Power Tools Rater: Budget-Friendly Outdoor Dining Space with IKEA Furniture

This post is sponsored by our very favorite budget-saving brand ever: IKEA. All opinions are our own.

I don’t know about you, but I am ready for summer to begin! It’s funny, we had REALLY mild weather til the end of February. About that time, we started feeling like, yes, winter is over. Psych… it has been snowing, raining, hailing and you name it since then up until last week. So- I am READY to get outdoors and really welcome the summer.

In preparation for this season, we invited a group of bloggers to join us for an Outdoor DIY Challenge (see more here) — and we have been working on our patio. We showed you how we fixed the concrete on our 40 year old covered patio, and it was the perfect foundation for setting up an outdoor dining space! We filmed everything, and I mean a whole month of cleaning, painting, assembling, sewing, staging and all that jazz- but it is finally done. So you must watch the video below to see how our covered patio became a cozy outdoor dining space below, and keep watching to see all the other amazing Outdoor DIY Challenge projects, too!

Covered Patio to Outdoor Dining Room Transformation

First things first, every good after has to start with a before or two. When we bought the house:

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 10

After a long winter;

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 12

Cleaned off and ready to repair the concrete:

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 13

To help plan the space (and inspired by Dawn’s amazing virtual makeovers), I came up with a couple of Photoshop options. First I thought I’d try a dark wall since I’m really happy with it inside, for our fireplace, but ultimately I decided it was too boring for outside…

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 15

So we chose to match the bright green TEODORES chairs! (You might recognize the color from our wooden block art that hung here until we rearranged).

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 14

Painting the walls… We gave the left wall a couple coats of bright white paint and the back wall is a Glidden color called “Bright Teal Surprise” that we had color-matched to BEHR Ultra Exterior in satin. It’s the perfect name (surprise!) and I LOVE the color. We are avid Disney fans and try to visit Disneyworld when possible and this bright color reminds me of Florida. I could use a little more Florida in my life!

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 16

To see all the action of painting, installing, arranging, and decorating, check out the video, and if you want to see the after, well here you go! I’m so pleased with how the space came together.

Products we used in our patio space:

The ÄPPLARÖ drop-leaf table gives plenty of space for our family or when we have friends or family over — we have 8 TEODORES chairs at the table, but we could fit one more in on each end for kiddos if we have a full house.

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 10

The white VIVAN curtains, which I hemmed to length and hung on a set of HUGAD rods with BETYDLIG brackets (see the video to see how we connected the shorter rods to be the length we needed), are such an affordable option to make this space feel really elegant and comfortable, and also give us great options for controlling the light as the sun sets. And I love the vibrant black and white of the LAPPLJUNG RUTA rug! It makes the fresh clean-slate painted concrete floor look that much better, in my opinion.

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 20

The REGOLIT pendant lamp shades are a great option for adding a large-scale element without being heavy or difficult to hang. And, bonus, they do a pretty good camouflage job on our not-yet-updated ceiling fan.

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 19

This view makes me SO happy! The RAVENEA Majesty palms (in MUSKOT pots) are perfect for adding to the Florida vibe.

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 17

The bright green TEODORES chairs are wonderful — bold and colorful for a statement, but pretty comfortable and easy to clean for real-world living.

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 16

The ASKHOLMEN trellis works double duty, adding a spot for some FEJKA plants for greenery while holding our SOMMAR 2018 BBQ spatula, fork, and tongs conveniently above the grill.

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 15

We added a black and white striped table runner, which really makes the white dishware, like our favorite classic white SOCKERÄRT pitcher, and turquoise/aqua accents pop in a fun modern way — the colorful SÖTVATTEN straws are always a favorite at our house, and the bright blue aqua of the SOMMAR 2018 tealight lantern is perfect for summer! Some trailing FEJKA plants add some greenery to the tablescape in the easiest way.

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 14

And the BJURSTA drop-down table makes the perfect outdoor serving bar — we actually used two together to create a longer bar area. Right now it’s loaded up with pretty FEJKA thyme, rosemary, and daisy plants in white MUSKOT and turquoise and dark turquoise PAPAJA pots and a the perfect miniature SOCKER watering can, but just imagine it all filled up with BBQ fixings or ice cream sundae toppings… THAT is summer! The super affordable FISKBO frames (watch for another project using those soon!) above the bar are holding the TRILLING shine bright print series, but they are so easy to swap out for a different print or even a menu for the meal, if we get to feeling a little fancy.

Outdoor Dining Room With IKEA Furniture @Remodelaholic 11

We are in love with our updated space and so excited to get plenty of use out of our covered patio this summer. We may never eat indoors again!

To see our last IKEA before-and-after, check out our updated entry! And don’t forget to check out the other Outdoor DIY Challenge projects here, too: