Day 12 :: Get Your Home Decluttered in 28 Days: The Backyard

Oh boy, time for a major clean up!

 

We are on Day 12 of our Home Decluttering Project.  Granted, it has taken me more than 28 days to tackle each room in the house, but that is okay!  These things can take time and I want you to join in where you can!  This project is about making our homes into a de-cluttered and organized place that we enjoy spending time in.   I think and feel better when I don’t have so much “stuff” around and this step-by-step, room-by-room series has been therapeutic.  So join in where you can if you think your home could use some attention! Since I look out into our garden everyday from my home office (the kitchen table) I have been contemplating de-cluttering and redecorating our backyard for months! We don’t have a ton of space back there but what we do have needed some serious TLC.  I finally made the time to start working on this project and here is how we made our backyard into a place we actually want to hang out in.

Tips for a  Step-by-Step Backyard Makeover:

 

 

First Step: Declutter.  Yes, we had some major clutter going on in the backyard!  We had a playhouse that was collecting dust and spiders and was being used to store my daughter’s toys that she no longer plays with.  We sprayed off the house and some of the toys that were in good condition and offered them for free on Facebook.  I am glad that they went to a new home with little ones.  You can always put aside toys that you think you might want to sell at your future garage sale to make some money.  Since a garage sale is not on the horizon anytime soon for us I opted to just clear up our space and donate them.

 

 

Second Step:  Cut back Your Plants.  We have huge birds of paradise palms that we had brought over from our apartment over 12 years ago.  They have grown really tall and lush which I love, but if you know about palms their flowers eventually die and just look messy.  I didn’t want my husband to hurt his arm even more (he fractured it some weeks back falling off our daughter’s skateboard) so we hired this project out.  You can always save some money and do it yourself over a weekend.  This was a much needed step in our backyard as many of the plants had not been trimmed back for years!  Just by doing this I feel we gained more space because the plants are looming over the back patio anymore.

 

 

Third Step:  Look through magazines, Pinterest, friends yards you like and your neighborhood to get gardening ideas.  I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what types of gardens I like and looked at where we had some space to plant some new plants.  There is a great section in our neighbhorhood that has a really nice array of modern-style plants – think tall grasses, Little John Dwarf plants and low grasses.

 

 

I took some pictures and brought them to the nursery to get some ideas of what would work in our patio.  Make sure to take pictures of your backyard and write down about how much sun each spot gets each day.  This will help the folks over at the nursery when they make plant suggestions.  I went to both Lowes and Armstrong Nursery for help.  Armstrong offers in-home consultation for a fee, but really if you do the work before, you can just stop by your local nursery and ask for some suggestions based on the amount of sun each area gets!

 

 

 

Fourth Step:  Get planting!  Because my husband hurt his arm I chose to hire someone to do this for us.  I would recommend to ask around to your friends for a good recommendation or you can Google for local gardeners.  But make sure to get a flat rate and not pay per hour which was the mistake I made.  Our gardener did a great job but to keep costs down and to incite them to work faster – opt for a flat rate.

One of the advantages to hiring a qualified gardener is they know plants.  Bob at Windsor Gardens knew more about plants than I ever could!  He made recommendations about what plants would work best based on the amount of sun they get and even made some recommendations to move some that weren’t getting enough sun.  He also told me what type of soil and fertilizer the plants I already have would like.

 

Fifth Step:  Repaint your existing furniture, get some new cushions and some colorful planters.  Our furniture was on it’s last legs (literally) so it was time to get a new patio set.  But goodness, patio furniture can be expensive!  Our budget did not include a $1,000 patio set so I started looking on Craig’s List and eBay for some deals.  I wasn’t able to find anything that fit the look I wanted so I checked out Amazon.  They have some reasonable patio sets for much less than other places.  I also like IKEA’s patio furniture.  But spend some time and think about how your family spends time in the backyard.  Do you like to eat outside?  Then go for a table and chairs set.  If you just like to lounge back there, maybe a loveseat and a couple chairs would do the trick.  We went for a 1950’s style retro set from Crosley Furniture in a great grasshopper green color!  I wanted something fun to look at every day and this definitely is fun!

Sixth Step:  Less is more.  Yes, this is really the message for this home de-cluttering project.  Make sure to only put in your backyard what you really need.  I am on the lookout for a nice wire basket for my daughter’s sports equipment and one for my dog’s toys.  Yes, he loves his toys!  By putting all the toys in one or two large baskets – this provides the kids an opportunity to help keep things organized.  Look online for some inexpensive baskets in the style you like.

 

 

Seventh Step:  Mix it up.  I love mixing styles together because I think it adds interest.  Check out Amazon for nice Pagoda’s like this one we have or a add in a nice water feature.  We have to wait on the water feature until our dog is a tad older as he destroyed the last water pump.  But this is a really nice addition to any garden and many can be found under $150.  Christmas present?!

 

 

Seventh Step:  Sit back and enjoy your new space!  I am so happy we finally got around to cleaning up the backyard and can sit back there!

 

Note:  We were provided with a discount for some planting materials from Lowes Irvine but this did not affect our opinion in any way.  They were very helpful at Lowes!  In fact we are offering a giveaway so you can get started on your backyard!  Good luck lovely dandelion moms!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

0