I love our deck to feel like an extension of our house: bright, cheery, cozy, colorful, and fun. Because it is outdoors and there is so much natural light, it is the perfect place to experiment with mixing bright and fresh patterns and colors. I like to use lots of white and neutrals (like the brown furniture) to balance out all the hits of color.

Nothing on our deck was very expensive. The furniture in the seating area all came from Jysk. It is a hardwood that I stained a dark brown to match the resin wicker coffee table and side table. We have a dining table that is part of the same series… it also used to be brown but I painted it out white this year (more on that later).

The seat cushions came from Jysk as well and used to be striped blue – I made some new covers for the seat pillows this year using white indoor/outdoor fabric and by following my DIY envelope pillow tutorial.

I also made some new bright throw pillows using the same tutorial; most of them are made with Premier Prints indoor/outdoor fabrics – very inexpensive!

I found the rug on a great sale at Target – it is also an indoor/outdoor rug. It was normally over $60 for the 5×7 and I got it on sale for just over $30. Yay! I love the navy chevron pattern – and it adds a nice soft touch to the deck. Hard to believe that it is designed for outdoors – the instructions even say you can clean it off using a garden hose!

I made the succulent planter out of an old colander last year, and the only new piece on the coffee table is the large blue lantern that I picked up at Target.

I snuck a little bright pink into our pillow scheme this year… I am majorly crushing on pink and coral these days.

Our seating area is on one end of the deck and down the other end is our dining area.

I found this little side table at a garage sale for $2 and freshened it up with a coat of Ocean Breeze spray paint. The X and Y were on clearance at Home Sense for $5 each and I gave them a new look with the same paint. It makes the perfect spot to have some beverages out and ready for guests when they arrive.

A big change this year is the addition of an extra dining table. Last year we had a regular sized outdoor wooden table that seated six and it wasn’t big enough for big family dinners and barbeques. I found the X-style picnic table with two benches at a garage sale for $10. I painted them all out in white, and painted our old outdoor wooden table in white as well. Put end to end, they look like one long table and give us plenty of seating for ten or more.

It is hard to tell from this picture, but the two benches that came with the X-style table run along the outer side of the dining tables. The blue chairs are actually indoor dining chairs that I picked up at the Sally Ann – I fixed them up a little and made them ‘outdoor’ worthy- I will share a little tutorial on how I did that soon. We also had the wicker chairs already but I gave them an update as well… more to come on that too.

My favourite new touch is the addition of some evening lighting this year. I bought two strings of outdoor lighting on sale at Target – they are little round bulbs and they are just about the cutest thing ever. I love the glow that they give; they make it feel like such a fun and cozy space to spend time late into the evening.

Well, I think we are ready to entertain. Good thing, since we have my Dad’s b-day party at our place next weekend. Let’s just hope the warm sunny weather we’ve had lately sticks around.

Have you got your deck or patio ready for summer yet?

Looking for some thrifty ways to deck out your deck?

Pin it to remember it!

Some of my favourite blog friends are sharing more fabulous summery ideas as part of the Summer Celebration Series today…

Here are even more ideas to kick off your summer in style

1. House by Hoff 2. The Happy Housie 3. Migonis Home 4. Lovely Etc. 5. Making Home Base 6. The Blissful Bee 7. Life on Virginia Street

And more amazing bloggers will be sharing their fabulous Summer Inspired ideas all week long…

AND

This Thursday come back to share your summer ideas or find some amazing summer inspiration at the Summer Celebration LINK PARTY!