A Quick and Inexpensive Back Door Makeover + Easy DIY Updates for a Colorful Patio
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We’re currently enjoying our third summer in the Bungalow, and naturally with a four and soon to be two-year-old, the back patio is getting used and abused on a daily basis. Sidewalk chalk, popsicles, bubbles, and every water-involving activity imaginable are on constant loop. And each year I grow more and more grateful for this additional living space off the back of our modestly sized home.
Below is how it looked in May of 2020, our first Spring after purchasing. We didn’t have much to work with – a couple of chairs I’d requested for Mother’s Day, a Grandparent-gifted swing for Beatrix, and our old table top I was testing out as I (at the time, 6 months pregnant) considered building a base for it.
Luckily our friends gave us their round patio table so I didn’t have to build a table base…
I built a privacy fence instead.
Then I drove a distance to a questionably isolated locale for a set of vintage Rid-Jid Hoop chairs off Facebook Marketplace.
As soon as we received our first hint of warm weather this Spring I was out priming the back door. I love teal, but the existing color on the door paired with the red brick was a little too 90s suburban for me. My vision for the patio has always been tons of bright and happy pops of color – a little Palm Springs, a little 1950s Roadside Motel. I needed to find a color for the door that fit with that vision and played nice with the brick and painted green stucco above.
I landed on Greyhound by Benjamin Moore. It’s the perfect pale grey/green that reads almost like a subtle aqua. Also, my friend Bethany gave me the extra quart she had on hand so the decision was an easy one. Yay! Free!
Luke replaced the handle and deadbolt with an updated set in a satin nickel finish, then switched out the exterior sconce with this majorly affordable globe light. I love the look of a mod white globe juxtaposed with our traditional 20s brick. My decorating ethos is respect/keep the original hard-to-change elements as they are, then freely mix up the less permanent. This is what adds personality and keeps an older home from feeling like a relic. (I reserve the right to add this caveat: please respect your Midcentury and/or stately historic homes by not adding cheap builder grade finishes.)
The next big change came with the addition of our new outdoor rug, the Mod Rio Mat from World Market. I have a heavily clichéd penchant for requesting and/or buying myself patio furnishings for Mother’s Day. The rug was this year’s outcropping.
The vibrant orange is the perfect backdrop for the Caribbean Blue side table. Then there’s the hint of aqua door… and how the crisp white chairs and fence pop against it! It’s all such a win for me. Plus, compared to most outdoor rugs, it’s crazy inexpensive. Technically that’s because it’s not a rug; it’s a lightweight mat. But, really, that’s another win as it’s so light and super easy to maintain – just hose it off and prop it on some chairs to dry.
From the moment we were given the round table I knew I wanted it to be yellow. It took me two years to get to it, but three cans of Rustoleum spray paint in Sun Yellow later we finally have a yellow table!
Did I miss some spots even after obsessively trying, over the span of several weeks, for full coverage? Yes. Do the white chairs scrape off the paint at the base ensuring I will continually need to repaint it on a semi-yearly basis? Yes.
Still, that sunshiny hue is a constant serotonin boost and totally worth it.
The plants against the wall were a later addition brought on by my perpetual plant-watering negligence. They winter upstairs in Luke’s office as it’s the only available place with ample lighting. However, this also means I completely forget about them and they spend half the year pleading for their life. I realized if I brought them out back I’d be more inclined to remember to water them and so they landed on this old bench I had hanging out in the garage.
Below is how they looked when I first brought them down. So sad, and in desperate need of water, maintenance, and arguably, most importantly, more color! I gathered up all my spare terracotta pots, random leftover paint samples, and acrylic paints. It was actually pretty therapeutic, I worked on the project with Bea while Xanthe napped. She’d paint rocks (and anything else she could get her hands on) while I worked on a few pots at a time. Spread out over a few days, I was able to get all of them painted and transplanted at a leisurely pace.
The plants themselves still need a little work, but they’re already much happier out here in the indirect light and are thankful recipients of more frequent waterings.
I have plenty more dreams and schemes floating around for this backyard which may or may never come to fruition (DIY pink and white striped cabana enclosing a Minnidip Pool… ahem) but three years in, we love our patio and continue to use it like crazy.
Happy rest of summer!
All After Photography: Bethany Gilbert
