Over the winter, our back patio turned into a grime-fest to rival the dump truck bumper from Toy Story 3 where Lotso was tied up at the end. Somehow springtime slipped by so fast that I have not had a chance to get out there and clean up the pollen and dirt and dog hair yet.
On Friday night my husband got started pressure washing the pool deck while I set to work on cleaning the grill, windowsills and patio furniture.
Magic Erasers are kinda like that Bill Wither’s song from the ‘70’s.
You just keep on using them until you use them up.
And that’s exactly what I did to several of these magical pads in the course of a few hours. I used them right up. I scrubbed down our patio table and chairs. Then, I tackled the windows. Check out my windowsills. They were so gross. And now? Clean as a whistle, baby.
But the true test? That would be our barbecue grill. This sucker was NASTY. It had years of dirt and pollen and grill-caked grossness on it. I saved this job for Saturday, since I knew it was gonna be a big one. Check out how bad it was before I started cleaning:
Here is how I got it so clean: I rolled the grill out onto the asphalt driveway ( so it wouldn’t stain the concrete with all the sludge that came off of it during cleaning) and set to work cleaning it.
Just sprayed on the Outdoor Pro Cleaner, let it sit for a minute, then wiped off with a magic eraser and rinsed with a hose. Most off the grime came off with that minimal amount of effort, but there were a few really tough stains that needed some extra help. I brought out the steel wool and sprayed more of the Outdoor Pro cleaner on it.
With a bit of elbow grease and steel wool, I was able to remove all of the major stains. Then I cleaned the grates and burner covers with a wire brush and more of the Outdoor Pro, being sure to rinse, rinse, rinse with water. I hosed out the interior and removed all the black sludge that was sitting in the bottom. After that I let it air dry completely in the sun before I reassembled it to keep it from rusting on the inside.
Then I wiped down the entire outside of the grill with a heavy coating of olive oil and buffed it with a few Bounty paper towels. The results speak for themselves! Pretty impressive!
I took our grill from looking like it was bound for the trash dump to looking nearly brand new.
Seriously, can you believe that? There are a few rust spots that aren’t gonna come off no matter how much elbow grease I put into it, but still… it looks a million times better than it did. That Mr. Clean really knows his stuff. I was pretty blown away by it! Talk about the perfect Father’s Day gift. What better way to show your man that you love him than to give his filthy grill a bath and olive oil massage?
My planters got some fresh flowers from the Lowes garden center. Hopefully soon the sweet potato vine will be spilling out all the way to the ground and the bougainvillea vines will crawl all the way up the fence.
You probably haven’t noticed, but we got a new pool liner earlier in the year. The original one was WAY past it’s expiration date, and I love how dark blue the new liner is. Since we switched from Baquacil to chlorine a few summers ago we’ve been buying our pool supplies at Lowes, also. It’s been a huge money saver for us over the local pool supply store.
I’m also a huge fern fan in the summer, and Lowes has a great selection of those. Check out this pretty one my inlaws gave me for Mother’s Day. I stuck him inside of my vintage Carnation milk crate on my back steps.
Our back porch is now ready for a party! Who wants to come over for a cookout and a swim?
If you want to get your back patio ready for outdoor entertaining this summer, too, I have a little surprise to help out with that!
I had this Spring Cleaning Checklist of all the things that needed to be done out there, so I’ve assembled them into a free printable in case you could use it, too.
Click here to download a Patio Spring Cleaning Checklist.
See? I told you it was a lot!
Thanks for sharing – it all looks amazing!
I swear by those magical erasers – lol! I spent an afternoon on our grill last month and it looks brand new too! I also used the eraser on our fencing to get all the mold and moss off – what a difference…
thanks for the great tips,
gena
I love being able to hang out at the beach and having my windows open
My favorite summer past time is swimming and camping. Loved it.
Your grill looks great! Do you like having an outdoor rug? After seeing yours, I’m thinking of getting one.
No school (for the kids) and getting to sleep in!
I love hanging out by the pool during summer.
Sleeping late is my favorite part of summer.
I love being able to spend so much time outdoors with my children in the summer.
I love going to the beach! 🙂
I love the longer daylight hours. You can do/pack more into a day and tackle that “to do list” well into the evening! The flower beds have been weeded once starting the second go-round this week. The patio furniture is out already could use a second cleaning. The flowers are planted, time to relax and watch the sunset!
Thanks for the chance to win.
Robin
rlb143(at)verizon(dot)net
My favorite part about summer is the hot weather and sunshine.
My favorite part of summer is picking fresh veggies from the garden, especially tomatoes!
My favorite part of summer is warm weather and grilling outside.
Some of my favorite parts about summer are barbecuing and eating summer fruit like watermelon and strawberries and spending time with family and going swimming or to the park.
I love to not have to wake up my teen son every weekday, he is so hard to wake up.
My favorite part of summer is going on vacation.
I’m a teacher, so I like that it’s vacation time!
[email protected]
Spending time outside with the family is the best part of my summer.
I love all things water. I am so much happier in the summer because the boys and can to water activities.
My favorite part of summertime is grilling out and enjoying the outdoors with friends and family!
Oh we love swimming! Spend lots of time in the water…..
My favorite part of summer is swimming–pools, lakes, beaches.
Grilling outside
Early mornings with my dogs outside.
My favorite part of summertime is the extra time I get to spend with my kids 🙂
Going to the beach.
My favorite part is swimming and bbqs
doing fun things like trips and going to the beach
Swimming
My favorite part about summertime is spending time with family!
The warm weather and playing tennis!
the feeling of vacation, even when working
Great give away! Thanks for the chance! 🙂
I enjoy the freedom in the summer for more visits with family and friends.
My favorite part of summer is having family and friends over to cook out.
favorite part is going out with the kids to the lake
Those windowsills look amazing! Thanks for the tip!
i love eating fresh picked tomatoes out of our backyard garden
I like watching the flowers bloom
in Corpus Christi – the best summer is winter – because its the perfect temperature – winter texans or snow birds come down here then – those are retirees who want to avoid the winter cold or snow. So at that time my fav thing to do is go to the beach – during actual summer its way way too hot to go outside…i even will burn in winter depending on my medicine right now i get migraines from the heat and sun and our area gets heat warnings regularly. So my fav summer activity is to hang out with my little one cause he’s not in school – going to great summer movies!
My favorite thing about summer is the perfect weather to go swimming.
Being able to spend more time outdoors!
The best part of summer for me is the extra time with my son!!
I love the summer activities! Cookouts, swimming, and plenty of baseball!
My favorite part of summer is gardening!
My favorite part of summertime is the heat!
Thanks for the giveaway…playing with my kids in the pool !
the sunshine!!
That it’s warm enough to go to the beach
I love spending more time with my kids (and not having to get up early to get them to school!)