New(ish) Furniture And A Virtual Tour

** Wow!  I've been amazed at the number of standout/canvas orders pouring in.  Thank you to each and every single one of you! **

We pretty much live outdoors here.

I'm not going to generalize and say that's the case for everyone who lives in Southern California, because it's not.

But?

For me, for my family, it is (in great part) an outdoor life.

When we bought our house, we bought it for the lot and the view.  It wasn't, by any means, my dream house.  Property here is outrageously expensive, as are homes, and we wanted a yard our kids could play in.  We wanted to be able to entertain outside, and host birthday parties and team parties and ...

Well, you get the idea!

After we built our pool, we realized with quite a sticker shock it would take a lot of outdoor furniture to truly make our backyard into the oasis we wanted it to be.

Can I just say, that shit is expensive!

In the last year or two, our outdoor furniture has been looking worse and worse.  The idea of buying such a large quantity of it again seemed ridiculous.  Instead, I went back to the original manufacturer and struck a deal.  For less than a third of the replacement cost, they agreed to come pick up all the furniture, sandblast it, repaint it, replace all the cushions and upholstery, and then redeliver it back to our house.

It was still a costly project, but it was way less costly than buying new.

(By the way, you should always buy outdoor furniture in the winter for the best price.  I was able to negotiate the pricing a lot.)

Yesterday afternoon, our "new" looking, but actually "old," furniture arrived.

I took a few quick snapshots so you could see what we've got going on.

We have a two level, very large, patio.  This three person (glider) sofa and table are on the lower level.  The area is almost always shaded by our deck.  

Mornings will often find me having coffee out on the sofa.  It's just steps outside my back door.  I also, often, write to YOU while sitting there.

If you go up two steps, you'll find yourself on the raised level of the patio.  I designed a raised patio to better take advantage of our mountain/lake view.

We have two bar chairs by the built in barbeque/bar area.  

Sometimes there's a margarita maker up there too.

Also on the upper patio level, is our biggest table.  It seats eight people comfortably, and has a really large fourteen foot umbrella to keep it shaded.  (The umbrella isn't up in this photo - sorry, I forgot!)  The chairs are swivel/rocking chairs too so they're very comfy to sit in.

It's a great table for entertaining, and it gets used a lot.

If you take a little walk, you'll find yourself out in the pool area.

On the farthest side of the pool, we have three slingback chairs.  Slingback chairs dry faster than cushioned chairs.  Nobody wants to get out of the pool and sit on a wet cushion so slingbacks were the way to go by the pool.  The slingback chairs swivel and rock too.

If we want to take a nap, read a book, or just relax - we have two very comfortable lounge chairs.  They share a little side table (not visible in this photo) and a ten foot umbrella.  Umbrellas are a must here because it gets very hot in the summer.

In the background of the above photo, you can see the spiral staircase leading up to our deck.  Before I take you up to the deck, I should show you the other side of the pool by the jacuzzi.

Are you asleep yet? 

Wake up we're almost ready to go up on the deck!  

These additional two chairs provide us with a total of seven seating areas by the pool.  The little side table comes in handy for drinks/sunglasses/sunscreen/etc.  When we have big parties we bring out folding chairs, beach chairs, neighbor's chairs ... whatever we can get our hands on.  We've had up to 150 people in our backyard for parties before.

(Um, we don't just raid the neighbor's houses for chairs.  We borrow chairs, and they let us because we invite them to most of our parties.  Just thought I should clarify ....)

OK, let's go up the spiral staircase to the very, very, very, big deck.

Why do we have such a big deck?

Well, because I wanted (a lot) more shade in our yard.  Honestly, it gets really HOT here in the summer.  Also, the minute I saw this particular (completely unlandscaped) lot, my brain could not stop designing it.  Our backyard is my personal baby.  I will cry if/when we sell this house.  A lot of my brain cells are permanently embedded in the design of this backyard. 

So, up on the deck ...

The deck is basically like two separate, adjoining, rooms.

On the first side, we have another table.  This table seats six comfortably.  It's a "bar" table, with bar chairs.  (That means it sits up high so you are looking OVER the railing of the deck when you're seated.)  Again, I wanted to maximize enjoyment of the mountain/lake view behind our house. 

We've enjoyed a lot of evenings/dinners at this table.  In the morning it gets full, very strong, sun so we rarely spend our mornings here.

On the far side, or next "room" of the deck, we have a more shaded area for relaxing.  There's a single lounger with an ottoman and a double lounger which fits two people easily.

My Golden is very excited the double lounger is back.

He's not allowed on it ....

© Twenty Four At Heart

Comments

[Serial Swooper]

Your house could be a total HOVEL inside and it would be worth it for that view. Holy cow, how BEAUTIFUL! Congrats on striking a good deal on the furniture.

When's the party for all your bloggie friends?

[karen]

Oh my God, you have A BEAUTIFUL HOME!!!! That yardscape is stunning! and so welcoming and warm and OH YOUR FREAK'N VIEW!!!

Very wise to redo the furniture - I'm thinking of doing the same thing. Thanks for the tour.

[WebSavvyMom]

-->I love posts like this especially since we're building an inground pool right now and I'm just starting to visualize the furniture and new landscaping.
I shared on twitter this morning that the carpenter showed up this morning to build new deck steps and his name wasn't Jesus.
~deb

[Jan]

While our back yard was nowhere near as large as yours, we also lived outside when we were in Texas - I miss that house. And the pool. Ohio sucks - we got snow in some measure for the last six months. Bah.

And may I just say you have more furniture on your patio than we do in our entire house. And it's beautiful.

[Pam]

Wow! So well designed and so comfortable looking! I can see why you contacted the company--you have a LOT of chairs!!

Yeah, I can see why the dog is happy. That double lounger looks quite comfy--even if he's not supposed to be on it... :)

Thanks for sharing.

Pam

[Deb]

I want to live in your backyard!

[ocshannon714]

I love your backyard. I like having many different seating areas....it always makes for great entertaining.

[Lisa]

It's beautiful! The furniture looks great and the view is fantastic. I see why you like to spend so much time outside!

[missmolly]

Does the dog know he's not allowed on the furniture? When the cat's away, will the dog play?

[linda]

Struck a deal!? You got a steal! Nicely done! I never would have thought to call the manufacturer to even ask them about repainting! Brilliant!! Looks fab too:D

[Sandra]

Diggin' it all. I like the color of the fabric you choose. Warm but colorful.

Had to smile at the dog. You know he wants up there. Our dog has ruined our chaise lounge because she does this digging thing on it like she's trying to make it more comfortable. She's torn it up. We started turning it onto it's side so she can't get up there when we're gone. But, she's already done the damage. I need to have it redone. It's a cushion sling. All the other chairs to the set are fine. Not sure I can replace that one fabric to match. I'd have to go with a different fabric. I'm thinking out loud here. Just ignore me. :)
Thanks for sharing!!!

[Sandra]

Question: Who is the manufacture of the patio furniture? Is it all the same manufacturer?

[Momo Fali]

I'm a really quiet houseguest and I clean up after myself. I can sleep on one of the lounge chairs. You'll never even know I'm there!

[Di]

Absolutely perfect sitting areas. And the views are of course to die for.. thanks for sharing with us, Suzanne!

Di

[Erica]

You've really taken advantage of living in vacation land. I love your yard and the furniture looks great.

[Freda]

It's a whole other world from our still-wintry moss-ridden garden in the north of Scotland. Looks stunning, thanks so much for sharing it.

[Stephen - Today's Patio]

Excellent thinking on your part to simply refurbish your existing patio furniture. Too many people often just throw their old stuff out and buy brand new when all their old furniture really needed was a little TLC. Good article & thanks for sharing the tips & ideas.