Backyard Porch!

We had a fun and exciting 4th of July. We were a bit exhausted after the project we had embarked on the two days before. When we bought our house it had a silly set up in the backyard. The previous owner had used various pieces of concrete to form a concrete slab.

We have discussed redoing the back porch for awhile but couldn't decided on how to do it. In the beginning of the summer we had a few contractors stop by. Each time we felt the bid was too expensive and would go back to the drawing board. Last Tuesday we decided enough was enough and we ripped out the concrete. We had zero concrete experience and after a little online research we were ready for the challenge. We leveled out the ground and built the forms. Early Wednesday morning we went and rented a concrete mixer and started our porch.

I actually enjoyed the concrete work. One of my goals was to see how inexpensive we could keep the project. Our big expense was the concrete (of course). We bought two yards and rented a mixer for a total of 260$. Once the concrete was set we took the forms off and then we started the landscaping. I went and picked up a truckload of bark and 18 quartz tiles. They are beautiful and have a great shine to them. We spent 100$ at the landscaping store. That included the bark, tiles and a few small plants.

The final part of the project was to build a shade structure. We wanted something to give us shade and to finish of the look. Originally we were going to build a pergola. But earlier in the week I found a metal pergola on sale and had purchased it. It took an hour for the two of us to put it together and it was already painted. 

I love our new porch!

~Chelsea