Stepping Outside The Glass Cage

Before starting this renovation, Matt and I completed two other projects at the house. One of these projects was our backyard. When we first moved in, there was a large sunroom that had been added to the back of the house. Here is the original floor plan with the sunroom highlighted in red and a couple pictures.

When we bought the house, Matt and I thought the sunroom was a great feature and had visions of converting it into our own mini Gruene Hall (the oldest Dance Hall in Texas, yee haw!). Unfortunately, the sunroom had no air conditioning and would get super hot in the scorching Texas summers. Also, despite all the windows, the roof in the sunroom was rather low and blocked the natural sunlight from the living room (making the living room quite dark during the day). In addition to the sunroom, there was a large pergola in the backyard. Although it was pretty and made for a great seating area, it was HUGE and took up the majority of the back yard. Between the pergola, trees and bushes, we only had a small 9' by 5' piece of grass in our otherwise decent-size backyard.

So, after about a year, Matt and I decided to remove the sunroom and pergola and replace them with a large patio and grassy area. The patio is divided into an outdoor living room (which will be covered with a pergola to let light though but will also allow us to attach fans for circulation) and an outdoor dining area. Here is the new backyard layout.

Since work keeps me inside so much, I wanted to create an intimate outdoor living space where Matt and I can enjoy the evenings and those few beautiful Houston days when it isn't raining or melt-me hot (I know, you can stop laughing, they do happen every once in a while). The pictures below are what I have been pulling my inspiration from.

These beauties came from here, here and here. I absolutely love the light fixtures, the wood pergolas and just how pretty each of these spaces look. So, with our vision in place, we tackled the project and created the new patio. Here are some sweet demo shots (looks like a bomb went off!) and the ever exciting "After" shot..which always make me giddy like a school girl! We still have to add the pergolas and buy furniture, but we are waiting until we finished the big demo for that.

Now that you are caught-up on the backyard, I am going to reveal the fourth bedroom addition tomorrow! Have a wonderful day!!!