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One year ago, we moved to this home and I remember the pool safety fence was our first purchase. I did a whole post on that here if you are interested in hearing more.
Since adding the fence, we worked for months to paint, decorate and make our porch and pool area as nice as possible for making summer memories. I am really happy with it. It’s usable, safe, and comfortable. It’s easy to keep clean and the plants are simple to care for. I will be honest and say that in future years, I hope to level it up even more. This year, we spent most of our budget on practical things like getting our pool upgraded to modern technology (the tech was from the ’90s and had never been upgraded, and then it broke so we had to upgrade it), adding the safety fence, painting brick, and basic landscaping. I like the idea of doing a few updates to the outdoor space each year! Next year, I think we will add the swing set our kiddos have been asking for. I have a long list of future ideas, but at the moment we are enjoying it 100% every single day!
Anyway … let’s get started. Here’s a “before” photo:
When we purchased the home, the pool area was one of the biggest draws. It was not kept up well so it needed a lot of maintenance immediately. I won’t bore you with the pool equipment stories, but how about some mosquito problem stories? Haha.
Whenever I show this angle people always ask me if we are “keeping” the columns. What else would you do? (I’m genuinely curious what you would do!). 
Here’s the pool from all different angles. It’s pretty tricky to photograph with the fence installed. I honestly think it looks a lot better in person than in photos, but that’s OK! I really like the waterfall part of our pool. It goes from the hot tub to the pool. It makes a really nice sound that we can hear whenever we go outside. It’s very peaceful.
On the other side of the fence we have a dining table and chairs. We eat outside quite a bit. Just this past weekend, my dad finished installing our new grill (shout out to my dad—our plumber couldn’t even figure out how to fix it. Dads are magic!) and we had our first grilled meal. It felt so nostalgic and summery!
Our biggest FUN splurge was our wood fired pizza oven. I wasn’t sure which one to get, so I got one recommend by a friend (that’s always my go-to move!). It took a few months and some practice, but our pizzas are getting better and better! I think they are starting to be comparable to a restaurant pizza.
We have SO much fun doing it. We normally make pizza every Friday night—it’s our new weekend kickoff tradition.
The other big splurge was this hanging chair. It’s magical! This little covered area is right off our breakfast nook and it’s covered, so it feels like an indoor/outdoor space (not sure if that makes sense—I just mean you can easily go in and out). Our kids really like to make s’mores, so it’s nice to have the fire table right there as well. I placed two rugs together to create the look of one long rug to work for this space.
Sources: Pool Chairs / Cushions / Similar Outdoor Umbrella / Striped Rugs / Fire Pit Table / Driftwood Table / Wicker Chairs / Pink Chairs / Tablecloth / White Hanging Chair / Faux Trees (most of the trees are fake!) / Swan Pool Float / Pizza Oven
Thank you SO much for reading. If you have any questions, just let me know in the comments! xx- Elsie
Credits//Author: Elsie Larson. Photography: Amber Kelly. Project Assistant: Collin DuPree.
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