Patio/Porch Treatment

Please be patient with me as I learn how to do all this stuff. I write this blog not as a professional, but as a scatter-brained young mother who wants to document that sometimes she had a good idea and sometimes they worked out! Proof for my children that I could accomplish a few of the projects I set out to do!
This first one I am quite proud of. When we first bought this home there was a huge cement pad in the back that to me was wasted space. The people that lived here before us had a hot tub there, but I knew that we would never own one in the future. I have always wanted to build on to the house and turn that into either a family room for the t.v. or a music room/sitting room for me to teach piano. This way I would be away from the main house and could teach in peace and quiet. But I also knew that this would never come to fruition.
One day, while looking at one of my favorite blogs, I stumbled across a tutorial of how a woman painted her patio floor to look like tile. I instantly fell in love and felt that this was the answer to my prayers! The blog is beneathmyheart.com and she has so many wonderful ideas. I encourage you to go there and search for her patio reveal. I found the link off of tipjunkie.com
So, here is my ugly patio space before

and here is sort of the after. While searching for all of my pictures that I had taken I realizes that some of them didn't transfer :(
But it still looks good right? I love how it turned out. I furnished it with a coffee table from my house and a variety of chairs that I purchased at DI and I love this space. I also used painters drop cloths for my curtains just like she did on her blog. I love to sit out there while my children are playing and read a book or just watch them have fun. I love to have social gatherings out there and I'm really happy with how it all turned out.
I liked it so much that I decided to do the same thing to my front porch. However, the color that I had for the backyard did not go well with the red brick in the front. After much deliberation my husband and I decided on a light brown color. Well, I painted it and it didn't look right to me. Here's the solid color before the tape is removed:
So I decided to use a darker brown and use the plastic bag technique. I have never ever used this technique before and it took some getting used to for me. So there are a few spots that make me cringe every time I look at it, but overall it looks pretty good. Here's the texture before and after the tape is removed.


I also painted the posts black like I did in the backyard. I'm not as happy with this as I am the backyard, but it's still a pretty good job for someone like me. I'm not crafty, I hate to paint, and I never come up with my own ideas. But I like to try new things and learn from them for next time. Jsut like taking pictures of my projects in progress for posting later....