Happy mid-summer friends! It's flying by, isn't it?
One of my favorite things to do is entertain in my back yard when the weather allows. We have large Nana Wall System doors that open out from our great room to our back patio, allowing us to use our back yard as an extension of our home during the summer.
(Click here to read more about my outdoor seating area)
But to the right and back of the house, we have this dilapidated area. I neglected to take a true 'before' picture before we started demo, but suffice to say, it had a tile countertop (the same tile that we used in our pool surround) that was breaking and crumbling. We had an outdoor refrigerator that I had high hopes would have served as a place to house drinks for the kids when they were growing up, but instead it never really worked properly and we ended up just shutting off the power. We had stainless steel cabinet doors (removed in photo below), where we kept sports equipment -- but ultimately the dark and damp cabinets just attracted black widow spiders! Our Weber barbecue was parked to the right of the cabinet (removed in photo).
Lucky for me, my brother is a contractor (located in Hawaii) , and he came and lived with us for 3 weeks, helped me come up with an affordable design and a way to use the outdoor space more efficiently. Then he built it for me!
We ultimately decided that the area needed to have some shelter, and we designed a simple roof that matched the style that we already had on the house. I didn't want to make a huge investment in an outdoor barbecue area with a stone countertop and built-ins, and I didn't want to buy a new barbecue, so we came up a with a clean and industrial look using a stainless steel countertop. (Here's a pic of my brother building the new roof).
And here it is 'after'!
We created a plywood template for the countertop and a had a local metal shop fabricate it. I wanted it to be 'bar-height' so I sourced restaurant bar legs on the internet and we bolted them into the concrete as the counter base. Ultimately the goal was to have a usable space, and not have any cabinet areas where those pesky black widow spiders could live!
An inexpensive faucet and sink from Home Depot was added so we now have a place to rinse barbecue tools and wash our hands. (That's a little air plant next to the faucet -- it makes me smile!)
As you know, I'm a huge consignment shopper and I found these little bronze buddha heads recently at a local shop, and had to have them. Along with these funky demilune bowls....
When guests come, I simply throw some leafy cuttings from my garden in them for decoration.
The stainless steel stools are from Target (super affordable!) and provide a seating area for our guests to chat with the chef (aka me or my husband) while we are barbecuing.
And now the back yard area is complete!
Thanks for stopping by!
Join me on
