Including this week I’ve got 2 weeks left to finish our outdoor spaces for the One Room Challenge, hosted by Linda of Calling It Home // here //. You should totally be tracking the progress on the official participants spaces too! // here // Make sure you click through all the linking participants as well // here //. I’ve got some friends doing the challenge as well and we’re all hard at work! Today is the beginning for the really fun stuff: the dining area & the pergola.
*HomeSense & Home Depot Canada sponsored this post, but all thoughts are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make PMQ for two possible.
Catch-up on the journey for the Spring 2017 One Room Challenge – The Great Outdoors
// Week 4 //
Week 6
Back when I started planning and scheming for the spring ORC I had been envisioning a pergola or structure out back. Our backyard, while lovely, is very exposed and provides no natural shade. It makes it hard to entertain with a 10 ft harvest table at any point during the day when you have no way of shadding anything, let along garnering some privacy. We could have put up a fence all around the yard too, but that seemed excessive and would cost a fortune. We both agreed that getting a pergola would be the best possible solution as it would help frame part of the space and provide shade for our biggest entertaining area.
Luckily for us, Home Depot sells a variety of pergolas and shade structures // here //. We looked around and spent quite a few Saturdays in-store testing them out and sitting under them having long, drawn-out conversations while regular people looked at us oddly. We settled on the 10 x 10 ft pergola from Hampton Bay // here // and brought it home to instal over Easter weekend. Fun story, we live 10km too far for Home Depot to consider us a local delivery, so instead we rented their handy-dandy van and brought everything home ourselves.
DH had a 5 day weekend so did quite a bit of work out back that weekend. Not only did we figure-out how to assemble the pergola and get it on even footing in our very uneven backyard, but we (read: DH) even dug a pad for some 18 x 18″ paving stones to provide an even footing the table. I hope you followed along on IG stories that weekend because it was a hoot! You may be able to notice in some of the photos, but our harvest table has warped a bit over the past few summers because it was left on uneven footing.
Catch the Harvest Table DIY // here //
In case it’s not obvious I need to point out that DH is the unsung hero of many of our bigger projects. I have no eye for structural detail, and he’s focused on it like a hawk. We complete each other <3 because he can’t do big picture and tends to get lost in details.
We also took the occasion to dig for Bruce’s electric fence. If you notice little flags in the background those mark the lines so that while he’s training with the new system he can spot where the limit is. He’s been on the collar for a week and bit and seems to prefer the un-encumbered freedom that the long tether never provided. Oh goober <3
If you clicked through to my Harvest Table DIY // here // you’ll have noticed that it seems to be a different colour now! And it is. That’s a post coming Friday, as it still has a few coats of poly and some sanding before I call it finished. Don’t worry, you’ll get all those deets soon. In the meantime let’s enjoy some of the styling I’ve tempted myself with.
This isn’t the final look – obvi – but I’ve been dying to get some of these elements in place for weeks, and to finally test them out has been good fun. It helped me gage what is realistic and what needs to go back to HomeSense in favour of other items. All the trays, tableware, linens and lanterns are from my local HomeSense store. If you’re near me and go looking for them you won’t find them! I snatched ’em up already.
To give you a better idea of what still needs to happen in this “space” before the reveal here’s my To-Do list:
- Sew box cushions for the benches.
- Buy captain’s chairs for the ends of the table.
- Lay grass seed (once it stops freezing at night) to fill all the patches left-over from our digging and from previous occupants.
- Get plants and planters for the pergola area.
- Build a bar cart / cooler to sit next to the dining area.
Wish me luck in accomplishing the rest of my to-do list before we reveal on Week 6!
Nice pergola!
you know it! If you guys are posted this way you’ll get to enjoy a drink or two under it!
love the lights, love bruce, and love the “unsung hero” caption! ha!
love you too friend
Love the accessories from Homesense! I know I’m a little biased, but I really enjoy shopping, choosing and buying the fun and functional goodies from there! Cant wait to see the final reveal 🙂
Don’t worry, I’m also biased 😉 They’re the best and only providers of accessories out this way anyways!
Now is the perfect time for outdoor spaces, such a pretty tablescape with all that color!
it sure is! If only it would warm up a bit. The sky would look less depressing.
Isn’t it so great to be able to work outside again?? It’ll be 22 degrees here tomorrow and I am just itching for the rain to go away so that I can cross a few outdoor projects off my list. Your dining area looks great!
it is! We’ve been doing quite a bit of it, rain, shine, snow and sleet haven’t stoped us yet! Although I don’t enjoy working in the nippy temperatures where I have to wear snow gloves
So perfect!!
Thanks girl 😉
Hubby’s are very much the unsung heroes of the ORC. They do most of the heavy lifting, they hold your hand when you cry…. 😉
The pergola looks great! It looks like a lovely place to hang out!
they so are. Here’s to them!
Just imagine what it will look like with some more natural greenery in place! Come on grass & trees!
Such a fun improvement and those string lights are so fun!
Those string lights are the bomb! I can’t wait to see them light-up at night under a starry sky
I LOVE the colors that you chose! So fun for the outdoors.
Thanks Morgan! I’m quite adventurous with colour, but for the outdoor piecesI’m proving more restrained than I had imagine!
I am intrigued by the trellis in the background!!
it won’t be staying there 😉 I just put it there to help block-out the now very visible PMQs we back onto.
So awesome that you got your pergola, Arie! The space is coming out so lovely! Love all the vibrant colors :).
I know right?! I was very pleased to get it up and running <3 thanks friend! I can't wait to sit back and enjoy it.
It is already looking gorgeous, Ariel. I love all of the accents you have styled on the table. Cannot wait to see the finished product.
Much Love,
Erica
Thanks Erica <3 Although we're still a ways away from being able to enjoy the space and the accessories, I had a fun time testing them out to see if everything was in the right scale.
I often say “we” did something when it’s really my husband too. He’s installing all of the trim. But, like you, I create the big picture. Haha. I hope the weather your way is appropriately spring-like over the next two weeks and gives you a fair chance of finishing your outdoor spaces. I love your pergola idea and all of the accessories are so great.
I figure most of us work in pairs. I know I couldn’t do half the things I want to unless it was for DH.
I’m essentially done at this point, I just need the weather to allow for some natural greenery. The brown and barren look isn’t doing it for me, and I can only afford so much fake greenery.
Looks amazing! That will be so nice to have that shaded outdoor space! enjoy!
it definitely will. Now if only the weather would cooperate and give me some background greenery to shade-out the other homes!
looking good already! the bright colored accents are so fun. and i love those string lights!
Thanks Sarah! The dipped string lights were too fun to pass up!
Its’ looking great, you’re making lots of great progress!
Thank you so much Jessica 🙂
your tablescape game is on point! just in time for summer 🙂
Just you wait! I have got SO many plans for summer tables capes all whirring in my head
THe lights that you put up are amazing! THey will add such a warm and welcoming flair for your late summer evenings.
Thanks Charlotte! They were such a great find. I’m considering adding more!
I love that you are taking on your outdoor spaces for this challenge! I’m looking forward to seeing what bar cart you go with- bar carts are my fav 😉
Thanks Kelley 🙂 It was outdoor or bust this year! It’s high time we have a decent and respectable backyard 🙂
Looking good! Come on spring! Good luck finishing up your to do list (you’ve got it)!
Thanks Jillian! I think I’ve got it all locked away for now… I think?!
that space is looking amazing!!! it’s going to be a great place for the summer!
I love the colors and the lights. Can I come join you for lunch? 🙂
come on over girl!