DIY Follow-Up Friday | The Sage Home Backyard

Room Makeovers

We had to style up the backyard for a shoot, so I thought it would be fun to snap some photos and do a follow-up on the outdoor space at The Sage Home (one of our short-term rentals)! 

For more check-ins on past projects, head to the Follow-Up Friday Highlight in IG. I plan on doing more of these follow-ups on the blog, let me know what else you would like an update on!!

For a brief backstory, this is where this space started, yikes! And when I renovated this house in 2017 I had a deck and fence built out of treated pine. The first version of the backyard is here! And then a few years later, I painted the door Behr Spiced Brandy, got new outdoor furniture, and it looked like this. Since then, we have not made many changes so I’ll run through how the deck/fence/outdoor furniture/painted door/hanging pot wall are all holding up! 

Keep in mind: We live in Wisconsin, and the winters are pretty harsh. So any outdoor space is going to need maintenance every year. Since this is an AirBnB, we try to do as much as possible to make it LOW maintenance.

The Deck

The treated pine deck is by far the most maintenance for a few reasons. One being the Behr Cape Cod Solid grey stain I picked seems to shows all the dirt. There is also a tree overhanging the deck, and if any leaves sit for too long they leave a mark. We restain every other year, and are planning on doing it again with Rustoleum Deck Coat in a little darker charcoal. We have seen success with it on the porch at the Duplex. I will report back on how it works out! 

The Painted Door

Well, I have painted the outside of this aluminum door two times and the inside three times and it definitely needs some touch ups. I think it’s part human error. It’s chipping where I brushed on the paint too thick (spraying or rolling gets a better finish on a door) And the other part is heavy use, like the paint scratches from pups pawing to get out. I am going to touch it up, but in the future I would stay away from painting on a bunch of layers. It’s currently Behr Spiced Brandy in Satin Exterior paint.

We also took down the herb garden because the squirrels would climb on it and dirt would get all over the deck. I replaced it with these hanging planters I got years ago from West Elm, and my favorite faux String of Pearls.

The Fence

The fence is made of treated pine, and they usually say to wait 6 months-1 year before staining treated lumber, but I am impatient. I white-washed it with Behr Pinto White a couple weeks after it went up. If you are going dark, I would not recommend it, but white-washing is pretty forgiving, and I like how it looks as it ages. The fence could use a solid power washing after the Winter (light stain shows dirt more) but overall, still super happy with it! We actually used Pinto White to stain the fence at the Barnhouse too, and it also looks great!

The Hanging Pot Wall

This is my favorite low-maintenance project in the backyard. I hung 6″ pot brackets (similar here) in 2017. It stays up all year long and still looks great! A few years back I painted some terracotta pots with a greige spray paint, because the orange was too bright. I sprayed it on and then blotted it with paper toweling to give it a more aged look. As time has gone on, the paint has chipped a bit more, but I love how it’s naturally wearing. I also gave up on real plants in these pots years ago, and now use faux succulents from Ikea. And they still look great after two years! It’s nice to have that little bit of green in the transition months.

The Outdoor furniture

Two years ago, we did a sponsored post with Article for The Kezia sectional couch, Aeri Slate Gray Lounge chair and Toba Vintage Brown Coffee Table. I have been really impressed with how they have held up! I should also say that we are HARD on it, and they definitely DO NOT recommend leaving it out over the Winter. Which we did (we forgot, oops) and snow piled on it for a few months. The cushions are a little sun bleached, but overall it looks great still. AND it never rusted, which most outdoor furniture seems to do.

We amped up the pillows for the shoot, but usually just keep a couple outdoor ones out all Summer long.

We ended up re-staining the coffee table with a gray stain after stripping off most of the finish with a power washer. But now it looks like new! 

Outdoor rugs usually don’t last more than a season here, but we did take the Target one into the garage for the Winter, and it’s looking great year two.

I think that’s about it, Let me know what else you would like an update on!!