Cozy and Neutral Back Deck Refresh Reveal

This post has been a long time coming! But I couldn’t be more excited to share our Back Deck with you today! From what started as a Spring Quarantine project [replacing our old deck boards with composite decking] to our Summer family hangout space and now our mini backyard retreat heading into the Fall! We’ve enjoyed countless nights out here and I can’t wait to show you how it turned out. Today, I’m sharing our Cozy and Neutral Back Deck Refresh Reveal!We didn’t have any idea just how great this little spot was going to serve us when we decided to take the plunge and rip the deck out this past April. We laid Trex composite decking in May and with a mix of old and new pieces, it’s finally complete!!

COZY & NEUTRAL BACK DECK REVEAL 

I shared our Cozy & Neutral Back Deck Refresh Design Board with you and will soon be sharing all the DIY details in case you want to tackle your own deck someday. Ted did an incredible job and I truly couldn’t be happier with the end result.

The deck itself is beautiful and of course I had fun with the styling.

I’ll share a few before photos and then we’ll get to the Afters! I’ll have to dig around for the progress photos, but I promise to have them inserted into this post at some point and then of course in the tutorial post, you’ll see the full process.

COZY & NEUTRAL BACK DECK: THE BEFORE

The old deck boards were deteriorating and fast. When we moved in, we knew we eventually wanted to update the deck, but it wasn’t until this Spring when the boards started to get really bad. Huge chunks were coming up, nails were poking through and it was an overall safety hazard.

It definitely didn’t look the best either. The deck was going to need more than just refinishing them by sanding and staining. The boards were in terrible shape.

The stairs were in really poor condition, too.

Here is a look back at my design board I created to give me doses of inspiration and direction along the way.

I used a lot of what we already had and made it work with a few new touches – notable the new deck boards. Here is where we landed!

COZY & NEUTRAL BACK DECK: THE AFTER

Cozy is a very appropriate description because it really is such a small space! Since we weren’t planning to expand the deck out into the yard, we had to keep our furniture pieces on the smaller side.

We kept our old outdoor sectional from the last house, but had to separate it a bit. Then we replaced the old thin, worn cushions for deep seat cushions this year.

I updated our pillows making sure they filled the back to provide extra comfort.

This pillow has awesome texture.

We snagged the leopard rug I shared in the deck mood board and in this doormat layering ideas post [and a TON of you did also!] and placed a firepit table in the center of the conversation area.

It’s been a great drop zone for drinks, dinners and snacks and then the lid comes off when we want to enjoy a fire at night. I’ve been so incredibly impressed with the quality for the price.

The firepit table is also extremely easy to use – it turns on and off with a the turn of a knob.

I did buy some gorgeous gold glass rocks to swap out for the lava rock, but I had already photographed the deck before I got a chance to put them in. I’m planning to share this space styled for Fall, so I’ll show you the rocks then.

They are so pretty!

We also added a small rattan chair in the corner to provide an extra seat. They came as a set of 2, but since our space is so limited back here, I could only use one. But it fits perfectly! And then I put the other one on the front porch. That space is small, too, but it fits!

I had a cute little thrifted metal table that I give a fresh coat of gold spray paint to each year [except for this year ha!]. You can see it on the old patio at our last home here. It was only a few dollars and it’s held up pretty well for the last 6+ years.

I had leftover flowers and potato vines from doing the front porch planters, so I stuck them in this black and white planter I’ve had for several years. It can easily be moved to the bottom shelf if we need more places to set our drinks down.

I grabbed 2 new planters this season to add some life to the deck. The white one is from Target and the wooden one was a TJ Maxx find! It was my first stop in there since the stores reopened this Summer and I was so giddy to be inside, but even more excited that I found such an enormous planter for under $30! The height is amazing and the warmth and texture it brings to the deck is exactly what I was looking for.

I was eyeing this one and this one, but didn’t like their price tags 😉

The plants were clearance markdowns at Home Depot mid-Summer. I added white Mandeville to old black planters and placed them on top of the columns. Although I love pink and red flowers, I really wanted a completely neutral look back here.

And was so pleasantly surprised at how pretty the white flowers look perched up so high!

The only other element we added was simple lighting.

We installed these rods a couple Summers ago, but came up with a new method for them this year. I’ll share the details on how we hung the light strings later, but it was a much better option than the rope we were using before.

I tried to capture a few shots of how this space looks at night. We absolutely love to sit outside under the lights, listen to music and relax by the fire.

We spend several night per week out here and love that it’s so quaint and cozy.

This space turned out better than I had hoped and I am thrilled to have it completed! A huge thanks to T for taking on the labor and doing such a tremendous job. Even for such a small space, it was a lot of work. He spent many, many hours out here chipping away at his to do list to get everything just right.

But it was well worth it and I know he feels the same way!

Oh! I almost forgot to share the stairs! These are one of my favorite parts. This transformation was the most dramatic.

The small Back Deck Refresh gave us just enough extra living space to be able to enjoy while we’re all home. And I love that we can enjoy it all together!

Hello, blankets and s’mores nights 😉

Here are the sources for most of what you see in the post. I did my best to locate things even if they’re old or sold out. Please let me know if you have any questions at all!

Back Deck Refresh Mood Board sources can be found by clicking the image below.

For more outdoor inspiration, be sure to check out my Full Outdoor Gallery. Front porch ideas, patio inspo, deck ideas and more!