Outdoor Dining Space Reveal

Sharing this outdoor dining space reveal! From the modern concrete wall cover to the new siding and more- sharing all the changes we’ve made to modernize the space including modern patio furniture sources.

Did you see my upper patio reveal earlier this week? I was going to put both of these spaces in one post because it’s a renovation we’ve been working on as one big project. But after getting the furniture out here and putting all that work in… I decided they each deserved their own post. This space is super exciting for me because it’s been a few years since we’ve had an outdoor dining space!

Years ago, we built a DIY outdoor table and then when we moved to this house, it was dropped and broken (so sad!) and we planned to rebuild but renovations kept us so busy that we never did. We have however hosted friends for BBQ dinners in our driveway. We’re classy. But now… we are actually super classy. I mean… it’s so nice, right?!

K, let’s throw it back to the before photos and then I’ll chat about alllll the work that went into getting our outdoor dining space (deck) to this point!

Wild, right?! Same space! So when we moved in (see all the house before photos here), there was a cracked, leaning concrete retaining wall and this was a wooden deck with two levels that made it impossible to put any furniture on it. We started by drilling some drainage in that retaining wall and coming up with this rad DIY cover for it. If you missed that tutorial- it’s honestly one of my favourite things we’ve done in this yard. It makes SUCH a difference.

Then, we started stripping siding and the deck boards to rebuild a level deck. We couldn’t just rebuild the deck without emptying all the garbage that was buried beneath the deck… really. But once we did that, we levelled it and got to work rebuilding it. But the siding? I chat more about that in our exterior plans post but we found termites so things ground to a halt while we dealt with that.

This is one of those ‘if you give a mouse a cookie’ type projects. To do the siding, we needed to have the decks finished, because you side around them (specifically the upper one since it’s vinyl wrap). To rebuild the upper deck, we needed to have the lower deck done as the stairs go down and land on this lower deck. So (above) here’s where we were last summer.

Okay so since then… we’ve replaced all the siding with white Hardie panel (in LOVE with this!), rebuilt the decks and straightened the stairs out. We’ve finished off the concrete wall cover and now? Furnished this baby! I’m so excited for this last part… furnishing. I’ve been dreaming about dining al fresco again for years and I’m so thrilled to partner with Article to make that dream a reality. A really pretty reality. If you’ve followed me for any amount of time- you’ll know how much I love Article furniture. We have had an outdoor sofa from them for a few years and love it, so I felt such confidence that no matter what we chose- it’d stand up great.

You can see both this dining space and our upper deck with a lounge area in this video below!

As with our upper deck, I’ll make the caveat that we still have a few things we’d love to finish here. I’d ordered a rug for under this table that hasn’t arrived and when we are done all the siding, I’d love to come back and sand down and stain this deck. The wood under the overhang on the house will be stained the same colour and so will that fence up there. But… with time, right?! Also… can we just sit here and imagine all my herb seeds have grown and filled out those planters?! Ha! I need all the basil for all the flat breads ;)

The back of the house is so much bigger than the front. We have a entry level rancher with a walk out basement. In the front- there’s so little of the house showing that we wanted to do something bright to really stand out between two taller houses. We went with the bright white and did black windows in the front. We wanted to warm up the stark black and white so chose walnut colour doors (front and garage). Around the back- we did the white windows since they get way more sun and we didn’t want to do maintenance on that (they’re hard to reach!). So to break up all the white, we painted the doors black, have this black concrete screen and then are warming it up with the wood. The deck is wood, the under overhang wood slats and the fence up above add all of that in.

Okay so on to the furniture. I already had white, black, and wood. And I didn’t want to mix another wood tone – there’s already 3! So when I spotted this black ‘Ballo Oval Dining Table‘ from Article, I knew it was perfect. It mimics what we have going on in our living room but the powder coated finish will help it hold up in the weather- it’s honestly so heavy duty and perfect. The oval shape also suits the weird walk through space we have so well. It helps with the flow/feeling as you walk down the stairs right towards the table instead of a straight edge.

Since we have a family of 6, we wanted to seat 6 for sure. I like the idea of no chair on the end in front of the stairs for a good flow. We have a couple extra chairs stacked to the side for when we have company. We also have a kids picnic table we can unfold when we want the table to seat a bunch of adults. Anyone else do that? Ha- I used to love the kids table when I was young! We chose the Zina Grove Green Dining Chair since they’re so nice and compact they fit three to a side and because I’m a sucker for a good olive colour. You never know when you’re ordering, but I was so happy to sit in them for the first time after a big day of working on siding- I just melted into the chair. They’re so comfy. We’ll be grounding the whole set up with a creamy grey rug but until then… I’m so impressed with how pulled together it looks!

These chairs also stack so they’ll be so easy to store when winter rolls around. This metal dining table also is really easy to store- the legs just unbolt and it can be stored leaned in our storage room.

The other things I wanted to point out in this space? Those lights! We bought those industrial string lights when we built our desk at our old house and could never find a way to get them put up properly, then they sat in the box for the next few years. My friend Kim has a great tutorial for poles for outdoor lights I wish I would have found back then!

But here? They’re easy to attach to this retaining wall, it’s like they were built for this! I love how they add to the feeling of the space- I just want to hang out here every night now.

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The planters are as a bit of a barrier for this outdoor dining space. This deck has never had a railing and I love the look of that (less busy) but even though it’s a shorter drop (only 3 steps), having young kids we wanted to have a bit of a barrier so they were aware of the drop. These planters are filled with herbs and I love the visual barrier it gives to the space! It also adds some colour to the aesthetic (love me some fresh greenery!).

Phew… alright, you guys- I’m going to leave it at that! I have a video tour coming of the two patio spaces later this week and I’m so excited to show you how it all ties together! I can’t wait to move back into our house and to eat dinner out here… probably every night for the next 4 months ;) Ps. Aren’t my garden blooms so lovely? All that weeding is paying off!