.
Are you ready to see what this small non grass growing, stretch of dirt looks like now?
Come and see friend…
Wait Until You See This Cozy Fall Outdoor Space
Before I jump to this cozy Fall outdoor space transformation.
Here is a recap of what the grassless stretch of backyard looked like after we (and by we, I mean Shawn) took the Krout Clubhouse down…
The one good thing about taking down the Krout Sister Clubhouse, was that we were able to salvage the floor decking and reuse it to create a new level landing space for our grill, off the stamped concrete patio.
And now?
Here is what the backyard looks like, during the day.
But honestly?
My favorite time of day to enjoy our new sand and river rock patio is…
At night.
More Before & After’s!
What do you think?
Better use of the space?
As much as it was emotional for me, to close the chapter on our little kid clubhouse climbing days…I am so thrilled with how this new cozy outdoor space turned out!
This little weekend project definitely speaks straight into my decorator’s heart mantras of:
- Making the most out of the space you have!
- Granting yourself permission to make changes & evolve as your family evolves!
In the Spring, we plan to add to the landscape surrounding the new cozy space…but for now?
We are loving it!!
Here is how we created the sand & river rock patio:
I took a trip to our local Home Depot and bought everything we used to create our cozy outdoor space..
Materials at a glance:
First, we cleared out the dirt from branches and leaves and began to trace out the general area we wanted to place the black metal landscape edging to create our small circular space.
Next, we laid out, secured and attached the landscaping edges with the stakes that the edging came with.
Then, we laid out the woodblock landscape fabric and pinned it down to the ground.
We decided to use play sand as a first base layer on top of the landscape fabric in order to cut down on the quantity of river rock we needed. This allowed us to save money and not have to buy as much river rock and still cover up the landscape fabric.
We added bags of river rock on top of the sand and spread them out evenly. We will probably add more river rock as time goes on, but this works for now.
I also decided to paint our Adirondack chairs that I almost took to the curb for bulk trash pick up, because they were looking pretty sad.
Turns out, painting the chairs in Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams breathed new life into our Adirondack chairs and we will at least get another season out of them!
Next Spring, we plan to purchase these same black Adirondack chairs we already have on our front porch, that have held up against all types of rain and snow, as we leave them out all year long and they still look brand new!
And now?
Now, we are ready to enjoy this new and improved small backyard space all Fall long!
Of course, you can add a solo stove or gas fire pit to your outdoor conversation circle!
Because we already have an outdoor fire pit on our stamped concrete patio, we are choosing to simply enjoy the glow of a few solar lanterns and string lights.
I hope this post inspires you to make the most of your outdoor spaces and gets you excited to enjoy cozy Autumn evenings with your favorite people!
And just remember….as you start to create your own version of outdoor cozy Fall vibes…remember what we centered down on in last week’s post –
It doesn’t have to be perfect – to be good!
Living on a prayer,
Heather
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