Home tour – the patio

The patio…  where do I begin?  Well let me start by saying that I had the grandest of plans, the most ambitious of plans, particularly as I embarked on the project seven and a half months pregnant.  And then, if you follow me on instagram you already know, it went horribly, horribly wrong.  I have never been the biggest fan of these grey concrete patio slabs and, following many a late night (read – middle of the night awake with nausea) Pinterest search, I knew that I wanted to go with the kind of tiles that are only possible in a wonderfully dry climate and with a hefty savings account – something like this.  So what was the solution?  Fake it till you make it right?  I enlisted the help of Carrie and we spent ten hours on the hottest day of the year painstakingly recreating beautiful geometric tiles with the aid of homemade stencils and patio paint.  When we finished it was sublime.  And then it rained.  And rained.  And rained.  And my ’tiles’ cracked and flaked and washed away overnight.  At the peak of my despair (aka half painted patio tiles) we borrowed a jet washer and the husband went to town obliterating what remained of our hard work.  And just like that, we were back to square one.

Turns out rather a lot of people had become just as invested as I was in project patio and a few brands, who shall henceforth be known as my ‘patio knights in shining armour’, came to the rescue :

– Made* with a glorious rattan sofa* decked out with soft furnishings to cosy up with and concrete planters to add some details and depth to the scene (by this point I admitted to myself that I had to simply embrace the concrete and work with it and the planters did just that)
– Houseology with the most beautiful bohemian lanterns and cast iron fire pit to add some atmosphere and a set of outdoor dining chairs I love so SO much.  In fact I love them so much that I have commissioned a wooden slab dining table to go along with them but his arrival is TBC so for now they flank the fire pit and offer additional casual seating
– Cotterell & Co. alerted me to the possibility of outdoor rugs to hide my monstrous tiles and I could not have hopped on board that train fast enough.  I went for the aptly named ‘Patio’ rug and have had SO many questions about it, most commonly if it is suitable for leaving outdoors all the time – I bring it in because we just get so much rain in Scotland (enough to wash almost an entire patio away in fact…  still bitter…) but it is certainly durable enough to survive outdoors if you lived down South and were enjoying a reliably dry period
– La Redoute* added the final piece to the puzzle with these wonderful concrete effect side tables.

And between us we created a patio that I really love so much I can almost forget the pain of the most giant DIY fail I have ever experienced…

*Denotes affiliate links

 

ROOM DETAILS

lyra sofa – Made* (gift)
haddie mongolian cushion – Made* (gift)
holden throw – Made (gift)
patio rug – Cotterell & Co (gift)
side tables – La Redoute (gift)
Lene Bjerre lanterns – Houseology (gift)
Garden Trading idbury fire pit – Houseology (gift)
Lene Bjerre chairs – Houseology (gift)
heba planters – Made* (gift) (ON SALE)
hagan planter – Made* (gift)

 

OUTFIT DETAILS

dress – H&M
belt – Zara
jessie boots – LK Bennett (gift)