We spent years saving up for and envisioning our new kitchen, and one of the main things we wanted was an open concept. The main floor was cut up with separate rooms for cooking and dining and with a wall separating the kitchen from the living room, the person cooking was always a little secluded. Our goal was to make it more inviting and family-oriented, somewhere all of us could be together when cooking, dining, and just living! Plus, I admit I was a little excited to change out the cabinets that came with our home that just weren’t my style.

So, we knocked out the wall separating our family room from the kitchen and completely relocated the kitchen to the back wall, thus opening the room up completely.

Before

(Our kitchen was on the other side of this wall)

After

(The load-bearing walls and pillars were supported with beams)

As mentioned above, we had been saving for quite some time for this remodel, but we still needed to save where possible to make it all happen. The cabinetry was one of the biggest costs of the whole remodel when we received the breakdown of our initial budget, so we started looking at other options that would hopefully still give us the look we were going for a fraction of the cost.

When my in-laws remodeled their home they did so with Ikea cabinets and had nothing but wonderful things to say about them and this is what first piqued our interest. I then had a couple of friends share they also had Ikea cabinets but swapped the Ikea fronts for a more custom look with Semihandmade fronts. I called one of my friends, picked her brain, and she gave me a video tour of her kitchen, and my husband and I watched in awe. This is exactly what we were looking for and would save us THOUSANDS.

Semihandmade specializes in making custom door fronts for Ikea cabinets. They solely work with Ikea so they have perfected the process down to a tee to make it as easy as possible. We were thoroughly impressed with how smoothly the process went and how they have figured out every last detail.

The Process: Designing the Kitchen with Ikea

–The first thing you want to do is schedule an appointment with Ikea in their Kitchen Planning department. Since we don’t live near an Ikea, we did all of our appointments virtually by screen-sharing and it was so nice to be able to do this from the comforts of our own home. The best part, it’s free! We started by giving Joshua, our planner, all of the measurements of our spaces so that he could input them into the program. This is something you want to be sure of, and if nervous and near an Ikea, you can pay $99 for someone from Ikea to come to your home and do the measuring for you. There is some flexibility as you can add filler pieces where necessary, but the fewer, the better! Next, they’ll input the measurements for all of your appliances so that they know exactly how much room they have to work with. Then, the fun part!

– Ikea has so many different options from standard doors to drawers of all sizes to extremely tall cabinets with pull-out drawers, to skinny spice drawers, and so on. So, the next part is choosing exactly what you want while your planner inputs each option into the program for you so you can see exactly how it is going to look. They can even show you exactly how it opens and what is inside if you choose a more intricate design! You are also able to play with the design yourself, but having someone who knows the program and every item Ikea offers right there at your fingertips (again, for free) is such a nice service. Our bases are from the Sektion line and someone had asked if I noticed an off-gassing odor when we opened them, and no, we didn’t.

Below is the design of the kitchen before I changed the back wall to all drawers. THE most common piece of advice I received was to have more drawers than cabinets, and we are so glad we listened! So, instead of the cabinets in the back, we have a corner cabinet on the left, then two 30″ drawers, then three 24″ drawers next to the stove, and the same design is mirrored on the right side of the stove.

In the pantry, we essentially have this exact layout, except last minute we decided to add a sink below the window, which also gave us room on either side of the sink for two skinny cabinets. And because Semihandmade can make a front to any specification, it was doable!

– Once happy with your design, the next step is to order your Ikea cabinets WITHOUT THE FRONTS. I repeat, make sure you order the bases without the fronts.  We ended up scheduling three appointments with Ikea before submitting our order. In the first appointment, we designed the kitchen, the second appointment the pantry, and the third we made any necessary tweaks and finalizations. Ikea is very familiar with Semihandmade, so we just asked our planner, Joshua, to take the fronts off of our order for us, and he did! You will then receive a PDF file of your entire order; save this! You will need it. 

-You can either have your kitchen delivered or if you need it sooner, you can pick it up in-store. While we don’t have an Ikea in our city, we do have one near us in Seattle and in Portland, and to ensure we would have everything on time (since everything is backed up these days) we decided to pick our order up. So, my husband drove there with our order sheet, rented a Uhaul, loaded it up, and drove back! It was so wild to see our kitchen in the back of a Uhaul!

The Process: Ordering the Semihandmade Fronts

Once you have your order placed with Ikea, you will then get in contact with Semihandmade to place your order for the fronts. They have SO many different styles, colors, and designs to choose from that you could really create just about any look. But looking back at all of my Pinterest boards, the most common look I had pinned was a combination of white and wood, so that is exactly what we went with. We chose the Supermatte White Shaker and Cove finish for our kitchen. If unsure how they will look in person, you can also order samples on their website.

Once you know exactly what you want, you will forward the PDF list you were given from Ikea to Semihandmade and they will make the fronts to fit your design.  It takes about 3-4 weeks for the order to be complete, and then about another week for them to ship. So, plan accordingly!

The fronts will arrive on a pallet and are packaged extremely well to ensure their safety.

Assembling the Boxes

Because we were having cabinets in our kitchen and pantry, we had a LOT of boxes and drawers to put together. To make it more manageable, my husband put them together in groups. The first few hours he put together the majority of the kitchen bases. Another day he spent a few hours on all of the pantry ones. Another day he worked on the drawers. It was a lot of work, but the savings were just so worth it. He used little pieces of painter’s tape to label each one so that each base was easy to identify come time to install. And once he put together a few, he got the hang of it and they went together faster. To give you an idea, one standard 30″ cabinet base took about 8 minutes to put together.

Install

We had our contractors install the cabinets to ensure everything fits as it should, and it was pretty straight-forward. They marked where each cabinet would go on the floor and on the walls and in they went! If working with a contractor, I would recommend having them help on this process as everything must be set right so that the countertops can then be placed correctly. Since sharing our journey with going this route I have heard from SEVERAL people who have done it themselves without a problem, but it was just nice for us with everything else going on to just have this portion done.

For the island, we used six cabinets (three 30″ on each side) so that we could maximize storage space. And because we wanted the sides of the island to match the fronts, we ordered extra panels that our finish carpenter could use to finish off the island.

Once the cabinets were installed and the island was finished, it was time to put the Semihandmade fronts on. Because these come labeled and pre-drilled, they went on so easily.

It still doesn’t quite feel real, that this kitchen is actually something that we get to keep and that this is our home. Going the Ikea/Semihandmade route saved us several ( I mean SEVERAL) thousand dollars and allowed us to get all of the features we were looking for. The amount of storage we have in this kitchen and pantry is absolutely incredible and the numerous options that Ikea offers to help organize the space make everything just so nice.

Hidden drawers, yes please! These not only help you make use of every inch of that drawer, but they help keep like-items together without being cluttered.

Another feature I appreciate so much is that the shelves are all adjustable so that you can customize them to fit your exact needs (not all of our cabinets were in our old kitchen)! And one of my very favorite features is that you can still choose a cabinet door style, but also have the convenience of a pull-out drawer so that you aren’t digging in the back of a cupboard into the unknown abyss.

The same thing goes for the corner units! They have a few options to choose from for corner cabinets and having the option for them to pull out like this just seemed so brilliant.

We designed our pantry to not only function to help us organize and store our kitchen essentials and food, but to also act as a utility closet; somewhere to store all of the things we didn’t have a good place for like batteries, toilet paper, etc. This has been SUCH a nice feature not only because it is extremely useful for us, but because it just looks so nice coinciding with the wall on the other side surrounding the fridge.

We made sure to include an outlet in one of the tall cabinets for our vacuum, and this is where that, the broom, and the mop are stored.

In the next set of cabinets we have paper towels, Clorox wipes, toilet paper, command strips/hooks, air fresheners, light bulbs, sewing kit, cleaning towels, beach towels, batteries/flashlights, paper goods, a “random” drawer, extra coffee mugs, our table linens, extra trash bags/Ziplocks/, spare grocery bags, and I am sure I snuck in a few extra random things, too! Finally, all these things have a home!

We are SO in love with our kitchen and still can’t quite grasp that it’s here to stay. I just LOVE how easy Ikea and Semihandmade have made it in designing, ordering, and obtaining our dream kitchen. Everything is so easy to clean (wipe down with a damp cloth) and just looks completely custom. We now have so much storage that we have a few empty drawers and that is something I am NOT complaining about!  We would not have been able to achieve the design we were after if we didn’t go this route and we are just so pleased with how it all turned out. This is the kitchen of our dreams!

As always, thank you for stopping by!

<3 Shannon

The post How We Designed Our Kitchen With Ikea Cabinets And Semihandmade Fronts appeared first on Living with Lady.

But! While things still may shift here and there, we are feeling really good about things, and being able to live and work in the new kitchen has been an absolute dream.

I have broken all sources down into three categories to hopefully help you find items easier if looking for a specific one.

Kitchen sources and decor:

The counter stools are from HERE.

Useful items in the kitchen:

Items to help organize the kitchen:

To learn all about our Ikea cabinets with Semihandmade fronts, go HERE!

I am working on blog posts about our tile, but in the meantime, it’s all from Dal-tile and can be found  HERE! This includes the countertops, kitchen and pantry backsplash, and the tile in our mudroom.

I have spent a long time searching for the right items for our kitchen. I looked at prices, how it functions, the quality of it, and so on, so I hope the above picture lists are helpful for you!

As always, thank you for stopping by!

<3 Shannon

The post Everything in Our Kitchen- Sourced! appeared first on Living with Lady.

Hello there!

As things start to shut down over the next few (or even several weeks) many of us are craving a sense of normalcy. For me, that means routine. Our family thrives off of a routine so I felt it necessary for us to put together a daily schedule. There are a few awesome ones already floating around online, so I used a few of those, combined with our own family’s needs, to come up with this one. I also wanted it to be editable so that we could make changes as needed, and so that you, too, could customize it to your needs.

I hope this helps some of you navigate this new normal! Click the underlined link below.

Daily Schedule

As always, thanks for stopping by!

<3 Shannon

The post Editable Daily Schedule appeared first on Living with Lady.

My husband and I recently celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to Italy, and while things are still fresh in my mind I thought I would put together a little guide for all of the things we found useful while there, as well as include the things we didn’t really need!

To give you a little background, we went to Venice, Rome, and Positano (which is a little cliffside town on the Amalfi coast.) We were gone a total of 9 days and this was both of our first times in Europe.

So, with all of that said, here we go!

Travel Agent– Since neither of us had traveled to Europe before, the thought of planning this kind of trip was just daunting. Getting between each city, booking the tours, researching hotels; there is SO much time connected to planning a trip like this, and as the date got closer and closer, I found myself starting to panic. That is when I decided to hire out the planning portion of this trip to take the stress off, and went with Cheyenne from All Travel Matters.

Cheyenne and I talked about what my husband and I were looking for in our trip, and she took the reins from there. She made sure to stay within our budget, sent me links to various tours she thought we would be interested in, and made sure to take care of all the details right down to which kind of seats we prefer on the airplane (window or aisle) which saved us from having to sit in the middle rows during the long flights! She also took care of every transfer, meaning as soon as we landed at the airport in Venice, we knew which boat to take from the airport to our hotel. And when it was time to go to Rome, someone was waiting in the lobby for us to take us to the train station. And then once off the train, someone was waiting for us to take us to our hotel; and this pattern happened in every city. Someone was always right there to take us to the next spot and it was SO nice not to worry about trying to find a cab or wondering where we needed to be.

In summary, I couldn’t have made a better decision in hiring Cheyenne! Plus, hiring her didn’t affect our budget and we were still able to do everything we wanted, and then some!

Next came deciding on what to bring on such a trip, and I definitely have some recommendations now that we have gone and experienced it all!

Suitcase– We decided to each bring a carryon suitcase and a backpack. The number one piece of advice I was given was to pack light, so we did. The streets in Italy are made of cobblestone and can be hard to roll a suitcase over, but I think it can be done if you really want a bigger one. We also did a ton of research and learned that in some airports, they will make you check your luggage if it does not fit in that tiny little suitcase measuring cube, which we learned is 20 inches. AND, in Paris (the city we flew into) they actually tried to deny our suitcases for being too big, until I had the man measure them, and because they JUST fit, we were able to take them on our next flight. The last thing I wanted was to HOPE our luggage made it after traveling that far. Our suitcases were easy to maneuver, durable, and we just had no complaints.

Packing Cubes– These came recommended by so many people, and I have got to say; I love them! They kept my clothes from falling all over the place and also gave me places to put dirty clothes to keep them separate from the clean.

Neck Pillow– You are going to WANT a neck pillow of some sort for the long flight. My husband accidentally left his pillow on the flight from Spokane to Seattle, so we were down to one. Since I was the one sitting by the window and could lean against that, I gave mine to him so that we could both be somewhat comfortable. We used THESE ones lent to us by my mother-in-law, and I liked how they laid nice and flat in our backpacks, but whatever kind you like I’m sure would be fine.

Furse– I know what you are thinking; “WHAT is a furse?!” It is the term I have coined a fanny pack purse, and this was hands-down one of the best things I brought. I was a little worried about pick-pocketers, and this allowed me to travel worry-free while also not having to worry about where my purse was, because it was attached to me at all times. My favorite is THIS one from Humble Hilo and is the one I took on the trip.

Walking shoes– We walked miles every single day, and we would do it that exact same way if we did it again! We felt like we really saw each city by walking it, but with that comes the need for good walking shoes. I researched good, but affordable, walking shoes that I could also dress up or down, and decided on these. I had heard white shoes were worn a lot in Italy, and I would say that is true! (Seen above.)

Socks– I think good socks help a ton! I bought no-show socks with a non-slip back and loved these. They are slightly thicker than my normal socks and helped keep things cushy.

Stain stick– I was worried about my shoes getting dirty, so I brought my favorite stain stick and was blown away when they washed up super clean after a week in Italy. Brand new once again! I also used it on some clothing when we got little stains, and they came right out!

Snorkels– if you plan on being anywhere near water and like to snorkel, I would recommend these. We ended our trip in Positano, which is right on the Amalfi coast, and planned a boating trip one day where we would be making snorkeling stops, and the ones provided on the boats just do not compare. These things are anti-fog and make breathing really easy.

Cooling towel– This SAVED my husband! You just get this thing wet and it keeps you cool throughout the day. You will need to re-wet it every now and again, but we were both actually glad we had these because it can get very hot during the summer in Italy. I also used mine as a shawl to cover my shoulders when entering churches! (Women’s’ shoulders cannot be bare in certain churches in Europe.)

Umbrella– If you plan to be out in the sun a lot, then bring a small umbrella might be a good idea to keep you shaded. During one of our stops, we were waiting on a boat for over an hour in the sun, and I was SO thankful I had my umbrella to keep me shaded. I got ours from the dollar store and they did the job!

Portable chargers– Nothing worse than being in a new, incredible city only to have your phone/camera die! We brought two portable chargers and charged them each night, and we both used them almost daily! You not only end up using your phone for photos but also as your main navigation source.

Adapters– Your phone chargers and electronics will not work over there unless you have European adapters; and note, not all adapters work in each city. The ones we used for Italy were the ones linked here.

Water bottles– We drank SO much water while in Italy and were so glad we had these refillable water bottles to fill up in the many clean-water fountains we found all across Rome. Water is NOT free at restaurants (around $4 a big bottle) so when we could come with our own it helped to save a little.

Sleep Aid– With a 9-hour time difference, falling asleep when you want to isn’t going to come naturally. I took Benadryl with us, as well as melatonin, and used them both to help us fall asleep at various times. I took the Benadryl on the long flights and that helped me to sleep for the majority of the flights, and then I took 5 mg of Melatonin each night because even though we did SO much and walked our buns off everywhere, I still could not fall asleep.

Hair– I know this is going to sound a little weird, but I got a blow-out the day before we left on our trip and it was one of the best things I did. I don’t know what they put in my hair or how they curl it so well, but I didn’t have to do my hair for a solid WEEK while in Italy, which was my goal. My hair is naturally frizzy, and with the humidity there I knew if I tried to do it myself it would just blow up like Monica’s from Friends, so getting the blow-up allowed me to get ready quickly in the mornings while still looking decent, and I got mine at Luxe Salon and Spa in Spokane.

Clothing– We went in August, which is a hot time of year to travel, so packing light, breathable clothing helped a ton. I also tried to pack items that could be interchangeable, which meant packing solid colors. (Check my stories titled “travel recs” to see exactly what I packed.)

What I DIDN’T need

Ipad- I didn’t use my Ipad once! Delta is the airline we flew and each headrest had a built-in movie player with enough movies to keep me entertained. I will say we did watch one movie on a train from my husband’s mini laptop, and that was nice.

Blanket-I packed a mini fold-up blanket, but I never ended up using it. Actually, though, I wish I would have brought it down to the beach when we were in Positano, instead of just having our little towels. But, if not going to a beachy destination, not needed. Delta also gave us a small pillow, blanket, eye mask and earplugs for the long flights, so again, an extra blanket wasn’t needed.

Wrinkle release spray- I never needed it!

If I think of anything else as time goes on, I will be sure to add it, but I THINK that just about covers it. We packed really lightly and used just about everything we brought, so we felt good about that and I hope this helps if you, too, are planning a similar trip!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

<3 Shannon

The post The Most Helpful Things We Packed for our Trip to Italy appeared first on Living with Lady.

1. Roomba– I cannot state enough how much this thing is a game changer for me. I was so against getting one of these at first as I thought it was just another “toy” my husband wanted to get, the price was too high, and I didn’t think it would actually work. Well, my friends, I am here to tell you today that it DOES! Perfectly every time? No. But pretty dang close! We set the thing to start when we leave the house and it is done when we return. And it is FULL every single day. I don’t get it! Eew. My husband researched the heck out of these things before buying one. In fact, we actually bought a different one before we ended up with this one. The price will probably make you faint like it did for me, but after using it for quite a few months, I would buy it all over again. I can’t speak for how well the other models work as we have only used this one, but it leaves beautiful lines on my carpet, we can start it remotely from our phones, and we have it programmed to start after we leave the house so we don’t have to listen to the noise. It also came with two “blockers” that allows us to prevent it from entering certain areas if we would like. We have the Roomba 980, but I am sure others work well, too! Go HERE for a bunch of options.

2. Towel Rack– I never realized how much I dislike hanging towels on a towel bar until we didn’t have one anymore! I got these hooks at Farm Chicks last year after our towel bar took a dive for the floor, and I have realized I absolutely love hanging our towels this way! For similar racks, go HERE.

3. Laundry Cart– This thing mostly just brings me joy! I love the look of it, but it’s also functional, too. I roll it out to wherever I want to fold laundry, and I can also detach the basket part to carry upstairs to put the clean laundry away. It lives in our laundry room and that is where the majority of the kids’ laundry gets put after they wear it. You can find it HERE.

4. Pantry Baskets– My pantry used to be a PIT! An absolute pit. Until, I gave it a good cleaning and got THESE baskets to help organize everything. The chalkboard labels on the front allow our family to find things easier and to know where to put things away. Plus, the liners are removable for easy washing. And, they’re cheap!

5. Hidden “Command Center”– Recently I turned to my Instagram friends and asked for help on how to organize and deal with all of the “counter crap.” You know what I am talking about, right? All that paper. The pens. The scissors, the tape, the stamps, the… everything. Some of my wonderful pals gave me some great suggestions, and I’ve got to say, I am SO much happier with a tidy area! HERE are the trays I bought to organize the drawers. The folders on the side hold the kids’ homework and papers that need my attention soon.

And the rest of the papers I keep organized in this three-ring binder that I keep in this cabinet.

And there you have it; the top household things in my life that help keep me sane/organized/at peace. What items do you like for household chores or organization? I am always open to new ideas!

Thanks for coming by.

The post My Top 5 Favorite Home Essentials appeared first on Living with Lady.

We bought our home about four years ago and while I love so many things about it, one thing that always bothered me are the windows in the living room. There’s just a lot of dead space above them; why not utilize the taller ceilings by letting in more light with bigger windows?!

While I can’t change the windows as easily as I would like, I knew I could make them appear bigger by doing a couple of simple things.

First, I bought THESE bamboo shades from Lowes that were only about $18 a piece. (Similar ones HERE as well.) My windows are 34.5″ wide and these are 36″ wide, so I knew that by hanging them OVER  and ABOVE my windows, instead of buying some that fit inside the window, I would be creating the illusion of a taller window since the top of the window would be covered. So, just make sure what you buy is wider than the window itself. I hung them nearly a foot higher than the window, for reference.

Next, I hung curtains over the bamboo shades to give the illusion of wider windows. And actually, when I get the time, I would like to hang the curtains even higher. My measurements were a little off and I actually can take them up a couple of inches higher. Like they say, measure twice!

There’s that dead space again….

Much better!

Thanks for stopping by!

The post How to Make a Window Appear Bigger appeared first on Living with Lady.

About halfway through building the new deck, we realized it gets SO hot during the summer months that even once the deck was built we wouldn’t want to be out there until after 7 pm due to the heat. That is when we changed the design of our plans a little bit to accommodate the addition of a pergola. (If interested in seeing before and after photos, go HERE and HERE.)

And once that pergola was just about finished, it was my job to find curtains to help shade the deck. I needed them to be pretty long, and once I realized outdoor curtains in that length ran pretty pricey, I decided to make them myself.

I started by buying six of these painting dropcloths from Home Depot for under $12/dropcloth. (Buy four or more, price drops)  They were the right length so that I didn’t have to do any sewing (thank goodness) and my only challenge was to try and whiten them.

One tutorial I read online said that they whitened their dropcloths by filling tubs with cold water, adding bleach, waiting about three hours and then they had white dropcloths. So, I tried this and put the dropcloths in the shower in these tubs.

I let them sit, and sit, and sit… for about 12 hours.  And nothing happened. I even changed the water, added more bleach, and even more bleach… and nothing.

So I then tried another tutorial and modified it to fit my needs. This time, I filled the tub with hot water, added an entire gallon of bleach, and then I put in two of the dropcloths at a time.

I then put the bins on top of the dropcloths to hold them down and put towels on top to trap the heat in. Every few hours I went in and stirred/rotated the drop cloths with a long wooden board, and then recovered them.

After leaving them in there overnight, I deemed them done and moved on to the next set of two. While those soaked in the bleach, I washed the first set in the washing machine and added a little bit of hydrogen peroxide (maybe 1/2 cup) to the water to neutralize the bleach and stop the bleaching process. I then hung them over the railing outside to dry and repeated the process for the remaining drop cloths.

Overall, this method worked the best for me. While they never got pure white, they did whiten and make for some great outdoor curtains.

In fact, I would use these inside our house as well! So, if you are looking for some outdoor or indoor curtains, these are a relatively cheap way to make them!

The post DIY No Sew Drop Cloth Curtains appeared first on Living with Lady.

Decorating our home, and home decor in general, has quickly become a favorite past time of mine. I enjoy finding ways to make our home feel cozy, stylish, and comfortable, but don’t want to overspend, either.

Thus, I am always trying to find ways to get the look for less, and I think I nailed it with these framed botanical prints. I have noticed botanical prints for sale on sites like Joss and Main and Decor Steals, but cannot believe how much they go for. Even on these discounted sites, a set of framed botanical prints costs way more than I am willing to spend, so I set out to make my own.

Luckily, Ashley Thurman from Cherished Bliss has created these super pretty botanical herb printables and has made them available for free!

Next, I was on the hunt for the right frames, but again, didn’t want to spend much. I struck out at Target, and on a whim stopped by the Dollar Store.

And luckily, I struck gold! The Dollar Store has simple black 11×14 frames that worked perfectly for my project, so I swooped four of them up.

And out of curiosity, I was also intrigued by this 8×11 smaller size, so I got six of these as well and thought I’d decide at home which would best fit the space. (These ones actually had some sort of art in them meant to be displayed; I just used the frames though.)

I ended up liking the four bigger prints for the intended space behind this chair, and to make them look nicer, I added an 8×10 white picture mat behind each one making them look quite professional if you ask me! (Mats found at Joanne’s, $5 for a pack of 4 with use of a coupon!) I hung the framed prints using Command picture hanging strips (my new obsession) and they went up SO easily leaving zero holes on our walls.

Since I still had the six smaller frames, and with empty wall space in our bedroom, I went ahead and printed six more and also hung them in our bedroom!

So there you have it. Free prints from Cherished Bliss, combined with Dollar Store frames, and you’ve got incredibly cheap wall art.

Thanks for stopping by!

The post $1 Framed Botanical Prints appeared first on Living with Lady.

I wanted enough space to have a lounge area as well as an eating area, but didn’t want to spend a small fortune, either. So, by building and creating some things ourselves, as well as doing some smart shopping, we were able to pull it all together on a budget.

One thing I insisted on was finding a place for this swing. It is simple, reminds me of childhood and was crazy cheap to make. Plus, it’s just fun!

I could not find an affordable couch that was in-stock with the look I was going for, so my husband built this one and I found the cushions on Craigslist for a steal!

I found most of the pillow covers and throws on Amazon and just covered old pillows I wasn’t using anymore. It makes for a great and inexpensive way to update and add some texture to a couch.

I looked all over for an outdoor rug that wouldn’t show too much if spilled on, was cozy on the feet and wasn’t too big so that the beauty of the deck could still be seen as much as possible, and this one met all of those wishes.

I wanted a set of chairs that I could cozy up in, and these ones from Target are wide enough to be able to tuck the legs in and snuggle, so they were the first things I picked up for our new deck. Use that Red Card for a discount! And the copper fire pit was my one splurge. Once I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for our deck (though we won’t be using it as a fire pit on the deck) and if you’re patient enough, you can snag it on sale.

To save some money, I made my own curtains out of these painters drop cloths. It ended up taking longer than I had anticipated, but the savings were worth it!

This vintage ice machine turned cooler was for sale on a neighborhood garage sale site, and I was so happy to have snagged this right up!

We had this table built for our fire pit area when we first moved into our house, but it ended up being a bit of a hassle to actually eat down there with bringing all of the dishes up and down the stairs, so we decided to see how it looked up on the deck and it’s like it was made for it! We sanded it down, re-stained it, and treated it with an outdoor coating, and it’s like a brand new table.

I just LOVE spending time out here and it is so fun for me to see our friends and family enjoy it as well. My husband spent countless hours building this deck for us and I am just blown away by his talent. Thank you, sweet husband. It. is. perfect.

A couple before and afters:

Here are all of the sources or ones of similar nature:

Outdoor rug 

Rattan Conversation Chair Set (Free shipping and returns)

Metal Stools  – The best deal I could find… anywhere.

Fire Pit 

Couch (DIY- tutorial coming) Another favorite option HERE 

Outdoor Couch Cushions- From Craigslist but found exact ones HERE

Throw Pillows: HERE , HERE, HERE, and HERE

Black Tire Basket– Homegoods

Hanging Branch Floral Baskets- Hobby Lobby but similar found HERE

Curtains- DIY (tutorial coming)

Fig Tree – from Homegoods but similar HERE 

Metal Dining Chairs 

Dining Table and Benches -Custom made locally

Vintage Ice Chest- Local Garage Sale Site but similar found HERE

Turkish Throws: HERE , HERE, and HERE 

Candle Pendants- from Homegoods

Ceramic Stool- from Craigslist but similar HERE

Wire Planter- Vintage show

Macrame Plant Hanger (Small)

Macrame Plant Hanger (Large)

Thank you for stopping by!

The post Decorating the Back Deck appeared first on Living with Lady.

Actually, I am going to go ahead and say WE rebuilt our deck, because trust me, I’ve made more runs to Home Depot and other various lumbar stores in the past month than I had previously ever done in my lifetime, not to mention being the one to drive long distances for special lumbar, helping hold said lumbar and retrieve tools when more hands were needed, ensuring plenty of cold beverages and food were always available, and being the sole parent while my amazing husband worked 14 hour days building this thing. So yes, teamwork!

We had previously talked about what we ultimately wanted our back deck to look like and I showed him what my thoughts and visions were, but I didn’t think it was going to happen so soon. He just, started.

He was sitting at our kitchen table drawing plans and doing research one day, and the next day at about 5:00 pm he started ripping down boards. I couldn’t believe it. And our back deck is on the second floor, so this project had to be finished right away once started being there was a big drop-off out the back door.

So, here are the before photos:

The stairs took up about half the space…

To the left, I had a little herb garden, and to the left of the herb garden were just some wild flowers and a mint plant, but nothing very appealing. At all…

View from inside the house.

There was really only room for our BBQ, two chairs and a side table.

Tear down:

And then the process of re-building began:

And for three weeks our backyard was a workshop.

Every little detail was checked over and over and re-done if not perfect, and slowly and surely it started to take shape.

My husband woke up before anyone else on most days to begin working, and one of my babe’s favorite things to do was watch his daddy working while eating breakfast.

Measuring was a favorite, too.

Before the posts were added, we realized just how hot it is out on the deck during the middle of the day and concluded that even once it is finished, no one is going to want to be out there due to the heat. So, we decided to add a pergola, which set us back a bit and we had to re-think some of our original designs. But, we came up with something that we both liked and kept going.

Once the floor boards were put into place, it really started taking shape!

My husband and I really like the look of the thick, chunky posts and wanted to use 6×6 posts instead of the traditional 4×4’s, but finding 6×6 posts at the height we needed was nearly impossible without special ordering, so my husband decided to wrap 4×4 posts to make them into 6×6 posts. Doing this alone took three entire days as it was a very tedious job. Thankfully, my step-dad flew into town to help my husband with this part and it was a HUGE help! Once those were done, the rest went up pretty quickly!

And the scrap pieces of wood made for some amazing building blocks.

And now, the after photos!

We re-located the stairs to the other end so that we could utilize that space, and it made a HUGE difference. We are also now able to enjoy the space under the deck as well.

And my herb garden and weed patch are no more, and I am completely okay with that!

My husband didn’t quite get it at first, but I insisted on finding a spot for a little swing. It isn’t meant for swinging high on, but more as another chair for sitting/swaying on, and I truly love it.

We decided on black bars for the railing, and I love the contrast they give.

Just SO much more space!

Our BBQ is going on the far left corner where it was before, and I had noticed that people like to stand around my husband to talk while he cooks, so I asked my husband to alter the railing next to the BBQ into a little bar for people to set their drinks and food on and we will add stools underneath so people can sit comfortably while chatting.

We need to wait a few more weeks before staining, and then it will be completely done! We are going with a very natural look and hope to find a stain that looks very similar to the color of the wood, maybe even clear if there is such a thing.

Overall, I absolutely LOVE the finished product and can’t wait to show you how I decorated this space! I am almost done and will be sharing next week.

I am so incredibly thankful for the time, energy and effort my husband put into this deck. He worked relentlessly on this project to ensure we had a nice outdoor space to enjoy and I am still blown away by the outcome!

And a HUGE thank you to our friends Dustin and Johnnie for helping my husband when they could and for my step-dad for flying out as well! We appreciate you all very much!

Thanks for stopping by!

The post Our DIY Backyard Deck Makeover appeared first on Living with Lady.