Yesterday was the kind of day that I love.  The weather was just to my liking: overcast, dry, breezy, and warm enough to work outside, but not too hot.  And everyone in our family worked together to get things ticked off the to-do list.  Marshall power-washed the front walk, Calvin mowed, and Jeff and I worked together to trim hedges, weed, mulch, and tidy up the back yard.  Since the temperature is still to my liking today, I’m going to work on painting the back trim.  Since I don’t enjoy working on ladders, Jeff and I will work on the gables together, but I’ll take care of all the lower parts of the trim, priming, and painting them.

For today, I am sharing the work I did last week to get the patio cleaned up and looking nice for pool season.  Here is how the pool and patio area look during the winter.  The pool takes up the majority of our backyard, so everything gets a little crowded when the pool cover is on.

I had already cleaned up the patio from brush and debris that settled there in the fall, over the winter, and after an early Spring storm that made a mess.  I had also cleaned out the remnants of last year’s annuals in the pots so they were ready for planting.

And here is how it looks after a few hours of fluffing, cleaning, rearranging, and planting…

patio umbrellas | patio table & chair set | fountain | pool vacuum | bench | teak pool loungers

Last year, I got very excited about having a nice patio, and I was a little overenthusiastic about buying pots, plants, and garden accessories.  It was all feeling a little cluttered.  We had one outdoor storage box for pool floats, toys, goggles, etc., and then added another one for firewood.  While two fit okay, it felt crowded, and we really didn’t need to store firewood right there.  We moved it to a little alcove in the side yard that isn’t visible from the street or house for now, and we’ll find a permanent spot for it once we get the garage organized. Removing one of those large storage bins freed up space, and the patio feels more welcoming because of it.

AC Screen | Hose Reel House | Outdoor Storage Box

If you haven’t read the story of our thrifted pool loungers, you can find that story HERE.

exterior light | trellis | patio table & chair set | teak pool loungers

Now that I had a bit more room on the patio, I brought over the two large terracotta pots I had purchased for the espaliered apple trees (you can see those HERE) and planted steeds holly bushes in each.  I found those at a local nursery for $40/each!  I thought it was a great price for such a large bush.  I looked it up while I was at the nursery, and steeds hollies do well in pots.  I’ve opted for more bushes and fewer flowers and patio plants (which won’t survive the winter outside) in my large pots, so I’m not having to replace them each year.

AC Screen | Shepherd’s Hook | check outdoor pillow covers

I put French lavender, petunias, and Alyssum in my smaller pots.  I’m not sure what’s in the hanging basket.  It was in the sun section of the Lowe’s nursery, but when I got home, I realized it’s a part-sun plant, so I’m not sure it’ll do well on my patio.  We’ll give it a go, and I can always move and replace it if it’s unhappy.  It was in the ugliest hanging planter basket, so I bought a metal hanging basket with a liner to help hold in moisture.

22″ rolled rim terra cotta pot

While I was cleaning, I decided to clean out the pool storage bin.  When I first opened the container a few weeks ago, I thought it smelled a little foul.  Not an outright terrible smell, but it was worse than a bin of floaties and pool noodles should be.  I removed everything from the bin, and I found the source of the odor.  I imagine many of you can guess what I found…

It was a little mouse nest along with all the little gifts the mouse sprinkled around the container.  I have to admit, as a person who admires creativity in almost all forms, I had to admire the well-built nest.  The mouse had chewed fabric tails off dive toys and combined those with natural elements and nibbled pieces of pool noodles to make a pretty cozy bed.  Despite my admiration for the resourcefulness, I dismantled the nest and threw away anything that was contaminated.  I also cleaned, sanitized, and rinsed the bin thoroughly.  We were keeping toys and goggles in buckets, but I put them in lidded, sealed containers, and opted to keep just a few of our favorite floats so the bin wouldn’t be as welcoming to future mice.

Outdoor Storage Box

I’ve been working on little details, but some big changes will be happening to the back of the house.  In addition to painting the trim (and patching holes left from an old awning), we’ll be adding shutters, replacing the windows, and building a new custom A/C surround.  I am so excited to see all of it finished, which should be in about 6-8 weeks.  Marshall is also going to power wash the patio, which will be another small, detail-oriented project that makes the entire space look better.

22″ rolled rim terra cotta pot | checked outdoor pillow cover | iron plant stand

It seemed to take forever to get the pool cleaned this year after we opened it, but it’s now clean and so pretty!  A few tiles had fallen off, so our contractor will be making some repairs.  It’s unfortunate that it happened after just a couple of years, but these old concrete pools can be a little temperamental.  He thinks moisture is seeping under the old coping and pushing the tiles off as it freezes and thaws.  He’s going to seal the coping to try to prevent that in the future.

In the spring, I remove the covers from the pool loungers, but we usually leave the covers on the pair of glider chairs so they last longer and stay clean.

River Oaks Patio Chairs | cast aluminum table | patio umbrella 

Here is how they look uncovered and with the umbrella up…

We’ve never had a backyard we really loved until this house.  It’s been a lot of hard work, but it has been so rewarding and I’m so excited to see how it looks at the end of the summer…