Flowerbed Turned Patio Makeover for the One Room Challenge

Hello friends! Very excited over here on this cloudy day as I get to share I’m participating in the One Room Challenge!

Check My Other One Room Challenge Posts for this project here:

What is the One Room Challenge?

The One Room Challenge is a semiannual design event that began back in 2011 as a way to keep friends accountable to finish tackling a room in their homes. Since then it’s exploded into a huge deal and takes place every spring and fall. This is the 17th season! What makes this event even better is the media partner is Better Homes and Gardens.

So many amazing DIYers big and small are about to transform spaces in their homes, and I can’t wait to follow along!

What room am I making over you may ask?

This one:

We're taking the One Room Challenge outdoors as we turn our sad rose garden into a front patio area including a water feature and wooden swing.

Thankfully, outdoor areas are considered “rooms” in the ORC.

And I know, it looks . . . sad. But that will just make the after even better. I’d like to introduce you to our new front outdoor patio! That’s right friends, I’m moving from the backyard garden area to the front yard for a new outdoor project!

Travis and I have known for awhile now that we’d be changing this area out. When we purchased our home back in 2017 this space was an overgrown rose garden with a damaged white picket fence.

In its day the roses blooming behind the bright white fence were stunning I’m sure. Sadly, years of neglect from renters who didn’t care to maintain the home left this area in disarray and the roses sick. After a few seasons of trying to revive the roses, I’ve finally thrown in the towel. Everything is coming out, and we’re starting fresh!

Why a patio area instead of another garden?

That’s easy friends! When the spring evenings start too warm, we always seems to migrate out onto our little front porch to sit and chat. Yes, we have the back yard to do that too, but it’s a nice way to connect to the neighbors, waving at them as they take their evening walks .

When I run in the evenings I’ll also find myself sitting on the porch after to cool off, and like clockwork the kids can’t wait to race outside and run laps around the front yard. For some reason the front yard is so much more fun? Even though all their toys are in the back? But I digress . . .

Since our front porch is so tiny, it just seemed natural to improve this area and expand it into a patio.

Inspiration:

Let me introduce you to my friend Jenna’s front patio she just transformed! Isn’t it amazing?!? I mean, wow right? So fresh and modern!

I’m all about the rock and pavers! Isn’t it beautiful? That’s what we’re going to attempt for the bottom of our patio. Below is the mood board for the rest of the project!

Mood Board:

What we want for our patio:

Concrete pavers and pea gravel patio
Wooden swing
Chair
Water feature
Concrete and Ceramic planters
String lighting
Plants

Week One Plan

Dirt removal. Oh friends, there’s a lot of dirt, lava rock, and bark that has been thrown into this area and built it up over the years. It’s time to scrape it all out and get the ground ready for the sand, pavers, and gravel.