Backyard Patio Roundup! Decorating your outdoor living spaces & protecting them from the Sun

Welcome to my backyard! Let me start by saying living in Florida for almost 8 years I have learned that what goes outside must come back inside! The Florida sun destroys everything (but I still love it)!  When we bought our home five years ago my parents House Warming gift to us was our Patio Table & Umbrella.  This table sat out in the sun for 3 years and literally looked like it was 100 years old! (This was a Martha Stewart set from Home Depot).  The cushions were completely shot between the fading and mildew and just YUCK we tossed them.  The table and chairs I sanded and spray painted to literally make them look BRAND NEW again! We learned our lesson and had a sun Lanai roof built off the back of the house and now the table stays there.  I purchased some new cushions for the chairs and after one year they still look brand new.  You can see our outdoor kitchen in the background, that gets covered every Sunday night with a huge tarp until Friday.  Doing this has really helped protect the grill, granite and fridge from sun damage.

We sit out here often for dinner almost every weekend and my favorite thing to do is bring out everything on trays.  When ever I see trays on sale I buy them! These plastic plates have held up for years now and you wont believe where they came from…The GROCERY store! Every summer the grocery store pulls out some cute patio stuff!! I love these plates because they match my favorite summer napkins.  The napkins and rings shown were actually my mothers that she let me have :).  I finish off this table with bamboo placemats and a bamboo tiered tray I purchased at Pier1.  Its perfect to hold the napkins and rings when carrying them in and out.

How cute is this tray!!?? This is a current Marshalls find that I fell in love with! I’ve been using this tray to carry out all the plastic plates and silverware each weekend.

In my backyard you need lots of citronella candles! The bugs at night are craziness.  We have tiki torches surrounding the whole yard that we use and I try to pick up citronella whenever I see it for a good price.  This year HomeGoods has started pulling out all their cute galvanized outdoor candles.  I love these three and the pretty colors they came in.

This three tiered tray is new this year for me.  It came from SAMS Club and only cost $25! Its huge too! I tested this out the past weekend and LOVED it! .  You can see I threw straws, napkins, cups, drinks, lemons, suntan lotion…you name it! Its very sturdy which made loading it up and carrying it back inside simple! Excellent buy!

We wanted an outdoor clock that we could see while in the swimming pool which meant it would be in mostly sun and exposed to all the elements.  We finally found this awesome “slate” outdoor clock at Home Depot for $35.  Its a pretty decent size and I liked the look.

This is some of our actual “décor” that stays outside and is holding up great since its not in the sun.  The anchor is already one year old (from Kirklands) and still looks brand new.  The sail boat and fish came from Marshalls.  The outdoor Palm tree lamp (with coconut lightbulbs!) was a garage sale find! We scored two of them for super cheap!  This décor is sitting on a large teak wood bar that we bought from ACE Hardware. We use it as a TV console since we already have a TIKI bar, also from ACE Hardware.

The are my favorite pots EVER!  I literally have 5 of these.  They are HUGE, heavy and hold up outside awesome!  Home Depot carries them every year and they cost $19!

This dark stained cooler chest is something we get a lot of compliments on.  It came from ACE Hardware.  It also stays under our lanai so it has been protected from the sun and still looks great.  The rest of our patio furniture sits out in the sun and every Sunday evening we bring the cushions under the lanai roof.  This is helping prolong their life but they are still fading.

You live and you learn. I’ve learned unless I want to buy all new patio décor each year I need to keep things out of the sunlight! 🙂

xoxo

Tracy