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Backyard Improvements {& new patio furniture covers!)

by | Apr 22, 2015 | Decorating Inspiration, My Backyard, my house

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Backyard Improvements {& new patio furniture covers!)

Little by little, we’ve been making small improvements to our backyard. While we would have loved to hire a landscaper to design and implement a plan for us, we decided to just do what we could ourselves over time. And because we haven’t had a lot of time for working on it, it’s slow going. Slow improvements over time seems to be a theme at our house! We did hire some help last year to create our pea gravel patio and we are so glad we did! We love it.

Every summer we try to add a little bit more in the way of comfort and interest to our formerly barren and blah backyard. Even though we are still struggling our way through adding plants and privacy (new construction lots mean trying to dig through ROCKS instead of nice fluffy planting soil, grrr!). We have added lots of wicker chairs, a wonderful BBQ, an outdoor heater and a firepit so we can enjoy the pea gravel patio.

Backyard Improvements {& new patio furniture covers!)

This time of year we start looking at our patio furniture and outdoor accessories to assess the damage from the winter. While we are able to put some things in storage under the house to protect them all winter, some need to stay outside so we have to just hope for the best! Living near Seattle, we have the great joy of experiencing lots of rain and with that comes mildew and moss. You can imagine how wonderful that is for our outdoor furniture and BBQ.

One thing I really don’t like is investing in our furniture only to see it all yucky and ruined the next year. I like to build on my progress each year and not feel like I have to spend all my time scrubbing furniture in the spring :).

Backyard Improvements {& new patio furniture covers!)

Protecting the investment we’ve already made is important to us, so a few weeks ago I started looking into how to protect our furniture from the elements. I usually really dislike furniture covers I find, but I was pleasantly pleased to have been introduced to some really great, high quality covers for several of our key pieces. These covers from Classic Accessories have adjustable straps you can tighten up to customize the fit and they are really heavy duty!

Backyard Improvements {& new patio furniture covers!)

I even found one to keep the metal part of our fire pit from rusting out and a cover that surprisingly (and hilariously) fit our stand up heater. Yeah, it looks a little crazy hahah, but WORTH IT! I will no longer worry about the elements ruining our heater, the BBQ or wicker furniture.

Our goal this summer is to finish the gravel patios by lining them with rock and plants. We made some great progress and now it is just a matter of diving into the finishing details. We’d love to add more trees and trellises, too! But we are pretty happy to see our backyard look more inviting each year. I’ll return with more updates soon. I really love working on patios and gardens so I’m excited about this summer!

Backyard Improvements {& new patio furniture covers!)

The Ravenna patio furniture covers are on sale at Amazon through the end of April, so be sure to check them out! Classic Accessories provided me with the patio covers to try and share my experience with my readers. As always, I only share what I love, use and recommend.

10 Comments

  1. Janice

    Thanks for this wonderful tip! Living in coastal South Carolina, the pollen is insane so I just placed my order!

    Reply
  2. lisa bivona

    I was thinking about taking out my brick patio, replacing with pea gravel. I am wondering if it would be easier weeding than the brick. I only have sand in between the bricks and the weeds have taken hold.
    I’ve always loved the pea gravel look. Thanks for this post. Seemed to be a confirmation for me.

    Reply
  3. Joanna Ainscough

    I totally agreed with you about covering the outdoor furniture is very important and will worth for all the work and money we spend. Especially when we have designed and decided to get them together like that for a while.

    I am jelly that you got the firepit in your patio. I would love to have one even I am here in Florida. Where I may not have a lot of chances to use it. But it is a cute charm to the patio REALLY!

    Reply
  4. Bekah

    I am a new follower to your blog and your “neighbor” in Silverdale. :) I found the Ravenna patio covers on Amazon last fall and am extremely pleased with them! I especially appreciate that they are able to be secured in multiple ways so they don’t budge in the wind at all. They are heavy duty without looking or feeling too bulky. Added an additional cover this spring to a table and chairs we purchased at an estate sale. When I first went to order it I was unable to find it on Amazon. A short “freak out moment” as I wanted all the covers to match. So I looked up the company (local for us here in the Seattle area) and called them. A real person answered the phone! Love that! They were able to tell me when the covers would be available again and that I would be better off to purchase through Amazon instead of directly through the company (cheaper!). Highly recommend!!

    Reply
    • Melissa @ The Inspired Room

      Oh, that’s a great testimonial! And I laughed about the freak out moment, that would be me, too, hahah! Thanks for sharing. I agree, it is great that you can really secure them to fit so they won’t blow. And HI NEIGHBOR! Waving to you! I love finding people who live near me, nice to meet you. :).

      Reply
  5. Amanda

    WOW – the Ravenna collection looks great in your outdoor space! I have the same collection at home and it’s held up so well in my South Seattle {Suburban} neighborhood. We also used the fire pit cover to go over our brick DIY fire pit and it works great too. The colors in this collection basically match anything going on outside with design and look great from season to season – or just between showers!

    Gorgeous!

    Reply
  6. Stephanie

    Once my husband and I splurge on patio furniture (why is it so expensive?)we will definetly be checking out covers. I however have a question regarding your peastone patio. Do you have trouble keeping it in the patio? We have a small area off our back deck and I am constantly throwing pebbles back outside from my dog’s feet. My husband and I are considering placing it with crushed stone instead.

    Reply
    • Melissa @ The Inspired Room

      The stones definitely are something you need to sweep up and toss back in to the patio, but we lined ours with a heavy duty rubber boarder to minimize that. We also are starting to do lots of planting and laying stones around it so it will not only look great, but keep the stones contained even more!

      Reply
  7. Cindy Hoffman

    Hey there Mellisa, it may be slow going but its definitely something. Everyone should cover their furniture (especially if it’s wooden) as it could easily wear out, we learned this the hard way though and we later had to add some staining. Thanks a lot for sharing this.

    Cindy

    Reply
  8. Heather

    Such a lovely backyard! I never knew they made furniture covers, but those definitely would’ve saved a lot of my patio pieces (and in the same vein, money). Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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