Spring ORC – Week 5 – Lounge Area

You guys, after this update all we’ve got is the final reveal for the spring One Room Challenge! Can you believe it?! Time has flown by, let me tell you. In case you’re not familiar, the One Room Challenge is hosted by Linda of Calling It Home // here // invites bloggers and designers to redo a space in their home from start to finish in 6 weeks. I am a linking participant, that is to say I join-in on the fun in the link-up but am not an official participant. Speaking of which, you should check out what’s happening with the official participants this week // here // and the unofficial participants // here //. I am eagerly following along with Old Brand New, House of Brinson and Christine Dovey . What about you?

*HomeSense & Wayfair sponsored this post, but all thoughts are my own.  Thank you for supporting the brands that make PMQ for two possible.

To catch you up on MY One Room Challenge, I’ve decided to re-do 4 distinct outdoor areas as part of our outdoor space with the help of HomeSense Canada. No single space warranted an entire 6 weeks, but I wanted to design them together to create a cohesive outdoor look, so obviously shopping HomeSense was the best way to go about that. I’ve been able to purchase everything I needed at a great price, and find the variety in styles, colours and shapes that is a classic component of my visual brand – eclectic.

You can see which spaces I’ve primed for a reveal here (read, they’re not styled or complete, but things are there!):

Week 1 – introduction

Week 2 – front step

Week 3 – back step

Week 4 – dining area

// Week 5 //

Week 6

For this week I thought I’d show you what was happening with our extra seating area. This is a novelty space for us since we’ve never really had one, and I’m eagerly anticipating it. You may have caught my post last week where I officially declared nation season open // here // and shared a peak of the space, but you wouldn’t have understood it out of context.

So here’s some background on why we wanted an extra sitting area in our backyard; we’ve never had one and are always scrambling at the last minute to figure out where to sit when we want to be cozy and watch a TV show on the iPad or listen to some music under the stars. Sure, we entertain a lot, and having our big dining area is exceptionally useful, but we also need a little space that lets us feel comfortable together. Whether it’s DH and I, or a friend and I enjoying some lemonade, we needed a more intimate set-up.

In the backyard we don’t have many options for where to put this cozy little seating area. It’s a pretty exposed space, and safe for against the garage (which slants down towards the back of the yard) or up against the tiny fence separating our yard from our neighbour’s, there isn’t much for us to work with. Sure we could plop it in the middle of the yard and call it a day, but there would be natural framing to the space – no bueno.

In the end we opted for a space up against the fence. It would allow us to add the expandable privacy screen we picked-up from Wayfair // here //, and it would also allow for the giant umbrella we snagged to shade us appropriately. After all, our pergola is lovely but only if you’re under it.

**mind the horrendously sunny pics! I had to quickly shoot this update over the weekend or try and do something in the rain – no gracias.**

We found the adorable 3 piece conversation set at our local HomeSense for $399.99 (It compared around 500$) so I was very happy with this find. Sure, it’s not a bright and colourful set like you would have probably expected, and that was for good reason. You can’t go wrong with black and wood grain, because all the summer colours we could ever pick would look great against it without it getting dirty or needing to change much. White is the only other colour this versatile, but it would show too much dirt. Unlike the decor in my home, I’ve spent a bit more time curating the outdoors because we’ll only get to use it a few months a year, so I don’t want to feel like I need to start over each summer.

That being said, there were tons of colourful and vibrant options, I just decided against them (for once).

I adorned our expandable privacy screen with some more of those fun string lights dipped in a metallic finish which I snagged for $19.99 – a fantastic price considering they’re colourful, funky and very much in demand this season. These are a round balloon dipped in rose gold, and they help bring the core colours to every last space I’ve done.  They’ll also allow us to have some lighting in this area with having to plug-in the pergola’s lights. I really wanted to aim for a function series of spaces that could operate in unison or independently.

To give you a better idea of what still needs to happen in this “space” before the reveal here’s my To-Do list:

• Level the area under the chairs and add pavers to keep them level
• Instal the umbrella
• Lay grass seed (once it stops freezing at night) to fill all the patches left-over from our digging and from previous occupants.
• Figure-out what’s happening with the plants around this area
• Add the brazier to the little table