Our Urban Backyard Summer Oasis

Whether you have a backyard or a balcony, with a few simple things like flowers and lights, creating an Urban Backyard Summer Oasis is easy!

Today I’ve joined an amazing group of blogger friends, and we are sharing our summer decks and patios with you…all in hopes to inspire your creativity in your own space!  Thank you to Krista of Happy Housie for organizing.  Make sure to check out all the posts in the links at the bottom of this post!  xo

I’m so relieved that it’s finally patio weather.  We had what felt like the longest winter ever, and when it finally left I didn’t quite believe that summer was just around the corner.  I seem to stay in a semi-winter mode, expecting snow at any time, until mid May. Because realistically, it can happen.  But now this week summer is officially here, and I’m ready.  Thanks to having participated in a number of seasonal blog hops, I’ve been getting ready for summer for a few weeks now, and I’m welcoming it with open arms.  My plants are blooming, the patio is ready, summer eats are on my mind…let’s summer!

Today I wanted to take you on a little tour of my cheery summer patio.  I’ve been busy cleaning up this space for a while now…I cleaned and repainted the deck, we bought some new patio furniture, pillows and accessories, and I’ve got all my flowers planted.  Nothing to do now but sit back and relax, and that is what I intend to do.  Anyway, come have a look with me…

This space is very hard to photograph. I feel like I can’t quite capture everything how I see it…it’s hard to convey how pretty everything actually looks and feels.  Especially at my two favourite times of the day out here…first thing in the morning (which is when most of these pictures were taken) and in the evening at dusk when the sun is going down…and these times aren’t great for picture taking.  But these times are my favourite out here…everything looks fresh, my flowers smell THE best and it just feels so soft and good…so I took pictures for this post at both of these times of the day so that I could share them with you…it’s not quite captured, but it will have to do.

Quite a few years ago we built an extension onto our existing deck to give us more space to enjoy it.  The way our house faces, the top tier really gets no sun at all, so the second tier was built so that we could have a space to actually enjoy summer.  And it’s on this 2nd tier that I have focussed most of my efforts, because that’s the space where we spend our time. For many years I had a dining table in this space and we enjoyed it very much, but after 14 years things were starting to wear out…so it was time to buy a new set.  This time I wanted something for both dining and relaxing and was thrilled to find exactly what I was looking for at Lowe’s.  It has a couch, 2 full chairs, 2 stools and a dining table. So we can both eat and relax.  Perfect.

Admittedly though, I have found it a little challenging to decorate around.  I started with the table turned the other way but couldn’t figure out where to place my planters.  So I turned it around and I like it a bit better this way.  I’m still working on the best places for my flowers, but for now they’re good where they are…I actually think the real issue is that I *may* have too many planters…but really, is there such thing as too many flowers?

Once the table was put into place, I added some new pillows, adjusted my string lights and scattered my planters around the deck.  Things are starting to come together.

Another project we tackled in our yard was that we created a new space where we could enjoy campfires.  For a few years we had our outdoor fireplace on the deck, and it looked really nice but wasn’t very practical.  There was just no room for it there, and honestly, I really wanted to move it onto gravel.  So my husband dug out our old raised garden, and laid down some washed rock gravel.

Now we have a bigger (and more safe) space for campfires! Then I moved down my fun and cheery turquoise furniture and created a cozy sitting spot. I love this area SO much.

At night this space is my favourite. With the patio lights…it feels so dreamy out here.

Thank you for coming on a little tour of our Urban Backyard Summer Oasis!  I hope you feel inspired to create a summer oasis at your own home…whether you have a backyard or a balcony, with a few simple things like flowers and lights, creating an oasis is easy!

More Summer Deck and Patio Inspiration:

The Happy Housie / Inspiration for Moms / Rooms for Rent / Bless’er House

Shabbyfufu / Summer Adams / Making it in the Moutains / TIDBITS

Confessions of a Serial DIYer / Clean and Scentsible / Just a Girl and Her Blog / Stacy Risenmay

Zevy Joy / Finding Silver Pennies / Deeply Southern Home / A Pretty Life

Southern State of Mind / Amber Tysl / Newly Woodwards

Have an inspired day!