Good morning, friends!
The lovely warm weather we are having has pulled us outdoors again... Today we have a few small backyard DIY projects to share. Like most of you, we have a small, ordinary suburban backyard that was rather... plain and sad. If you saw our recent DIY patio projects post ad video you saw that the biggest change we made was building a custom tree bench. The tree bench not only added more seating, but it gave the backyard a lovely park-like feeling.
As most projects go, one thing usually leads to another and we've continued improving the bones of the patio & yard. With two sides of the yard newly fenced and freshly stained, the third side fence looked tired and sad.
You can see the difference in the rich chocolatey brown color of the new stained fence against the old great, weathered fence. While we'd love to replace the old fence that isn't in the budget, so we'll follow one of our mantras which is: "good, better, best." In this case, we're going for better. Restoring this old fence and protecting it with stain to match the rest of the fence is the best option for now.
The first step in restoring the fence is to remove the grey color, which is a layer of mildew, that has built up on the fence. Using a sprayer Matt applied a simple mixture of bleach and water to kill the mildew. The result is amazing as the fence looks much newer! During this step in the process, we also decided to add a trellis to one panel for vertical planting. We then stained the fence and trellis the same color as the fence and the tree bench. By carrying this color through the whole yard it looks bigger and unified.
We also decided to buy the sturdier trellis from the hardware store instead of the less expensive trellis since we can reuse it in the future when the fence is replaced. Besides being a practical addition I love the texture that the trellis gives!
Here is the fence and trellis stained. This is quite a transformation! The dark stain recedes visually, which makes the yard look bigger, plus it provides a gorgeous backdrop for the plants. I also think the darker color adds a bit of drama and formality to the feeling of the yard.
Here's a shot of the fence after the bleach treatment...
Here's the fence after being stained. I love the depth and formality it adds to the yard! Also, you can see how the fountain and flowers stand out so beautifully against the dark brown. This transformation makes me dream of panting out this bed next spring... There is so much possibility!
We also upgraded the fence posts with custom covers to match the fence. Then we expanded the trellis across more of the fence to accommodate our squash plants. And they've already taken advantage of the extra trellis!
These projects often have a ripple effect and now that stump needs to go!
We were going for better (not best) in the second big project we tackled. Our patio is a hodge-podge of cobbled-together concrete and pavers from the different owners and a slab leak over the years. While we'd love to replace all the paved areas with flagstone that is not financially feasible for now so we decided to unify the various concrete colors with concrete stain.
You can see the painters tape Matt used before cutting in the edges and rolling on the stain. We chose the color "High Tea" by Sherwin Williams. It is a warm brown putty color with a hint of green. I went with a warm-toned neutral in a medium tone for two reasons. First, all the other colors are warm-based. And secondly, a slightly darker color would ground the space and hide dirt.
Another practical and pretty project was to sand and paint the top of the buffet. This buffet is often used for DIY projects so the top has taken a beating.
So nice to have a fresh coat of paint on things! Once I have the brush in hand, it's hard to stop...
Also, since it is difficult to move and clean behind the buffet so we've decided to put it on industrial casters. The casters will help with keeping the porch clean, but it will also be handy for entertaining and doing projects.
We are really enjoying the better function and transformation of the "bones" in our backyard and patio! Every year this space becomes more useful and enjoyable. I'm already excited about what next year may bring! what kinds of projects are you tackling this season?
