All photos in this post by Coco of Cococozy

AFTER – My outdoor living room this morning after a neutral tone-it-down makeover as I let my teak furniture weather and go gray (above)

So the other day, I had TE and his son EE over my little tiny cottage in the Hollywood Hills for a late Sunday afternoon visit. It was a lovely day out on my deck on a wonderfully warm afternoon. We listened to music, ate a little snack, and talked. A very nice visit indeed. I really have not been using my outdoor living room lately and this visit reminded me that I had better take advantage of the extra space during the summer months when everything is so pretty in the hills.

A few years back, I did a big deck makeover on my outdoor living room that included staining the deck dark brown, adding in bright colored pillows, a large graphic patterned rug and painting some furniture to match. You can see my previous deck makeover by clicking here.

Last year, I got tired of the bright colors, the white seat cushions had all started to look quite drab and turquoise paint was chipping on accent furniture…so I decided to take everything down a notch and go for a very neutral color palette – colors that would easily withstand the weather (or lack there of) and conditions in the Hollywood Hills. I painted/stained the deck a light gray, got a solid gray rug, had new taupe cushions made for my Brown & Jordan teak furniture, repainted accent furniture to dark green, added a few throw pillows in a neutral shade and called it a day.  Oh I forgot to mention…I used to oil my teak furniture twice a year which was truly a huge pain…now I am letting the teak go gray to lessen the maintenance.

Anyhoooooo…so here is a look at the Before & After of my deck…from drab, to fab, to neutral…

WAY BEFORE –  This photo is from when I first moved into my house  years and years ago, the deck was falling apart, the fence was weathered and because it was my first house, and I was conserving money, the deck stayed like this for about a year!  Notice the tin with palm tree in it! (above)

BEFORE – Hard to maintain but fab. My previous deck makeover  from about 4 years ago involved lots of prints, bright colors, oiled teak furniture and a dark brown deck. Was hard to maintain this pristine cheerful bright look with things naturally getting dirty outside. (above)

AFTER –  This is a photo of my outdoor living room today.  Simple neutral color palette.  Same furniture but letting the teak go gray…different look. May seem a little too subdued but I know I will be able to keep this up without it starting look dirty and tired too quickly. I painted this little table dark hunter green…it was a bright turquoise blue but when the paint started to chip, it looked bad.  This dark green will naturally age much better.

I’ll do another shoot of the whole deck with much better pictures once I have flowers and few more accessories in the mix…these photos were taken on an impromptu whim this morning before work while I was wearing a bathrobe and Converse sneakers and with my hair in a nest on top of my head held together by bobby pins – yes it is true – luckily none of my neighbors saw me in my photo shoot attire!

Happy Wednesday!

xo
Coco