Summer is the perfect time for warm weather get-togethers with friends and family. There’s something about gathering in our own backyard that always creates the fondest memories. Over the past few months our back patio has been under construction, leaving us longing to have people over for a true outdoor entertaining experience. You might remember when I shared the “before” of it in this post. We’d been wanting to re-do this space, which flows right off of our kitchen, ever since we purchased our house almost two years ago! And now the wait is finally over! We are so incredibly excited to share our brand new, beautiful patio landscape with you – a dream vision created by our talented landscape architect, Glen, masonry wizard, Bill, and the yard and garden experts at Lowe’s. We couldn’t be more thrilled with the end results! What was once a dismal cement and dirt space is now a lush garden patio oasis, complete with everything we need for al fresco dining and stylish entertaining just steps from our kitchen.

When Thomas and I entertain outdoors, it almost always includes grilling, which is definitely Thomas’s favorite form of cooking. When we’re home, he’s out on the grill almost every single night. When designing the patio, the location of Thomas’ grills was specifically chosen to be in the main entertaining space – a spot where he could easily transport hot food right off of the grill and onto the plates of our guests. Thomas loves his charcoal grill, but worked with Lowe’s to upgrade his gas grill for this new project. He got this new, sleek stainless steel Weber that fits neatly in the space we had designed. Three burners and warming racks meant Thomas no longer had to run back and forth to the kitchen to cook, and he now has everything he needs for grilling in one place. He can relax and sip a beer or glass of wine with guests while grilling at the same time.

From the beginning, we knew we wanted our backyard space to feel like a natural extension of our home. The new garden terrace is viewable from throughout the house, pulling in all the lush new foliage and garden decor details. We can open-up our glass double french doors and ‘voila’  – our kitchen becomes a part of our patio! Large coral stone and white-washed brick created an inviting step down to the porch. Lowe’s offers a great selection of outdoor patio furniture and decor, and we were able to find some perfect pieces for entertaining. We added a beautiful new teak table that easily seats six or eight with the built-in extension, and two sets of roomy chairs, transformed to a shade of white with Krylon spray paint for just the right look. Navy seat cushions and natural decor brought the color scheme together and made the green garden really pop. Pots filled with delicate blue and white flowers were dotted along the table and patio area, including on the bar cart and teak bench we pulled from our front porch, previously shared in this post.

The table was set with my favorite blue and white dishes to add just the right finishing touch, and an assortment of candles were placed around the patio. Later in the evening, everything really came to life when we turned on the twinkling lights we had strung above the terrace and began to play some of our favorite music. The ambiance was magical, and the urge to dance was hard to resist. Loud chatter and contagious laughter grew into the night, one of my favorite parts of entertaining outdoors and a perfect sign that new memories were in the making.

To recreate our backyard makeover, or for more ideas on how to create an outdoor oasis of your own, visit Lowe’s.

Thank you to Lowe’s for sponsoring this post.