Backyard Renovation

Backyard Renovation

After spending the past three months locked away indoors avoiding both the coronavirus and a particularly cold spring, summer has finally arrived. In my opinion this is the best time of year in New England. The weather is nice, you can indulged in an outdoor brunch, drink cocktails on restaurant patio or venture to the coast for a beach retreat. All my favorite things: sun, sand and food!

But because of Covid-19, we are forced to enjoy the summer while still staying at a safe distance. RIP to summer barbecues. In an attempt to take back my summer, I decided to renovate my backyard to create an outdoor space to relax.

Unfortunately my backyard was a complete struggle. Here is the proof:

So yeah…I had my work cut out for me. To create an inviting space, I needed to undertake a significant renovation. To begin, I set a budget and started looking at Pinterest for inspiration.

Backyard Plan

I wanted the yard to function as a space for me to relax in the morning with a cup of coffee and at nights while enjoying a glass of wine. As you can see my backyard is quite small so I was limited in the types of furniture I could use that wouldn’t overwhelm the space. I wanted the space to feel tropical and relaxing so I put together a mood board of the ideas I was envisioning.

The main components that I wanted to include in the space were:

  • seating area large enough to fit two to three people comfortably
  • a small table to rest my wine glass (obviously)
  • a rug so I can take my shoes off and relax
  • raised bed or pots for planting all my herbs and veggies
  • an area for grilling all the jerk chicken I will be consuming

I played around with a couple of patio options but ultimately decided to go with a paver stone patio. The DIY-er in me wanted to bust out the work boots and do it myself but lemme tell you, those paver stones are HEAVY! I decided to hire help and believe me, that was one of the best investments I’ve made so far. I love how it turned out. Here’s what it looked like after the patio installation!

Installing the patio was a big improvement, but I still had my work cut out for me. I had to paint all the walls, purchase patio furniture, plant all my herbs/veggies and do some general landscaping.

One of the biggest hurdles I ran into was painting the concrete walls. I did not do enough research when I got started and almost regretted it half way in. Lessons learned while painting: power wash your wall thoroughly, don’t skimp on the primer and invest in solid paint rollers.

Once the painting was done, it was time to furnish my space. I had a budget for this renovation and since the patio installation consumed most of the budget, I had to be frugal in other areas. While shopping around online I couldn’t find anything I liked within my budget, so I decide to make my own and honestly best decision ever. Check out my DIY Patio Chair tutorial. I was able to custom make my chair to my space and it was a fraction of the cost of similar chairs online.

The next step was to landscape and plant my herbs and veggies. To better utilize my space I decided on a DIY Vertical Herb Garden. It’s a beautiful way to display my herbs without taking up too much space in the yard. AND less maintenance than planting in a garden bed. In addition to the herb garden, I built a raised bed for my peppers and green onions and reused some old flower pots for planting my kale, spinach and carrots. I inherited the jumbo flower pots when I purchased my home and initially planned to toss them. But girl, I am very happy that my sister persuaded me not to. They were a great addition to the backyard. I planted my favorite veggies and also laid down grass along the stone walkways.

I absolutely love how my backyard turned out and I stayed within my budget. There are definitely some things I would do differently next time, which mainly relates to resurfacing and painting the concrete retailing walls. But other than that I am very pleased. Check out my reveal pictures and lemme know what you think.

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