Plans for my Backyard!

Hello all! As we are nearing Spring, I’m excited to finally be tackling my backyard! It’s been a little bit of an eyesore since I bought my house, and I haven’t done anything with it since. 1, because I wasn’t sure what I could do to it, and 2, I was more focused on some of my indoor projects. But I’m finally ready to at least give it a little more life, and my goal is to have it usable by time April comes!

One of the biggest problems with it, is it has a HUGE tree in the backyard. So big that the roots cover everything and make it almost impossible to grow anything. Anyone has a solution to this please comment below! I wanted to dump a bunch of dirt back there to at least even out the ground, but I was told the dirt will eventually wash down because it’s on a slope. So for now, I at least have a plan for the porch! Here is the current state below after I recently power washed it! If you guys haven’t ever power washed it makes a world of a difference and prepped the porch!

So that’s where I’m starting: the patio. Below is a moodboard of kind of what I want to be doing with my backyard.

1. Lounge Furniture

Along with the patio dining set, I want a place where I can also just lounge by the firepit if I wanted. Some chairs like these look perfect for doing just that!

2. Build a Firepit

I haven’t decided where I should put the fireplace yet, but I’ve been looking at options to build one! There’s a lot of cheap tutorials out there where you can make one of your own for $40!

3. Fill with plants

The plant beds have absolutely nothing in them right now, so the goal is to find cheap, but effective and low maintenance plants I can fill them in with that will add a lot of dimension to the porch and make it feel more alive. I found this article on Country Living that lists a lot of great options if you’re looking for low maintenance greenery.

4. Dining set

We can’t have dinner parties without a table! Target has a lot of great options and I loved this one from Opalhouse. I’m not sold on any one set yet, but liked the warm colors of it.

5. String Lights

I plan to create a “ceiling” of sorts over the patio to add some ambient light at night and make it feel more inviting to hang out back there even after hours!

6. Vine wall

This won’t be on the patio, but next to it. The back of my house has a blank wall similar to the picture, and I think it would be the perfect place to add a vine wall!

7. Paint the plant beds

Though it’s not on the moodboards, I’m going the paint the cinder blocks black. I’ve known I wanted to paint the plant beds since I bought the house, but they were much too gross. My parents recently bought a pressure washer, so I took advantage of the opportunity to use it on the porch and has made a world of a difference! They’re clean enough now that I can paint them, so I bought black exterior mold resistant paint and that is the first step.

So those are my first steps! Later we will tackle the yard, but I’m going to start with the patio first! In the meantime, if you’re a landscape architect, or just have some good ideas, feel free to share those with me! Landscape design is not my forte!

Happy One Year in my House! +Before & Afters

Picture taken right after I laid new sod.

Happy One year anniversary in my house! It’s been a whirlwind and I can’t believe it has already been a year! I’ve gotten a lot done and there is still so much to do! I'll share some before and afters of the exterior since I’ve bought the house and what shape it is in today. Let me tell you it’s hard work maintaining the outside of a house! You don’t think about replenishing mulch, keeping the new sod healthy and watered, pruning the plants, keeps the porch clean, it’s a LOT of work, especially if you’re trying to DIY it. Today to kick off my first post on the blog I’m just going to be sharing the outside of the house and the stages it has gone through in the last year, as well as my plans for the future!

Before and Afters

As you can see, today the plants we put in have grown so much! I plan to prune some of these to keep them healthy and not get too overgrown. I obviously can’t keep a plant alive in those pots though so if you have any suggestions comment below! I love the fall look on the porch though! And you can also see the fencing material the previous owners used to make shutters are not holding up, so that is my next project!

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The Porch

Here’s a little up close of the porch! I’m loving the fall vibe! Of course my dead plants aren’t the prettiest, but I finally got some lanterns to dress it up!

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What’s Next

There’s still a lot I want to do for the outside! So I’m gonna list out a couple things that I plan to do this next year to the front!

• Make new shutters - These ones were made with fencing wood (what!?!) so I plan to make nice and sturdy new ones that will withstand weathering and are meant to be shutters.

• New front door - While this one is okay, it has a hard time closing right and has an outdated window, so I look forward to replacing it soon!

• New Light fixture - I want something that is a little more modern and fits my aesthetic a little more. I’ve found some great ones that are super cheap you can check out here!

• Plants - We planted these right when I moved in, but we have ignored the sides of the house that still look overgrown and not pretty, so I plan to tear those out and replace it with a nicer looking plants and to clean it up a bit.

I hope you enjoyed a little look in this last year, and I’m excited to start sharing more in depth looks into my house and my DIY projects! Comment below any projects you suggest or want to see me do outside!