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My back yard looks pretty much the same since I purchased it (see photos of our one and only improvement to date here). And, I honestly have NO idea what to do with it.
View from the sliding glass door
Sad, sad patio
As summer approaches, I realize how much I’d like to have a lovely backyard area for entertaining. Should I put in pavers, Young House Love style?
I really love the idea of a fire pit. It would likely go somewhere around here (warning – I’m not a photoshop expert to make this look legit):
Alas, I have very tall pine trees (and therefore pine needles) to deal with. The other morning, I received a note on my mailbox with contact info for a tree removal service. In this economy, I find that there are a LOT of these types of soliciting materials floating around. Which is great – it’s good to know I can get local people and probably a decent price, but does anyone else feel a little self-conscious (house-conscious?) when these are tagged on your front door? Ok, I get it. My lawn is a mess, thank you Mr.-Lawn-Service-Ad guy. My trees need attention, thank you for letting me know. My siding could use some work. Sheesh, I got it!
There simply isn’t enough time in the day to take care of everything while I’m still trying to manage the inside of the house (I’ve got my work cut out for me – see the House Tour for a peek). Still, I can daydream of a beautiful new gas grill:
And a lovely patio set:
But, before I get to add, I’ve got things that need to be removed. For instance, I have an U-G-L-Y bird fountain thing that the previous owner must have decided was too perfectly matching the ugly state of the house to get rid of.
My solution? This baby’s going on Craigslist, free for anyone willing to haul it away. I’ve heard that you can do the same with plants as well, so I’ll probably put my overgrown plants (and maybe a bush or two) on there to see if anyone is willing to get rid of it for me. Free labor!
Has anyone else had success with giving away things on Craigslist? I’m a bit hestitant to give away too much info, so since we’re not at home during the workweek, I’m limiting it to weekend giveaways only. Any tips?
Oh my. Well, at least your patio didn't come with 5″ of dirt and rocks on top of it! :)
Pavers would be beautiful, but I think they might be sort of expensive? Not sure, but patio pavers are very nice and very popular. We would've gone that route if we could've. Otherwise, if your slab is in good shape, a much cheaper (and easier) option would be to do a cement veneer and stamp and stain the concrete. There's tons of different looks and effects you can get by doing that, with less $$ and maintenance, too. We are considering that with our patio, but who knows what we'll end up doing (ours isn't in nearly as good of shape as yours).
And don't worry about your backyard right now. Nobody's gonna see too much of it – just concentrate on the inside! (It's hard sometimes, though, I know – I have to keep telling myself this, too!) :)
~Chelsea
Thanks for the idea! I'll definitely look into a cement veneer. I'm considering extending the patio area out with cement as well.
Free labor! Never thought of it that way. We had left over bricks that came with our house. We planned on using them “one day”. Well my dad was going to buy them from us and after we talked about it I said “Happy Birthday Dad” and he, with help, took them home and finished his brick patio area. I was happy to help and we had one less “pile”. My yard is in worst shape, if you can imagine and my patio is actually smaller with a 3×4 door way slab. What's sad is that we've lived here for 15 years!!! My stepmom says it reminds her of a campgound and that is good too (to a point). If you want to see pictures go to: http://katspurrfectboutique.blogspot.com/2012/08/getting-ready-for-kurts-party.html