There's something about this time of year...
Warm nights beckoning us outside under the stars
Long lazy days
It all just makes us want to LIVE outside.
I have been working extra hard this year on my outdoor areas. I say areas because well I have several different little spots all over my yard with different themed little hideaway garden rooms. Near my front door (which will be my side door as soon as we are done with renovations) I have my grape vine arbor, which I made from completely repurposed items. Towards the back I have my veggie garden with another little dining area, that's a little more secluded. Here I keep most of my favorite outdoor peices. I'm just finishing up my greenhouse that I've built on to the back of our house, this is also where I have my ever growing rose garden. The crazy part about all of this is, I don't think I have gone to the store and purchased a single peice for any of my garden areas. My advice, go to your local thrift store (for example, Salvation Army,or another charity type thrift store, they dont raise there prices like so many of those independent thrift stores do), pick you up some mismatched chairs, some metal candle holders, maybe some sort of hanging light fixture. Then go to the store and buy some matching spray paint, the $0.99 stuff works just fine, and spray paint all your thrift store finds the same color. Want to add some cushions to those chairs you just painted, but who wants to pay 20.00 a peice for a cushion. Pick up a few throw pillows from the thrift store too. Try to match them with your other finds. This will give your garden area a nice theme to go off of, and it's super cheap! If you are considering building a pergola, but the cost of all that treated lumber is just way beyond your budget, try thinking outside the box. For instance the post for my grape pergola are made from 9ft cedar posts that someone was going to throw out. It never hurts to ask family members or friends if they have extra stuff like that laying around that you might be able to use. Once I got my posts nestled in the ground I used some thin pipes that came out of a well redo for my uppper supports. Once those were in place I strung some wire fencing a friend had given us a while back, across the backside and the entire top. I planted some grape vine and a few fast growing climbing plants along the back, where they can climb up and over the fencing. Now that I've got this great little area to entertain, I made a table from a large pallet my husband brought home from his job. There really are so many easy ways to cut costs when it comes to decorating your backyard. Remember, just try to stick with one theme and look for unusual peices that could all be painted the same color. This is such an easy project you can have your backyard retreat ready in a weekend. If you have any questions about piecing together your backyard decor or matching plants with your area, feel free to leave me a msg. I've been gardening in this hot texas weather for over ten years now, so I have a few tricks up my sleeve :)
I had planned on taking some pics of the finished grape pergola with the dining area all set up, but it has been raining non-stop for a couple days now. I'll try to get a couple shots posted as soon as I can :)
