Backyard MAKEOVER Pt. 1

I've posted about this project on Instagram a little bit over the past month and I am so excited to share it with you. For less than $500 (that seems like a lot but keep in mind it's STILL cheaper than buying a new house, amiright?) we've transformed this awkward space into one of the best things about our property. I'll break down my goals for the 'design'; my thought process behind why I did certain things; and also give you a little cost analysis...if for nothing else, so my husband will know what I bang-up job I did finding deals, re-imagining and re-using stuff, and making our money stretch. :)

I'll start off by disclosing...when I say 'backyard'...what I really mean is we have zero YARD space in our BACKYARD. It's completely covered in river rock, has a small square of cement where our hot tub sits, and has an awkward-ly shaped deck area...for reasons I won't totally get into in this blog post, Josh did some minimal construction a couple years ago tearing off a section of our deck and revamping it to prepare to put our hot tub in the area beside our garage and our neighbor was a real big jerk about it...involving lawyers and threatening to sue us (let me reiterate...we were putting OUR hot tub, on OUR property, next to OUR garage...it was all completely absurd) so we dropped the whole idea...put the hot tub on the square cement pad in the middle of our backyard, and called it a day. Leaving the deck in a state of unfinished disarray...causing us a lot of frustration and irritation, unsure of how to move forward with the space.

That was nearly three years ago...to say I'm annoyed with us for wasting three years of our life being discontent and irritated about the state of our backyard is an understatement. But we just honestly didn't know what to do with it. And when we would talk about what we should do with it, we generally disagreed about what we should spend money on to get it to a place where we liked it again...because it technically 'looked' ok...and it technically 'worked' ok the way we used it back then...pre-mobile toddler. So we left it because that was easier than troubleshooting and arguing and spending money when we weren't sure the direction we needed to go.

Flash forward three years...complete panic this spring when I realized our backyard absolutley was NOT going to work for us this summer. I took to calling it a baby death trap. After spending five minutes with Maverick back there, I was able to zero-in on a couple of things that would cause major issues for us if I didn't figure out a good way to fix them. These were my goals for this unexpected project.

For years I've had Josh storing these pallets outside so they could get all gray and weathered...never really knowing what I would use them for some day...TADAAA!

1. SAFETY

The part of the deck I mentioned Josh tore off...yea...I'm talking, there was a 3+ foot drop-off to the gravel ground. Not ideal. We also have exposed steps at the side of our house to walk out to the garage/driveway/13th St...that was NOT going to work. I quickly realized I couldn't come in the house to grab my phone/water/snack/sunglasses/go to the bathroom for even two minutes without fearing for Maverick's safety. I try to be a chill mom most of the time, but this was not going to work long-term, for sure...even with the most diligent discipline and training.

We started by moving the grill to 'block' off the stair opening...easy enough, right? It's taken some getting used to (on our part), but after adding the grill cover (so Mav couldn't get to the buttons and all the nasty charred stuff underneath) that problem was basically solved. I didn't want some sort of permanent 'gate' because it would take longer, cost more, be PERMANENT, and we needed something now. Moving the grill to deter Mav seemed like the best solution. And it's worked like a charm.

The diagonal drop-off was a little harder...I talked with Josh about what we could do to turn that into another 'level' of our deck without doing any permanent, permit-required, deck-building to tick off the neighbor. We decided to stack pallets in that area three-high and now it's way safer AND so much easier to utilize. I plan to cover the pallets (where Mav's little pool sits) with a big, cheap, outdoor rug since he loves climbing in and out...and I don't want any splinters getting in those sweet little feet of his.

I've taken to cutting random sprigs of things from all around our property and poking them in this little cement pot. It's free and it looks cute for a couple days a time. And it's surprising, but that bug candle has worked wonders for us this spring.

2. FUNCTION

We have people here a lot, but we rarely haul everything out to the deck to eat a full meal. Until a few weeks ago we had a large table and six chairs taking up 85% of the surface-area of our deck, but that no longer made as much sense as it did seven years ago. It just wasn't great for a toddler who wants some room to run around and play with his toys (especially when he doesn't have yard space anywhere else for playing).

The first thing I did was find a new/temporary home for that outdoor set to reside until we have room for it again (thanks, mom and dad!). I had dreams of a pallet 'sectional' but simplified that vision a little...we didn't do anything except stack pallets three high, added cushions on top and now we have an outdoor 'couch.' The fencing at the back of our deck acts as the 'back' for me to prop the pillows against, which meant the pallet couch didn't require any amount of 'building.' Just required some transporting from the acreage to our house and then unloading to our backyard (thanks, Josh!).

Those lights are the best thing about this space. It looks downright magical at night.

3. LOW-MAINTENANCE

I wanted Mav to be able to have useful, age appropriate, attention-grabbing toys...and I needed to choose them wisely based on the size of the space. I wanted to keep furniture and 'stuff' minimal so I could easily sweep, pick-up, and entertain.

I got a little caught up with all end tables and decorative accessories on the shelves at Target, but realized I didn't want that much 'stuff' to have to work around. ROOM TO PLAY is what we needed. Right now it's pouring outside and all I had to do was empty Maverick's water table and pool, put them against the house and we're good-to-go (they get super scummy when they're left out and end up making more work for me in the long-run). I'm baby-ing my cushions and pillows until I get them all covered with outdoor, Scotch-Guarded fabric (they're all made of outdoor fabric, but they last sooooo much longer with covers!), so I did move them inside for tonight. Overall...super easy to sweep, keep everything clean, picked up, and organized.

 I found these metal boxes in the shed...apparently they're something Josh uses to store irrigation parts...but these ones were empty and he has 20...so now I use them for height (see below) and to store sunscreen, bugspray, lighters, and extra bubbles. My dad's 'antique' tractor is my favorite part about this picture. ;)

4. PRACTICAL

It's been so easy for me to focus on the stuff I don't like about our backyard area; idealize what other people have for outdoor space; and wish for ways our situation was different. How annoying. After letting all of that go, I was able to get to work with practical ways to make this area work better for our family, which is always the #1 goal. I don't think I've ever been more content with the state of our home and I think that has as much to do with my attitude as it does the hard work I put into re-creating this space, making it function better.

This project needed to be done FAST. It also needed to require zero time/energy/attention from Josh. I can't take things like this on, dig myself a giant hole, and then ask him to finish/fix it. That is never an option....always an important thing for me to remember ;) The footprint of the deck and the general situation of our backyard isn't going to be changing anytime soon so I had to keep that in mind while brainstorming and designing. A lot of times we have people over and they offer friendly, overly-ambitious solutions like..."you should get rid of the rock and plant grass!"...or "tear down the fencing and open part of the yard up!"...yaaaa exactly none of that stuff is going to happen (though Josh DID cut down a tree back here last week, AND gave the rest of our trees a haircut and I'm thrilled about it! I'm already making plans for a rock path to a sandbox and/or playhouse!). So I needed to be realistic and incredibly practical when it came time to re-invent this space without doing anything too drastic.

What started out as an area with NO pots and plants...is where I now have six. Oops.

5. PRETTY

I started by stripping everything away to start with a blank slate. This helped me TREMENDOUSLY with imagining and envisioning what we wanted/needed for our 'new' space. I took EVERYTHING off the deck, power washed the wood decking, bench, and fencing...then spent two days sealing the deck with three cans of Olympic, 3-year-guarantee, natural-colored, oil-based sealant.

Without spending much on the pretty factor...after putting a lot of thought into each individual purchase/decision, I feel like I accomplished that 'pretty' part well. I mixed a little pattern with terra cotta, hunter green, gray pots and cushions, galvanized metal, and weathered wood, and I plan to throw pattern in with a couple accent pillows on the toy storage bench and the pallet couch. The plants I bought really lend themselves to being all the 'decorating' I need...I keep finding spots where I would like to add a couple more here and there, but I need to STOP (FERNS ARE MY EVERYTHING).

Take special note of the oatmeal colored drop cloth stapled to the lattice near Mav's pool/pallet area. That took a LOT of thought, and it might be the thing I'm most proud of. It. Was. Ugly. The lattice/decking piece that's propped there was just something Josh threw up and it's completely crooked. Seriously awful. So instead of complaining about it or even asking him to fix/change it (it has been this way for almost a year), I bought a $10 drop cloth from Lowe's and casually asked Josh where his staple gun was...then went to town. He's certain it won't last long-term, but if it lasts through this summer/fall season, I'm happy with it!

Tomorrow I'll tell you how and where I spent that $500 to totally revamp this backyard space.

MmB

A few more pictures of the process and of Maverick enjoying the fruits of our labor... :)

Re-routing a gutter that was adding some ugly to the backyard situation...totally his idea! But I was weirdly excited it was finally getting done. ;)

I've found Olympic brand paints and stains to be just as good as anything else on the shelf at Lowe's...despite it's significantly lower price point. In case anyone cared.

At 10pm, when I realized I would need another gallon of stain to finish the final 1/4 of the deck. 

This adorable little rug was my reward for finishing the hardwork of power washing and stain/sealing. I've kind of been psyching myself up to do this project for the past eight months, so I needed something to get me to the finish line.

The door from our barn... #swoon

This sweet little buddy is so happy and content to play back here now.

Keeping my ferns on the ground this year instead of hanging them from hooks has helped a TON in keeping the birds from building nests inside and killing them. Nothing makes me madder than spending $12 on something that ends up dying in a week, despite my honest and diligent efforts to keep it alive.

Here's a better shot of that terribly awkward area I've been referencing. Picture those chairs painted a dark gray and my zinnias blooming and you will get my complete vision.

Those cute little scapulas just get me every single time. I love how happy he is about this $10 plastic pool.

There's one of those chairs and end tables (they came with the house) painted cream...that project didn't go as smoothly as my spray painting endeavors typically do, so I don't want to talk about it much. I also added hostas to that landscaped area over the weekend (again, thanks mom and dad!).

Keep your eyes open at Sam's Club for good deals on outdoor stuff. These rugs are a fraction of the price at Sam's Club as compared to Target. And they're a size bigger. I bought this one last year, but they do have similar rugs out this year.

These four little cuties were the motivation behind the new design and color scheme of our backyard. I love their natural summer colors and how classic terracotta, greenery, and chalkboard stands out against a woodgrain backdrop. A modern twist on everything I love about summer, I just didn't realize it until a month ago.