Sunshine on the Inside: Patio Perfection!

I know this post is coming at a strange time because it's late September and not 'patio season' anymore (though we did enjoy a dinner of grilled pizza on the patio this weekend anyway:)), but I really wanted to share what's been going on with our patio as of late, so here goes:

While I realize that we gave our patio a little furniture makeover just last summer (see here and here), I wasn't loving it. I really wanted a table that could seat at least six people, so we could accommodate more people for outdoor meals at our house. We even picked up an extra round wrought iron table and four chairs last year (on super clearance) with the thought we could set up two table and chair sets, cafe style. In the end, I decided that was weird, and we sold off both sets in the early part of this summer for $525 (club chairs excluded).

Even with the funds from the sale of our old furniture sets, I quickly realized that purchasing a new table and chair set in a style I liked and in a price range that we were willing to pay probably wasn't going to happen this year. So we waited a bit and kept our eyes open. And then Target started to clearance their patio furniture. We purchased two sets of Casetta chairs on sale for 50% off. I love the texture of the woven chairs, and had been eyeing them since they first went on display. We had our chairs, now we needed a table... a really nice and really cheap table that could seat at least 6 people. So I asked Bill if he'd build me one out of cedar. He said yes, and we came up with a plan. With a 10% off coupon to Home Depot, the cost came to $100, which was much more reasonable than similar alternatives we had come across online that ranged from the $300-$700 plus shipping.

Bill built the table in early August, and then we had the kids practice getting on and off the chairs at the table, and it proved difficult for them. I asked Bill if he'd build a matching bench (cost: $50) so the kids could get on and off their seats with ease, and he said yes. (I sure love that guy!!) We've had the table, bench and chairs out for a couple months now, and we LOVE having dinner outside! Four of the chairs are around the table with the bench. Two of the chairs are in a mulch bed by our play set for sitting in the shade while watching the kids play, and the last two chairs are set club chair style in the patio area as well. The super exciting news, is that the bench allows for even more people to sit at the table than we originally planned. In fact, we've squeezed 9 people (including 3 kiddos) around the table with relative ease.

I read that it's best to let cedar weather a bit before staining it, so we just stained the table and bench two weekends ago. We had to pick a stain color. I hate picking colors. I end up finding two nearly identical colors and fluctuate back and forth between them. This stain decision was no different. Bill finally decided for me:). We picked up the stain at Menard's on sale and ending up choosing Black Oak:

This product was a two-fer containing stain and sealer in one! Yippee for fewer steps/coats.

Here is how our patio looks now:

Totally lovely, in my opinion:)!! And the good news for Bill is that I already know that this set is a keeper. There will be no major changes coming in 2013 on the patio front:)! Yeah!!

And in terms of new costs for our patio this year, we paid $500 for eight chairs, $100 for the table, $25 for the stain, and $50 for the bench for a total of $675. Considering we made $525 selling our old sets, the patio changes only cost us $150 this year:)!

And here are a few herb garden pictures because it's so close to the patio: