“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…”
Ok, well that’s not quite what you think…but it’s time for another instalment of the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE! If you aren’t sure what that is, make sure to click HERE. In short, we are linking up with hundreds of other design and DIY bloggers to transform one room in your home, in six weeks! And if you haven’t followed along our previous two room transformations, make sure to check out our Boys Room Makeover and our Master Bedroom Makeover too.
For this challenge, I will be completely honest and tell you it was a STRUGGLE to figure out what room/space we were going to tackle. We have a few spots in our home that could use a mini-makeover and we kept going back and forth between our kids playroom, my office, the living room and the deck.
I know, that’s A LOT of options.
So the reason we finally settled on the deck not even two weeks ago is because this is a project that we were supposed to do LAST fall. We had someone lined up to help us and then a few unfortunate circumstances later, it was too late and the ground was frozen (remember, we live in the north).
Here’s the main reason why we NEED a better deck space: because our back yard is almost non-existent and we need a space for our kids to play and for our family and friends to gather during the summer.
You see, we live in a town house and we are the middle unit. When we moved here, we had to downsize from our huge detached home that boasted a MASSIVE shed in the yard. We had TONS of space. So naturally, we collected A LOT of junk.
Even after a few large yard sales, MANY trips to the local thrift store to donate items and selling stuff online, we STILL had a garage FULL of STUFF. Well, enter the local parking bylaw officers and an obscene amount of parking tickets for parking our second vehicle on the street overnight, and we finally decided we HAD to get serious about our junk, purge even more and then build a shed for what was leftover. We are talking things like lawnmower, bikes, wheelbarrow, tent, collapsable tables, etc.
You see we live in a three-storey townhouse that does NOT have a basement. The ground level is actually considered our “basement”. So while our town home is still HUGE (over 2,400 finished square feet), we don’t have a ton of storage space.
So we built a shed, and unfortunately, it takes up a THIRD of our small backyard. That doesn’t leave us with much outdoor space.
So let’s journey up to our second floor, which is where this patio deck transformation will occur. Currently, we have a deck big enough to fit TWO dining chairs on it. Yup, you read that correctly…TWO CHAIRS. I’m honestly not sure what is the point of this balcony whatsoever as it’s virtually useless. Even our barbecue doesn’t fit on it…it’s that small. We tried to upgrade it when we were customizing the home with the builder, but they weren’t interested in many bells and whistles. Just get in, build and get out!
We knew we needed to upgrade that patio deck for a few reasons. First, because our main living space is on the second floor, we don’t spend hardly any time on the bottom floor of our home. Meaning…I can’t really let the kids run outside on their own and play without having to be present there with them watching. Because our yards are all so small, no one has fenced off their individual yards, which is great in one sense for my kids…but it also means there are entry and exit points to the yard which is not ok for this momma bear. It’s not always feasible for me to take my work outside and supervise their playtime.
Secondly, we love to entertain. In the summer months, we WANT to be OUTSIDE. We need a space, close to the kitchen, where we can invite friends over and enjoy the great outdoors.
So, here were are…about to embark on this deck transformation! Everyone in our home is SO EXCITED about this because we all love being outdoors. And the thought of being able to be on the deck…all five of us at one time…is AWESOME!
So stay tuned for next week when I reveal our inspiration for this makeover! I have some fun ideas in mind about how we can turn this 12×12 deck space into a functional, family retreat where everyone will enjoy themselves!
Love & Blessings,
