# Forum Home Renovation Pergolas, Gazebos, Strombellas & Rotundas  Ideas to improve this patio enclosure

## Tribble

We've recently bought a house where a patio was built on the back. I think it looks rather amateurish the way it was finished and wondering if anyone had any ideas on what to do to make it looked more professional and finished. 
Here is a photo.

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## Tribble

So you think it looks good as it is? 
Well except for missing the beer fridge, pool table, etc.. :Biggrin:

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## Black Cat

You must have blooming big mozzies to justify all that expense!! I would be adding quite a bit of greenery in pots both around the edges and to divide it up into 'rooms' for private seating etc. How do you run a barby in a totally enclosed patio? Maybe you need to add an exhaust fan and gas cook-top to the list.

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## Tribble

Well good thing it was there when we bought the place. 
I would never run a bbq in an enclosed area like that. I don't want to burn my house down or die of CO poisoning. 
I am thinking the light fixtures could be changed. 
I think I just don't like paneling. It reminds me too much of the 70s and burnt orange shag carpet.

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## Black Cat

Nothing  a coat of paint won't fix.

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## Allen James

. .   

> We've recently bought a house where a patio was built on the back. I think it looks rather amateurish the way it was finished and wondering if anyone had any ideas on what to do to make it looked more professional and finished.

   You could stain the wood veneer panels with a darker, redder colour, and put in some window tinting.  If the floor covering then matched the panels, with a dark grey, reddish surface (tiles, carpet, or whatever), this is what it would roughly look like: .
.  . The tinting is expensive, but the rest isn't too bad if you do it yourself. .
.
.

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## Tribble

> . . 
> [COLOR=black][FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]You could stain the wood veneer panels with a darker, redder colour, and put in some window tinting.  If the floor covering then matched the panels, with a dark grey, reddish surface (tiles, carpet, or whatever), this is what it would roughly look like:
> [COLOR=#ffffff].
> .
> ]

  I like what you did with this. Great idea. 
What did you use to change the photo? Photoshop? 
Cheers

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## Allen James

> I like what you did with this. Great idea. 
> What did you use to change the photo? Photoshop? 
> Cheers

  Thanks. 
I do use Photoshop for very complex stuff, but for most work I use Xara.  It's a graphics program made in England, and very nifty.  www.xara.com 
It lets you do things very quickly, once you learn it.   
Good luck with your renovations.

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## Tribble

Ok here is my sad attempt in photoshop. Slate floors white white or lighter colored walls. Get rid of the flourescent light fixtures and add 2 or 3 ceiling fans. Drywall ceiling to white. 
Other picture is the finished look idea.

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## Allen James

.  

> Ok here is my sad attempt in photoshop. Slate floors white white or lighter colored walls. Get rid of the flourescent light fixtures and add 2 or 3 ceiling fans. Drywall ceiling to white. 
> Other picture is the finished look idea.

  I like the slate floors, the lights (with fans), and plasterboard ceilings ideas, but I'm not sure about painting the timber panels white.  They mark easily, and little things (spiders, ants, cobwebs, finger marks, shoe marks, etc) show up very clearly. .
Nice job with the photoshop!   :2thumbsup:  . . .

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## Tribble

> . 
> I like the slate floors, the lights (with fans), and plasterboard ceilings ideas, but I'm not sure about painting the timber panels white.  They mark easily, and little things (spiders, ants, cobwebs, finger marks, shoe marks, etc) show up very clearly. .
> Nice job with the photoshop!   . . .

  Thanks. I see what you mean if it is completely white. 
Do you know what the material is called they used for the ceiling? They put that in a bedroom they added on to the house too.

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## Allen James

. .   

> Thanks. I see what you mean if it is completely white.

    

> Do you know what the material is called they used for the ceiling? They put that in a bedroom they added on to the house too.

   I know they use fibre ceiling panels for suspended ceilings, but Im not sure if yours is hanging.  Still, it may be some kind of fibre ceiling panel.  Is it soft and fibrous, or like cork, or is it fairly hard?  Does your fingernail easily dent it? . Are you able to remove these panels?  Do they lift up when you push them from below?  What kind of roof space do you have above?  Have you looked up there, or is it only a few centimeters depth? . If you could take the panels down, I wonder what would happen if you sprayed them with acrylic ceiling white, and then put them back up.  Maybe you could experiment on one, to find out. .
.
.

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## Tribble

> . .  I know they use fibre ceiling panels for suspended ceilings, but Im not sure if yours is hanging.  Still, it may be some kind of fibre ceiling panel.  Is it soft and fibrous, or like cork, or is it fairly hard?  Does your fingernail easily dent it? . Are you able to remove these panels?  Do they lift up when you push them from below?  What kind of roof space do you have above?  Have you looked up there, or is it only a few centimeters depth? . If you could take the panels down, I wonder what would happen if you sprayed them with acrylic ceiling white, and then put them back up.  Maybe you could experiment on one, to find out. .
> .
> .

  We have settlement on the house next week so I will find out these things then.

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