Backyard Facelift

Perhaps you remember me mentioning a little BBQ we were hosting

over Labor Day Weekend?

Well it was mostly about getting all of our friends & family in one place,

but it was a little about (for me) giving our backyard any attention at all.

We love ourselves some outdoor time and the space just wasn't working,

functionally or fashionably.

I put my designer pants on and came up with a plan!

We spent a little money & a lot of time putting some plants in...

...and within about a week our terrible puppy had ripped them all up.

With our defeated hearts & a busy month ahead it was more than easy to let 

further plans fall to the wayside.

Yikes, see what I mean!?

But, I used mostly what we had, a little elbow grease, & a lot of imagination

to make our little backyard not look...terrible?

Our once lush and now sad looking flower bed 

got a little makeover with a few of these and some paint we already had on hand.

These guys were $8.00 for 24 posts at Menards. 

Think I spent less than $20 total.

The morning of the party I planted some little mums...

just so we didn't just have a mulch pile for guests to stare at.

I grabbed every side-of-the-road-reject chair I had in my collection

 that would withstand a little outdoor weather,

coated them in paint, poly, and/or outdoor fabric (all things we had) 

and gathered them all around the table we made

 using some wood, stain and inexpensive metal saw horses!

Todd purchased two huge church pews awhile back 

which turned out to be the perfect scale for our space.

I coated that sucker in outdoor poly &

 wrapped and pinned the cushion in a neutral fabric for the party

Earlier in the summer we got this AV cart at a demolition sale FOR FREE

you know the drill, a little paint & some staging...

as fate would have it, the drink menu I made for our wedding

was the PERFECT SIZE to fit right on the end of our new bar cart :)

Loved this clever planter dreamed up by The Hunted Interior

so I put my only little spin on it.

Then it was just a matter of some small decorative touches, 

a little lighting, and we were cooking with gas.

Is it the most beautiful patio ever? Not at all. There's cracks in the cement, a terrible fence that needs mending, and 9 times out of ten, a stolen sock out in the yard (Porkchop)

But we spent a very little amount of money, 

used my collection of "broken wicker chairs", as Todd lovingly refers to them,

and spruced up the space just in time for a perfect family gathering.

What do you think? Any minor updates you're doing around your space?