Patio Deck Makeover : A Family Transformation
A Fresh Deck Patio with a whole new look.
This post is sponsored by The Home Depot!
When I found out The Home Depot wanted to use me as a designer to help a family transform their patio deck, I was overjoyed and excited, but not as excited as I was when I found out that it would all be caught on camera! I have been waiting in excitement to share the deck patio space with you guys and today is the day that I finally get to spill all of the details.
Planning out the Design
A few weeks before filming, I was given all of the details for the patio deck makeover and a little bit of what was expected for production day. I got to hear a little bit about the Lisbon family, some pictures of their space and got to hear how they utilize it. I was tasked to come up with a design that would both transform their space and make it more functional for them as a family.
When I originally saw their patio deck in pictures, I had ideas just running through my head, and after hours of sifting through products I finally narrowed it down to a final design. The Lisbon’s family already had a great patio deck; it just needed a little lovin’. One of the products I chose was this Hampton Bay Patio Umbrella. I have one on my backyard deck (pictured below) and absolutely love it!
I was originally a little worried about some of the design ideas (including the umbrella) because I wasn’t able to actually see the space in person and even with measurements. there's just something different about actually being in the space, but I still had some great ideas that I knew would work.
The Walk-Through
Fast forward to a week or so and it was time to implement the design and start production. The Lisbon family is located in Atlanta, Georgia, so when production day came near, I got to fly out there and finally check out the patio deck. When I got there I immediately realized that my eyes were way too big for the actual space and some of my designs weren’t going to make the cut (like the umbrella, womp, womp), so I quickly started thinking of other ideas that could take the place of some of my other designs. Like I mentioned before, the deck looked really great, but the Lisbon's needed a little help bringing it to life. The first thing I was ready to take down was the wooden board they nailed across the top terrace to hang a bird feeder. I couldn't wait to take that thing down. Luckily, I was able to transform that corner and give them a brand new bird feeder.
Initially, we were supposed to start production four days from the walk-through, so I thought I had time to plan some other ideas but of course, the only day that showed rain was the day we were supposed to start production. After the production company discussed which day would work best, shoot day quickly got changed to the day after the walk-through and everyone kicked into high gear. We started planning store trips to get all of the products ready, the production crew started setting up what they needed and a chill day became a fast-paced one quickly.
I was able to think of some designs quickly that could replace some of my original designs but I was excited to search Home Depot to see what else I could find.
Product Pick-Up
Most of the items I picked out for the Lisbon’s space had been ordered already, but there were several items I purposely left off the list so that I could see them in person and kind of play it by ear. We headed to the closest Home Depot and shopped until we dropped. That Home Depot trip had to be my favorite Home Depot Trip to date, hands down. I had some great shoppers with me and we had an absolute ball.To my surprise, when we walked into Home Depot, the grill I had picked out for the Lisbon Family was front and center in the Outdoor Living area. It was then I knew that I had picked a winner. It looked way better in person and everyone else thought so. We spent five minutes just looking at it and talking about how great it looked.Eventually after drooling over the grill we picked out some other cool items. I was able to find a cool tabletop firepit for the outdoor dining set and we picked out TONS of plants. The Art Department Team helped us get it all loaded up in the truck. I knew at that point that this patio deck makeover was going to look totally different from what the Lisbon's had and probably a lot more than what they were expecting.
Production Day
Production day had arrived and man was it a long fun day. This was my first experience being filmed by a production company and I was like a kid in a candy store. I arrived to the Lisbon's house around 9:00 am and the whole process became surreal when I saw everything that was happening.
They would ask me where things should go and I would point it out and they would get to work. Part of me wanted to get my hands dirty (the builder in me) but I couldn't get too down in the trenches since I was being filmed. But I had a rock star crew to help me bring my design to life.
One of the fun parts about production was getting to present Grandpa Lisbon and Jamila with these monogrammed aprons. Grandpa Lisbon was know to be the "Grillmaster" of the house and Jamila was the "Grillmaster in Training," so we wanted everyone to know. They looked great on them.
After we presented the aprons, we got to enjoy the patio deck makeover a little and just chill out. This day was such a great experience and tons of fun. I was happy that I could come up with a patio deck design that they loved and I also was grateful for the opportunity to meet such a great family.
Now I know you may be thinking "What does the patio deck look like now?" Well don't worry I am spilling all the details over on the Home Depot Blog here. So be sure to go check it out.
Head over to the Home Depot Blog to Check out how I Designed the Lisbons space.
Thanks for reading guys! XOXO, Ashley
I am receiving compensation for the purposes of promoting The Home Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are my own. My post complies with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines.
