Having a gorgeous backyard doesn’t have to involve your own pool or deck that will completely break the bank. In fact there are several ways that you can make small improvements to your backyard that will go a long way in terms of amping up its appearance.
You can completely glam up your backyard this summer, making it the perfect place to spend warm days outside. You can actually do all of this while hardly spending a penny, by making economical choices and opting for DIY projects over fancy renovations.
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1) Turn Blocks Into Beauty
If you can get your hands on any spare blocks, take the initiative to paint them a colour of your choosing, and they will make the perfect place to do a flower arrangement on. Let your creativity run wild with colours, designs and possible words or phrases you could paste or paint on the blocks.
Having a surface to decorate with fresh, colourful flowers will give your backyard a beautiful summery appearance, and this simple improvement requires minimal effort and expense. This is the perfect solution if you are opting for DIY projects to spice up your environment.
2) DIY Backyard Swings
One idea that will make hanging out in your backyard more fun, especially if you have kids, is to make your own swing to sit and play on. This can be done in several ways depending on what outcome you are hoping to achieve.
To keep it simple, you could make a swing out of an old chair, by removing its legs and using rope to attach it to overhead tree branches. If you want to keep it even simpler, you could reuse an old item such as a skateboard, and turn that into a swing that can be stood or sat on. Alternatively, use an object with a larger surface area, such as a long and wide plank, so that more than one person can be seated on the swing at the same time.
3) Light Up The Night
If you want to create a backyard vibe that is chic, romantic and perfect for entertaining, adding a glow-in-the-dark aspect to your garden is the way to go. If you invest in a few small glowing lights and place them strategically around the area, your garden turns from plain and boring to cool and exciting within moments.
If you decide you would like to save even more, simply collect a few small stones and pebbles and spray them with luminous paint. This is easy to do and you can even make a family activity out of it! Use the little pebbles to decorate the edges of the lawn, around the rims of pot plants and even on top of your garden shed.
4) Connect With Your Community
One surefire way to reduce costs would be to reach out to your community and check if people have any resources they no longer want or need that you could be using in your backyard. Helen from Spare Harvest suggests how to do just that:
“Connect with your community on Spare Harvest to find spare produce and garden resources directly from your community. Unwanted resources like plants, pots, seeds, compost, tips and local knowledge could for free.
Spare Harvest is new and is an online marketplace for foodies and gardeners to share, swap or sell what they have spare in their kitchens and gardens. Sharing hubs can be started in any community by anyone.”
To find out more, check out Spare Harvest on Facebook and Twitter.
5) Bird Baths & Feeders
Adding a bird bath or some bird feeders to your garden adds a fairytale-esque atmosphere as you attract the little creatures to your backyard. There is no need to go out and buy an actual bird bath or feeder, when you can simply reuse things you have laying around the house or garden.
Bird baths can be made from old saucers balanced on stacks of stones, or old chairs. For the latter, simply remove the seat of the chair and replace it with a saucer or deep dish for the birds to play in. For a feeder, the perfect household object would be an old chandelier that you longer use, as it can hang from the ceiling and hold tasty morsels for the little birds.
6) Musical Modifications
Nothing livens up a backyard like a sprinkling of your favourite tunes playing in the background of your conversations. Rather than having to invest in a high-tech speaker system, simply get a small bluetooth speaker so that you can tap into your favourite playlist on your phone whenever you feel like. This the perfect example of a simple product you can purchase to make life in your home and garden way more fun!
Nowadays, you can get conveniently small speakers that will hang from a nearby plant or branch. If you have a pool in your backyard, you may even want to get a waterproof, floating speaker, which will add lots of fun to your summer parties. Whichever option you decide to go with, this small purchase will liven up your backyard and have you bopping along to your favourite songs while you do your gardening.
7) Pot Plant Presentation
A collection of your pot plants arranged in an aesthetic manner can do wonders for the way your backyard looks. If you have little pot plants around the place, gather them together, and if not consider investing in some. Although plant collections are sometimes thought of as expensive and difficult to maintain this does not have to be the case if you choose the type and number with care.
Opt for a majority of succulents and cactus plants, which do not require much effort from their owner to keep them looked after. The splash of green arranged together will add a splash of life to your backyard, particularly if you find an interesting stand or holder to arrange them on (once again try using something you already own instead of going out to buy one!)
8) Choose Colour!
Even with items as simple as metal folding chairs you use when you need extra seats in your backyard, simple modifications can be made to add more colour and make your garden look more interesting. Simple pop open the spray paint cans and get going on creating multi coloured chairs, perfect for entertaining!
You’ll find that this variety provides for greater visual appeal than simply having metal chairs scattered around the lawn. You can opt for uniformity in the colours and patterns you choose, or mix it up and have fun getting creative.
Now that you’ve looked through these affordable but simple ideas, you’re bound to be itching to get started! So have fun turning your backyard from simple and plain to one that is full of character that you can’t wait to show off to your family and friends.
