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Thursday, June 14

Backyard Dreams

All that talk about the garden got me dreaming up some more plans for the backyard! We want it to be a fun place where we can all spend quite a bit of time this summer. Here are a few things we have in mind:


On the left side of the garage is the square foot garden. It's already built and mostly planted, and now we want to make it an easy to maintain area that flows into our outdoor living space.

Just below that is one of our biggest and most exciting plans! We want to extend the patio space out as far as the garden bed to create an outdoor dining space. We'll either buy or DIY some paving stones, but I'll let you know when we get there. I would love to build a pergola over the space to provide a little shade and a place for vines to grow. It would be sweet if I could get vines to grow up and fill in the roof for shade! And of course some strings of party lights to set the fun summer mood. It will make a nice place to pull the grill out for cooking, and I would love to build some kind of dining table if I can ever decide what style. I've narrowed it down (ha.) to the simple outdoor collection, the fancy x farmhouse table, the basic x picnic table, or the harriet outdoor table & chairs. And how about a spot for the kids?

http://pinterest.com/pin/242279654923965452/
a perfect summer pergola, via pinterest


Over on the right side, we want to make a rain barrel (here is a tutorial by Young House Love) for watering plants. We already have a compost bin (There are plans here and here if you want to DIY one) and we would like to build or buy some kind of storage shed for the lawn mower & bikes.

http://pinterest.com/pin/242279654924034488/
lawn mower shed idea, via pinterest

Then the only thing left on that side of the garage is to fill in the rest of the space with more shade plants, like hostas.  On the existing patio we want to build some kind of coffee tables to go with our outdoor sectional, but I'm still trying to decide if that would make things too crowded. I currently have another small table on the patio that just adds a little workspace for grilling and planting flowers. At the moment I'm planning to paint it a bright green, but I'm also keeping my eyes open for some kind of dresser or table that is a little bigger to replace it with that would add more storage and work space.


We would also LOVE to add a fire pit somewhere, but haven't decided if we have a good spot yet. If we can work it in, we want to try this plan for a $30 DIY fire pit. besides these more functional ideas, I also just want to have some fun decorating out there! I don't know what I'll do exactly, but I love party lights, grape vines, blooming vines, lanterns and candles to name a few! These are my top plans right now, but I have a whole pinterest board full of ideas I want to try!

http://pinterest.com/pin/242279654923401893/
decorating with burlap curtains, via pinterest

Do you enjoy outdoor living during the summer? What are your favorite backyard activities? What plans do you have for your backyard?

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