A Concrete Catastrophe

We stained the concrete in the backyard this weekend.

Yeah... we don't like either. 

The plan was to stain the plain concrete a light, warm terra cotta color to warm up the space since it was pretty blah to begin with. We had read a few home blogs and discovered that people have stained the concrete with fantastic results. It seemed like an easy and cheap project. So we went to Home Depot and picked out a color of Behr Semi-Transparent Concrete Stain we liked. 

That was a few months ago. Jon actually forgot what color we had chosen since it had been so long. Why did we wait so long? The stain cannot be applied if its over 90 degrees. So we really couldn't apply it in the height of summer. We had already done a little bit of work back there we decided to focus on projects we could do in air conditioning. Now that its not crazy hot we decided to finally apply the stain. 

First Jon cleaned the space. The instructions said to work in 4' by 4' sections. Luckily our patio floor is already broken up into sections. That way we could move all of the furniture to one side and then do it again but on the other side we it was time to paint the other half.

Poseidon watched us work.

Then we got to staining. Jon used the roller to get majority of the space and I used a paintbrush around the edges. I know the photo is of Jon but I swear I helped. 

As we were doing it we noticed the color wasn't really what we thought we had originally picked out. And we noticed it was really orange. But not in a good way. This is coming from two people who actually embrace orange is all its bold glory. We both hoped that it would dry lighter but it didn't.

Apart from the color we don't like the uneven application. Its really dark in some places and very light in others. The instructions say that two coats help achieve an uniform color but we don't to intensive the orange. 

Now we really don't know what to do. Jon is leaning towards finishing it off just to see what it would look like but I think it would be overwhelmingly orange. I want to paint it a darker color. Jon mentioned a coworker of his painted his concrete patio with a product by Rust-Oleum that left it shiny and smooth. We're thinking that might be the new plan. Maybe a dark gray or a brown with a glossy finish. I think if we chose a dark brown it will match the new flooring we'll eventually put in and make the outdoor space look like a extension of our home. The gray would define the space more and be neutral enough to appeal to buyers down the road. 

Either way, the orange has got to go. After the shutter debacle this project is our biggest mistake. At least this is an easy fix!

Free Is My Favorite

Remember how we started to work on our backyard but never finished? Well thanks to my parents we made progress!

My parents had this patio furniture for years. I think they bought it when we first moved into their current home. It came unfinished and my parents painted it a bright peach (my mom's favorite color). A few years later my mom was over the peach and decided on a dark brown that's similar to the style of furniture she has in her home. A few years after that my dad wanted to get rid of it because it wasn't getting a lot of use. So they very kindly sent it our way.

Its currently set up on one side of our backyard like its own lounge area. The outdoor dining table and grill are on the other side. We moved our plants around so the green is spread out a bit. Down the line I'd like to get more faux grass and plants, an outdoor rug and a little table to rest in between the two chairs.

As for the grass that's actually remnants of artificial grass. One of my mom's neighbors installed in at their home and allowed my mom to take the pieces. Jon and I were thinking about getting fake grass. Since the backyard is all concrete there's not really an easy way to lay sod. Plus we'd have to install a sprinkler system. And shove a lawnmower throughout the garage door anytime we Jon needed to mow the lawn. Waaaay too much work. 

So when my mom saw that she could get some for free she jumped all over it. She sent me a photo of her pile and said that now Poseidon could have somewhere to lay down in the backyard. "He loves grass! He needs some in the backyard." Direct quote. Poseidon is so spoiled. 

All I did was lay out the different pieces of grass around the furniture. The big pieces are long and skinny so an "L" layout seemed to be the way to go. It was sort of like making my own grassy puzzle. 

The three of us have definitely gotten more use out of the space since the update. Jon and I sit out there with coffee on Saturday mornings and wine in the evening after work. Ok, once with coffee. Thrice with drinks. But Poseidon spends a lot of time out there. He loves to lay in the grass and chew on his cow toe (yes, a real cow toe). I think he's saying "you caught me and my cow toe!"

We still have a bit more work to do but now that we have more than two chairs we can have guests back there! Weekend barbecue anyone? 

You See Me Rollin'

A couple of weeks ago when Jonathan and I tackled our garage project I was in Behr Beast mode. Using power drills. Teaching myself some basic HTML stuff. Designing a new blog header. No biggie.

Ok. Big deal! I was feeling pretty proud of myself. Stepped out of my comfort zone and ROCKED it. Obviously this called for self fives, repeatedly asking Jonathan if he was impressed by me and calling my parents to tell them of my recent accomplishments.

The fun didn't end there. 

Recently Jon and I had discussed making some changes to our backyard. We're thinking less concrete box and more suburban oasis. We have some big plans but one of our smaller projects is to add some green back there. 

Step 1 was to move a plant tree thing from our front porch to our backyard. Jon had tried to move it but its really heavy. I thought we could use our dolly to move it. Unfortunately this required moving it around our building. I didn't want to go through our house and we share walls with our neighbors so the only option was to go from our front door all the way around to our garage. 

Considering how much work we how put it on that day I didn't want to ask Jon to do it. I knew he was tired and I figured that it would be a lot easier with a dolly. Except I forgot that I had to lift the stupid pot on the stoop so I could use the dolly. Have a good laugh and excuse my profanity. 

They see me rollin', they hatin'.

We need a lot more plants back there but at least now there's something other than concrete back there.

Throwing Shade

One of my favorite things about our condo is that we have a private backyard. Jonathan and I looked at several places and no other complex had pretty patios like ours does.

When we first saw our patio I was thrilled. It was all concrete which meant less dirt during the windy winter season and the skeleton of a cover patio. The previous home owner said that she had originally tried to cover the patio but it had flown off with the wind. Jonathan and I deduced that it was probably due to shoddy workmanship since there was so much of that going in the home. Haven't you seen the photos of the nasty paint jobs? We were pretty sure that it would be easy to cover ourselves. 

Just to clarify: Ourselves = Jonathan. 

The weather has been beautiful lately and that means summer and its 100 degree heat is just around the corner. So we kicked our butts into gear and did our homework to see what kind of material we were going to use. 

Its really popular to use lattice or tons of skinny slats of wood on a cover patio but since we enter the house through the patio we wanted to have something that would allow us to walk without getting wet. See what I'm talking about? That's the door to our garage.

My parents had actually done something similar to their cover patio last summer and used plastic carbonate roofing paneling. Jon had helped my brother do it and it wasn't hard. We figured we'd copy them and do it our place. Imitation is the highest form of flattery right? 

Maximum shade, easy install and it was cheap! Total we spent $250 including the nails. Heck yes!

Once we got back home Jon morphed into handy husband and did his thing. First, he moved our cable line so the top of the wood frame would be free to drill into.

Then he placed one panel on the frame, positioned it and drilled it down using special roofing screws. 

He started with the piece closest to the garage and then moved on to the panel that would partially lay on top of it, making sure he hit wood he used the drill to attach it to the frame. Meanwhile, I sat there and looked pretty. I may have enjoyed an adult beverage or two. I have the best husband ever.

It took a few hours but once he got in the groove it went pretty quickly. At least from where I was sitting!

We did have a couple of issues. One, the screws weren't long enough for some spots so we only got about halfway done before we need another Home Depot run. Two, some of the panels were not being fully supported on the inside because they weren't touching the frame. This was a problem because we didn't want rain to come in through there and we didn't want the panels to become loose due the strong winds this area gets in the winter. We tossed around a couple of solutions but then I decided to adhere the panels together using Liquid Nails.

Jonathan was concerned about me and the mess I was making so he stepped in to help me do it himself. Because the wood was warped and not completely straight, the panels didn't lie flat on top of each other. That meant that we didn't have a flat surface to work with for the Liquid Nails. Jon cleaned it up and just threw a couple of the roofing fasteners into the two pieces. Way faster and easier than my idea.

Since we had to make another Home Depot run, Jonathan ended up finishing it the next day. And we FINALLY got to enjoy the lovely shade.

Now that he's done his part, its my turn. I'm thinking of adding some new furniture and plants. And I'd really like to add some lighting. What we currently have is ugly and doesn't really work that well.

But that's for another day. For now we'll enjoy it as is!