It’s nearly mid November here in Orillia, Ontario, Canada and while most of the leaves have already fallen, mother nature gifted us an amazing week of weather so we could make some major progress on our outdoor dining/living area.

It’s Week 4 of the Better Homes & Gardens One Room Challenge and although we ran into rain (and snow) delays with our outdoor patio, I spent the past week purchasing all of the trees, shrubs and perennials for the last step of our project - our gardens.

It’s already Week 3 of the Better Homes & Gardens One Room Challenge and after Week 1 and Week 2 we’re making slow but steady progress on the backyard patio. I learned very quickly that building a stone patio is very similar to painting - about 90% prep!

It’s Week 2 of the Better Homes and Gardens One Room Challenge and we are in the demo phase of Grant’s backyard. While the tough work is underway on the outside, we’re finalizing our design direction from the warmth of the inside to provide a seamless transition from the inside out.

Here we go again! It’s Week 1 of the Better Homes and Gardens One Room Challenge and over the next few weeks we’ll be transforming Grant’s backyard! We spent most of the summer in the backyard - really living in the space. We would spend hours each night at the patio table eating dinner and talking until the sun went down and now that it’s a little cooler we’ve been lighting a fire to extend the season. Over the next 5 weeks we’re hoping to work around the weather and give this space some love.