{wish list wednesday} nottingham patio furniture and fire pit

I think we have made it pretty apparent that we are working on the house here at West Street in order to improve it for sale.  We bought the house because it had so much potential for improvements, but our ultimate {forever home} goal is to purchase a farm somewhere {location: TBD}.  West Street, and its improvements, is part of our investment towards this goal {hopefully, come on housing market, otherwise West Street will become our forever home!}.

After the kitchen is done, our house will be due for an appraisal per our building permit with the city.  We are cautiously optimistic as this appraisal will give us a small look into what we might be able to afford when it comes time to buy a 40+ acre farm {which we are hoping to do sometime in the next couple of years}.  With that being said, we are actually trying to improve some of the landscaping now, before finalizing the kitchen, in hopes this will aide in our appraisal.

Our lawn is definitely one of the smallest {if not THE smallest} on our city block.  However, it definitely has the potential to become a very “cozy” hangout and play area.

This past fall, one of the big steps we took towards “growing” the backyard was removing the giant tree house that was previously sitting in the middle of the “livable” space.

This summer we are going to try and get grass to grow where the sandpit under the tree house used to be and we are working towards improving some of the current flower beds and borders.

I have been DYING to get some patio furniture so that I can enjoy a bit of sunshine while doing some work, but didn’t want to plop nice patio furniture down in a grassy area where it will sink in and {since our lawn isn’t necessarily level to the universe} sit slightly slanted.

Graham and I agreed it is time….we are going to start the process for a quaint little patio area that will house patio furniture and our grill.  We also want to make an area for a firepit.  We inherited a small portable charcoal grill that was being used as the fire “pit” by the previous owners, however, anytime we use it, we kill the grass.  So, we figured it was time to lay down some pavers and make the spot an intentional one for a fire rather than a constant sore spot in the middle of our lawn.

I have had a hard time saying “yes” to a patio table.  We have two chairs which we bought with a teeny-tiny side table for when we lived in our last apartment {just prior to West Street}.  I am bound and determined to see if I cannot find a good match to those chairs {if not the SAME chairs} rather than purchase four all new chairs.  So, I wanted to find a table that I not only liked the look of, but would fit well with our current chairs.

{ photo from Menards.com }

I finally found the table; it is at Menards.  It is their Nottingham dining table.  The table top features a beautiful dark brown stone and I love the curved frame.  It fits four chairs, which is the perfect size for our backyard.  We will also have the option for an umbrella later on.  The chairs that match this set are also gorgeous, but again, trying not to have to buy ALL new chairs. 

So, I have added this table to my wish list for the backyard.  We are going to wait to buy it and see if it goes on sale while we work on getting patio pavers down, however.

We are also looking at a fire pit, something similar to this {also at Menards}:

{ photo from Menards.com }

So I ask all of you:  Any tips or advice when it comes to patio furniture and firepits?  What have you liked/disliked about the ones you own?

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