How We Transformed Our Small Backyard Into Extra Living Space - Blushing Bungalow

I have been waiting what feels like forever to share this reveal with you, because it has completely changed the way we live in our home. When setting out to design our backyard, I kept coming back to one idea: your living space doesn’t need to end at your back door. When we first purchased our home, the backyard wasn’t living up to its full potential. To be honest with you, we actually considered building an addition onto the house to increase our square footage (what owner of a small home hasn’t had this dream?). But after looking into the cost and considering how the vision would fit into our lifestyle, we realized there was a better solution.

One of our favorite things about Florida is that we can enjoy the outdoors pretty much all year round, so our desire for livable space became less about “more house” and more about using the space we already had. So we extended our living space outward into the backyard, and I honestly can’t believe we didn’t do it sooner. The result? A home that feels nearly twice as big, a yard we actually get to utilize, and a way of living that feels so us.

Let’s rewind, because I think the before is the best part of any reveal. Here’s a peek at what our backyard looked like before!

The goal was to make the backyard feel like a natural extension of our home, instead of a separate space that we just visit. My hope was to create “flow” from the back door to different areas outside that each serve their own purpose: a place to host and gather, a place to cook, a place to x work, and my personal favorite – a place to simply sit and enjoy the outdoors.

Foundation of a great backyard: the deck

This back deck is the heart of it all, and really the base of the whole design. The deck extends directly from the back door and provides all the space we needed for an outdoor kitchen, dining area, outdoor “living room” and more. It serves as the foundation for the pergola and it was an essential first step to making the backyard more livable. A Florida landscape can be notoriously sandy with rough grass, which is nowhere near as inviting as stepping out your back door onto a clean, comfortable deck. I love the grounding, dark color we chose and a major bonus is how the composite decking boards have really withstood the sun and rain over the years.

Just for scale, here is how far the deck comes off the house and how much more square footage it gives us in the backyard!

The pergola

If you live anywhere in a southern climate like we do, you understand that shade is everything. This custom pergola gives us tons of flexibility with the retractable louvers to allow more or less sunshine depending on the weather which is always changing here. We love that we’re able to stay dry while enjoying the summer storms and also cool through the heat with three large overhead fans (also essential to keep the bugs away). There’s another great aspect of this pergola I wasn’t expecting – it gives the outdoor “rooms” a ceiling, defining the space and making it feel like an extension of the house.

Nestled between the deck and the pergola is the dining and living area furniture that bring the space to life. I knew I wanted to have a generous-sized table to seat plenty of company. I added fun, printed dining chairs (à la Blushing Bungalow), and a bench on one side that tucks underneath to give more walking space. The seating area next door is oh-so-inviting, with a great couch for lounging and a modern coffee table to hold drinks and snacks amongst great conversation.

The black wicker couch and chair set along with the dining table are all from City Home! Here are a few other pieces I considered:

Shop Similar Looks

The outdoor kitchen

Not to be dramatic, but this outdoor kitchen literally changed our lives. If you have a small kitchen you know how difficult and messy cooking can get between the smoke and the grease… But with this addition to our backyard, we moved so many of our meal preparations out back. It’s amazing for both entertaining and weeknight dinners and is so beautiful with the crisp white shiplap and stone countertops – truly bringing luxury to the great outdoors.

Kamado Ceramic Grill | OUTDOOR DINING CHAIRS

Between a flat-top grill, traditional grill, mini fridge, extra garbage (which is seriously more handy than you’d think) and our new pizza oven, this outdoor kitchen has become one of the most used “rooms” of our home

The Airstream

The airstream has its own history, a tale for another day… but you might be curious about its purpose in the backyard. When we were considering an addition to the house, one element we really wanted was to add an extra room onto our two bedroom, one bathroom bungalow so guests have a place to stay comfortably. So we got creative and transformed this vintage airstream into a fully separate living space complete with a custom couch and dining area, kitchen, bathroom, closet and spacious sleeping quarters.

It also doubles as a cozy hangout and a home away from home for travel which will be so fun as a family. It adds so much more character than a spare bedroom ever could and acts as a wall where it lives alongside the deck creating a cozy, private feel for the outdoor seating area.

a backyard office

Another area we just couldn’t find space for in the house was a dedicated office which is really important to us. If you’re anything like me, I really need to escape to get a good deal of work done. It feels impossible for me to look at the dishes in the sink from the couch and get into work mode… and without an extra room in the house I was struggling with that. So yet again, we took it to the backyard! Building this custom shed has been a game changer. I get to step out to work, into a really sweet space that I decorated to feel like just another room of the house, and that separation makes a world of difference. Plus, did I mention it has a pull-out couch for company? If you were counting, that’s two guest bedrooms and no extra square footage.

Coastal florida landscaping

One thing that doesn’t get enough credit? Landscaping. Of course the furniture and decor make the space feel finished, but it’s the layers of native greenery that really bring everything to life. Without them, the deck and outdoor kitchen wouldn’t feel quite as inviting. While I have a deep love for everything DIY, this yard has revealed to me that professional landscaping is truly worth it sometimes.

A few tall palms around the pergola naturally draw your eye upward, emphasizing its height and making it feel even more like a paradise within our own yard. Surrounding the deck, we opted for lower-growing grasses and shrubs. This creates a soft transition between the deck and surrounding yard which really helps the whole structure feel like it belongs. The perimeter of the yard mirrors this same design, with lush tropical plants almost everywhere you look which accomplishes that resort-like feeling I was going for.

We also did some other exterior improvements lately that deserve their own conversation, but I couldn’t help mentioning it here. While spending so much time in the backyard, we started wanting to really complete the entire outside of the house which of course led to a total home makeover. Think new paint, new roof… the works! A standing seam metal roof paired with copper gutters and Bahama shutters against this warm paint color gave our curb appeal a total transformation. We’ll save that deep dive for another post!

garden (coming soon!)

I won’t pretend this one is finished because it isn’t, but I can’t not tell you about it! The garden area is our next chapter out here: a space to grow things, get our hands in the dirt, and add one more way to actually live in our backyard. I have a lot to learn when it comes to Florida gardening but my vision is to nurture a little kitchen garden out here with some of our favorite vegetables. I’m already daydreaming about flowing between the outdoor kitchen and the garden to whip up some “farm-to-table” meals. Consider this a little preview – more to come.

For a backyard that used to be an afterthought, this has seriously become one of our favorite “rooms” in the whole house – somewhere we work, gather, and unwind, all in one. And with the side yard still to come, the best part is that we’re not even done dreaming yet.

So tell me – if this were your backyard, where would you enjoy your morning coffee: the seating area, the kitchen, or out in the garden?