Alfresco Transformation & Inspiration

When I look back at the before pictures of our alfresco renovation, I can hardly believe it is the same space!

The planning and designing began, as usual, with Pinterest.  I also took time to think about how I wanted to feel when we used this space and also what function did we want it to provide.

BEFORE IMAGES:

Note the location of the outdoor toilet, compared to the AFTER photo of the alfresco

The look we decided on was a Sunday Session, beachy vibe.  I wanted it to feature, chunky wood framing, honed white concrete, matte black bi-folds, white slat wall, speakers to play beachy tunes, lots of natural light, especially to the inside and cactus – which is the perfect plant for a family friendly alfresco!

The transformation happened slowly, too slowly but we’d had a couple trade hold ups and we had hit a massive renovation brick wall.

Once the bi-folds were installed, we’d gotten to that stage where we didn’t want to spend every night and weekend renovating.  It was all functional and most importantly, there was no dust!  

We had reached that dangerous stage where a renovation is most likely to stall - we got comfortable and slowly, slowly we didn't even really notice we were living in a half-done-reno, although our family reminded us, every time they visited! 

A side note on the bi-fold servery window - I had been intending this window to act as a servery from the kitchen through to the alfresco.  I wanted a seamless Caesarstone bench top, without a track through the bench top.  I had organised a window installer to do the job and then at the last minute realised that they weren't able to install the servery window without the bench top track.  So, it was back to the drawing board.  Luckily, I found The Perth Window and Door Company who were happy to install a top hung door, minus the counter track. I was so relieved as I had rang around to numerous companies who weren't able to do it this way.

Back to the construction site - Finally we realised two things -  i). a whole year had gone by without any progress & ii). I was pregnant with Elliott and I didn’t want to spend those early, lazy post pregnancy days living in a construction site.

We decided to put the tool belts back on and get it finished.

The first step was to get the concrete slab laid – we opted for honed concrete.  Our concrete was supplied by WA Premix and I would highly recommend them if you’re in Western Australia.

Next was the patio.  I knew I wanted a really chunky look with big wooden sleeper beams and a really substantial fascia to the alfresco but without the substantial price tag!

We used Tim Keogh from Perth Precision Construction.  He understood what we wanted straight away and came up with amazing suggestions to help us get the look that we were after.  I loved everything that he did from the big beams, chunky fascia, big boxed out skylights & horizontal panelling.

Once the patio had been constructed, it was time for the finishing touches.  We had planned Elliott’s Christening at our house and luckily we did, as I could feel the "we’re-going-to-take-another-year-off" vibe starting to set in again.  Paul & I both work really well under pressure and it was just what we needed to knock this job off.  We worked until 1am for a week or so to get the painting and final touches all sorted.

We decided to paint the whole area in Dulux Lexicon Quarter which is a bright, crisp white. We originally  tried Lexicon but it gave off a really blue hue so I’m glad we did a lot of test patches!

Another difficult decision was whether to paint one of the walls with Mon Palmer’s collaboration with Bauwerk Lime Wash Paints in Malibu.  Now, I’m a black and white (with a touch of gold) girl, so it took a long time to decide but I’m so glad as it add the pop of colour that this area needs.    

Finally, time for my favourite part – pulling it all together and styling.  I found an outdoor lounge on sale at Segals and ran around Kmart Australia to buy decorator pieces including pots, towel hook, crochet wall hanging, bar stools, cushions, decorative pots and a naughts and crosses game.

AFTER IMAGES:

I hope you enjoyed our before and after images and hope this post gives you inspiration to carry out a renovation or even just a Kmart haul redecoration project at your place.