Trendy TreeHouse: DIY screened patio

When we bought this house 15 months ago we knew we wanted to make the back patio screened in. The bare bones of a screened patio were already in place. But we don't like to put things on the credit card so we decided to wait until we could pay for the room or supplies in cash. We had a contractor who makes screened patios come and look at the space and give us a rough estimate and it was at that point that we knew this was something we'd have to do ourselves if we ever wanted to get it done. We could not afford the thousands of dollars that the contractor was stating it would cost. Around Christmas time last year we got some pretty nice cash gifts and have put them aside for our screened patio.

Once we had the money we knew we just needed the time (easier said than done). Last year our kids spent a few days with Greg's mom and sister (and niece and nephew) on the family farm and then headed up to Indy with Greg's mom...so we wondered if we could do that again. It all worked out that we'd take the kids to the farm on a Wednesday and then drive to Indy ourselves to join them on a Sunday giving us four days at home without them. I cannot imagine trying to tackle this project with the kids running around. My mom kept Abi during the days so that I could work on another project inside the house.

So, with the help of up to 10 people (but mostly just 4) this room came together in two and a half days!! Now, it's not completely finished because we ran out of money but you better believe we will keep saving and we will eventually get the rest of the space looking like we want it to...like adding a ceiling, painting the concrete floor, etc. I cannot thank the men who came to help enough. They took time out of their busy schedules to help us get this room finished. I think we'd still be working on it without their help! They were kind enough to let me pay them in sandwiches, fruit, pizza and beer (just not all at the same time). So, without further adu...here's the diy screened patio...

Before: this is how the room looked before we started...this isn't how it usually looked. This room is usually filled with toys and a patio table. We were excited to get this project underway!

Framing out the 2ft wall..

Lots of paint to help waterproof the wood a bit.

On day two the screen went up as well as the finishing boards and more paint.

Starting to really take shape!!

On day three doors were hung and more finishing touches were made. We're still not completely done, like I said, but it's functional, livable and I LOVE it!!! It's so fun and nice to not be moving so we can actually do home improvement projects!! And we have some great friends and family who are willing to help us make those dreams a reality!

Another item on our list is to build this area up a little and do some landscaping...the rain water likes to collect near that downspout...so we need to build it up!