Patio Projects

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

Today, I am going to be sharing a few new things on our back Patio.......

 But first, I want to Thank, Bev. over at Eclectic Red Barn, for featuring my post, Late Spring Front Yard, from last week's Over the Moon Linky Party!!

 Thanks so much, Bev!!

Please stop by and link up to this great party!!

In my last post, I shared all the changes I made around the house, reflecting on my Word of the Month of May which was CHANGE......

 And I revealed my Word of the Month for June which is ENJOY!!

 Click HERE if you missed that post......

I am looking forward to enjoying the Month of June......

And now, a few Personal Notes.......

As I have mentioned before, our son, Joey, who stayed with us for a short time at the beginning of the health crisis, has moved back to his apartment but continues to come here for Dinner and conversation every evening........

On Friday, he treated us to Pizza from one of our favorite places, locally owned Serpico's Pizza........

This pie has a sliced meatball topping on it.....

 And this one was just had extra cheese......

Both were so good.........

Saturday morning, I decided to bake using zucchini that Joe bought from the Amish Farmer who sells produce and many other things every Friday at the Valley Mart only 5 minutes from our house......

I made zucchini bread.......

And a batch of zucchini zots!!!

If you are interested in the recipes for both, Click HERE to see a post I did last year featuring the recipes.....

Saturday, I did a bunch of painting projects, refreshing some weather beaten pieces for the Garden ......

 I will be sharing all of these soon......

On Sunday, I decided that we would use the Red Robin Gift Card that my Niece Renae and Great Nieces Cortney, Caitlin and Carly gifted me for Mother's Day.......

I have to admit that I was quite impressed with the nice Take Home containers that the food came in!!!

I ordered a Southern Charm Burger and Joe ordered a Red Tavern Burger......

 Joey, who LOVES Chicken, got an appetizer of boneless Chicken Bites and an order of Clucks and Fries......

 Everything was really good and we thoroughly enjoyed our Dinner, thanks to our Nieces!!

And now let's get off of food and on to a project that I wanted to do since last year......

Way back in 2012, I did a faux brick painting treatment on the concrete blocks that my Dad and I put in to create the small Patio off the back of the house.....

We originally had a grass outdoor rug on the Patio but when we adopted our Sweet Savanna, she thought nothing of peeing on the carpet when it was raining because she did not like to get wet!!!

So we removed it......

I used sponges and concrete paint to create this faux brick look......

 Since we had added concrete several times, making the block bigger, it was a good disguise for the different concrete additions.....

It became one of my most popular posts on Home Talk when I was posting on that site......

Click HERE if you would like to see the original post.....

I really loved how it looked and I still would recommend doing this......

BUT not on an outside, exposed to the elements, especially snow and ice, piece of concrete......

It would be great in an enclosed porch with a concrete floor.......

Because this is what happened over time to the Paint treatment.....

You can see the area underneath the awning held up well but the area that was more exposed to the elements and had water and ice formation on it during the Winter, did not hold up well at all!!

The dark areas around the edges is not the finish but ant spray that we were waiting to dry.....

The area by the Potting Stand is not under the awning and you can see that almost none of the paint is left on that area.......

Well, it was definitely a lesson learned......

Since last year, I wanted to put down another rug to cover up the failed brick treatment....

I did not want to spend a lot of money on a rug because I was not sure how it would hold up being exposed to the elements so this was going to be a bit of an experiment......

We ended up buying this outdoor carpet from Ollie's.........

It was $36.99 originally and we had a 15% off coupon so with the discount and tax, the carpet only cost about $35.....

I moved EVERYTHING off the Patio......

Now, I pride myself in being a Carpenter's Daughter and do pretty much all the home improvement projects around the house or we hire a contractor......

Joe is NOT handy at all......

So when he told me the night before we were going to lay the carpet, what I thought was a Lame Brain Idea, that he was going to use a SAW to cut most of the excess off the 6 foot by 18 foot carpet, I laughed hysterically and said, " You are NOT going to use a SAW, You will cut your fingers off!!!"

The concrete block is 53 inches by 20 feet..

The length of 18 feet was perfect because the carpet would end almost at the right place where the awning stopped.....

Joe thought that if he cut off most of the excess, it would be easier to cut the carpet once we laid it out.......

And he thought that if he could cut it while rolled, it would be easier......

I thought he had lost his mind!!!!

And would surely lose some fingers!!!!

Even our son, Joey, had to witness this feat and I told him he would be the one to take his Father to the ED if he cut a finger or two off because I would be mortified to tell them that he did it while "sawing" through a carpet!!!!

You can see the grin on Joe's face when he realizes that this is actually working!!!!!

Well, I'll be darned!!!!!!

It DID actually work!!

Now you know that I will NEVER hear the end of this...

How he was right and I was wrong which he LOVES to point out as often as he possibly can......

So we unrolled the carpet and Joe used a knife to cut the rest of the excess off......

It was actually much easier than we thought and the whole project took less than a half hour, including "sawing" through the carpet!!!!

Now you may remember that a few weeks ago, I did buy 2 new outdoor mats for the Patio at Ocean State Job Lot for only $10 each!!!

I had intended on using them on top of a carpet when we bought one for the Patio......

I wanted them placed where the seating areas were....

I then cleaned everything from the Patio and moved it all back while Joe basked in his glory, watching a repeat Hockey Game on TV with Joey......

I love the color of the carpet because it goes well with the brick extension of the Patio......

The reason why we could not extend the concrete any further then we did is because we have all our electrical wiring for our Townhouse development under ground and it runs only about 6-9 inches off the concrete block......

That is why I used pavers and bricks taken from churches that were torn down in our area when I extended the Patio area.......

All could easily be picked up if access to the underground wiring was ever needed and they would not have to jack hammer though any concrete.....

And YES, I dug out and laid all the brick walkways and Patio extension MYSELF with no help from Joe......

 I think the carpet even goes well with the chair cushions!!!

I really do love how it looks.......

And it sure did not cost us a fortune.......

A mere $55 for all 3 carpets.......

You can see that both carpets end right before the Potting Stand which is not under the awning.....

When we had the awning put on, I thought it would be a good idea to leave about 2 feet for access to the roof with a ladder in case the need would ever arise......

It was a good idea because we have needed to do just that several times already.....

We plan on rolling up the carpets in the Winter and storing them down our Storage Shed that we rent .....

But over all, we are very pleased with the finished project!!!!!

Joe brought home this hanging basket from Ocean State Job Lot that other day......

It has a plastic lining with holes in it for drainage.......

And it was only $6.00!!

I lamented about what I was going to plant in it for some time and realizing that I wanted to hang it on the awning in this corner, I remembered that I had a tub up the attic, filled with faux greenery that I had bought at the estate sale of a Florist!!!!

So I decided that I was going to shop my own house for what I would "plant" in this hanging basket.....

I picked out 3 different bushes of faux greenery from my stash.......

And arranged them in the basket.......

I think it looks pretty decent.......

And it easily hooks on to the awning and I will not have to worry that it is too heavy and will pull the awning down!!!!

 And it helps to block some of the Sun......

 Another project was adding lights to the Tree in this corner of the Patio......

I bought this Tree in Target many years ago after Christmas on Clearance and after using it in the house, it found a home out here.....

The lights on it had long died and a few years ago, I did have a set of solar lights on it, which also saw better days......

Since Ocean State Job Lot, had a set of 100 warm white LED solar lights for only $7.99, I thought it would not only add light to the Tree but I could also use a set of lights to light the Patio.......

This was easy as I already had nails in place to hang the lights on because I had did this once before a few years back.......

I loosely hung the lights and then wrapped another set around the Tree in the corner......

It is just enough light to add a bit of a twinkle to the Patio........

The 2 solar lights on the Potting Stand are Humming Bird solar lights Joe bought at Dollar Tree.....

I also put batteries in the shimmery chandy that I bought 3 years ago in Big Lot's............

See it hanging between the 2 windows???

It has 2 bulbs hanging in the middle that change colors.......

It comes on by timer........

I hope you enjoyed seeing these simple and inexpensive projects that added a bit of Pizazz to our Patio........

I just want to mention that I am receiving NO compensation what so ever from Ocean State Job Lot!!

I just like their merchandise and their prices and it is located about 5 minutes from our house, depending on traffic....

And they have donated masks and other supplies, along with financial donations, to Hospitals and First Responders, also offering free fabric to use for making masks during this health crisis.....

They truly have partnered with the Community in this time of crisis......

  I hope you will stop by to visit again soon!!

Stay safe, healthy and happy!!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

I am linking up to these parties:

TUESDAY
Tuesdays At Our Home
Inspire Me Tuesdays
Lou Lou Girl's Linky Party
 All About Home Party
Tuesdays with a Twist
 Farm Fresh Tuesdays Blog Hop
Celebrate Your Story Link Party!!
Tuesday Turn About Link Party

WEDNESDAY
Keep in Touch Party
Oh My Heartsie Wonderful Wednesdays
Beautifully Made Link Party

Fluster's Creative Muster Wednesday's

Ducks in a Row Wonderful Wednesdays Blog Hop
Party in Your PJ's
Waste Not Wednesday
Charming Homes and Gardens Wednesday Link Party

THURSDAY
Vintage Charm
Home and Garden Party Thursday
Share Your Style Thursday Link Up Party
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop 
Grace at Home Party
Encouraging Hearts and Home Party

FRIDAY
Friday Features Linky Party
Friday Favorites
Home Matters Linky Party
Flaunt It Fridays
 Funtastic Friday
Farmhouse Friday

 SATURDAY
Saturday Sparks
Pink Saturday-Anything Goes!!
Best of the Weekend Party

SUNDAY
Snickerdoodle Sunday
Silver Pennies Sunday
Happiness is Homemade Linky Party

 MONDAY 
Inspire Me Monday
Love Your Creativity Link Party
Busy Monday
Over the Moon Linky Party
 Handmade Monday
You Are The Star Blog Hop
Metamorphosis Monday
Little Cottage Link Party
Make It Pretty Monday

Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!