Thus far in my adult life, I have only lived in apartments. In my last apartment, I was lucky enough to have a screened-in balcony. Schmidt and I loved it so much, and we spent so much time out there reading and drinking coffee. Even if I loved it, it was still a very small outdoor space.
A ton of my Instagram photos were even taken from that balcony. It was huge, and I still kinda miss it.
Plus – Alabama got a lot cooler faster and stayed cool. It was my first actual Fall, so I wanted to be outside all the time.
So when I moved back to Texas, an outdoor space was very important to me. One of the main reasons I picked the townhomes I am in was because of this larger than normal outdoors space.
I didn’t quite know what to do with the space at first. I though about putting down sod, so Schmidt could have an emergency potty area.
There were a few drawbacks to the space as well. In my old balcony, I was on the second floor, so I had a lot of privacy in addition to the screened-in feature.
Here, we are all on the first floor, and the privacy fence is less than private. I wanted to do something to the space to make me feel more comfortable being outside.
Also, I moved to Texas at the end of March, so basically when it began to get to the 90s-100s.
I love my state, but I really wish I had more seasons.
The heat made it really hard to find motivation to get out here and make something out of the space. The day I did it, I was drenching in sweat afterwards. Born and raised here, you never get used to weeks upon weeks of 100 degree weather days.
One weekend, my family came down, and we made a trip to Lowe’s.
I love how red mulch really brings personality to a space, so I found the reddest at the store.
Plus, with the Texas heat, I had to find some plants that wouldn’t mind being in the sun for the majority of their life.
I will get pretty flowers one day, I swear.
In my old apartment, I had a palette that I put on concrete blocks for a nook. Here, I sawed off sections to create a shelf. This helped add privacy because it blocked a large hole in the bottom of my fence.
The mulch also helped cover the holes at the bottom.
As for seating, I love Adirondack chairs. These plastic ones from Lowe’s come in so many colors, and the orange just stuck out to me.
I already had the cushions from my old apartment. I love how the colors compliment each other and really brighten up the space.
I hope this inspires you to get outside (unless it’s 100 degrees, don’t do it)!
What cool things have you done to dress up a boring outdoor space?
