Enjoying Our Backyard Deck

       

           Yesterday, I shared this post about our front porch.  Today, I want to share another outdoor space with you.  When we moved into the new home, we were excited when we noticed the house had a small backyard deck to enjoy during the warmer months. Let me tell ya, we have big dreams for our backyard, but the reality is that we are making our house a home in phases, due to the desire to pay for everything as we go (ie: NO DEBT).  The  reality is that our dream backyard that includes a fence, a whole new bigger and better deck, an extended stone patio with wicker furniture and a fire pit, a pergola with beautiful hanging plants, a shed for more storage, fantastic landscaping with bigger and better trees and perhaps even a hot tub, if I can convince my husband the "need" for such a thing.....all of that is several phases away from being completed.  We're talking at least two years from even being under construction, so in the meantime, we have to make do with what we got and be thankful that we even have a place to enjoy an outdoor meal.  Having said all of that, here's how we made our small deck a cozy place to enjoy an evening meal this summer, and we did it all for less than $250.  Yes, we really are thankful that our house came with this nice outdoor space, and we are even more thankful that it didn't cost too much money too turn it into a usable outdoor space that we can enjoy.

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The first thing we knew we needed for our deck was a bistro set.  I wasn't having any luck with garage sales or Craigslist, so I began searching for a good deal on the internet.  It's a long story of how we finally ended up with this set that involves me ordering and returning a table.  I'll spare you the details, but I ended up ordering the chairs from Amazon for $85, and I found the table, which is not longer in stock, at Target.com for $85.  The total cost of our bistro set was $170. 

          

I made two no-sew seat cushions for $17.  You can find the tutorial here.




To brighten up our drab deck, I bought flowers from Lowe's for $10 and coconut baskets from Wal-Mart for $8 a piece.

A $2.50 citronella candle makes for a nice center piece on the bistro, and it keeps the bugs away in the evening.

Tealight citronella candles in glass votives cost less than $5 total from Flower Factory, and they are scattered across the edge of the deck to help create an evening glow as well as repel the unwanted insects.

I found this crate at a garage sale for $3.  It holds a $5 plant pot from Wal-Mart and more glass votives.

The petunias that are in the pot were less than $5 from Lowe's, but they are really struggling to survive in this heatwave.  Oh, and I also got a Live Laugh Love outdoor rug from Old Time Pottery for $6.

That pretty much completes our deck this summer.  The final cost of everything was around $240.  The bistro set was our big splurge for this deck, and while it was more than I originally wanted to spend, it certainly has seen a lot of use this summer.  Since I was able to find such great deals on everything else on the deck, I'm not gonna kick myself for paying more than I wanted to on the bistro set.  The cost for everything was still under $250, and when you consider how much the average person spends furnishing a deck, I'd say we didn't too bad on our final cost;)