Let’s Decorate the Backyard!

Time to decorate the backyard! Now that the fence looked SO nice with the painted shiplap and solar lights, I decided to buy some fence art to decorate it. I also wanted to add some flowers by the bark beds but didn’t want to plant any inside the beds so I incorporated 12 cinder blocks into the cement edging of the beds and added flowers – they worked beautifully! If you plan to plant in cinder blocks, you’ll want to be sure to water them often as the cement conducts the heat from the sun really well. If you tend to the flowers, though, they will grow nicely.

Cinder block planters

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Bark beds

Here are the bark beds I installed along the 3 sides of the perimeter of the yard. Details can be found on the link to that post here.

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Fence Art

For the fence art, I started browsing thrift shops, Ross and Hobby Lobby for unique, fun items. I also painted some of the items I already had out in the yard and repurposed a few things to use such as a wooden mirror and metal veggie steamer.

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My friend Les made this wreath for me with terra cotta flower pots a few years ago. Over the years, the wire she used to attach the pots to the frame had rusted so I decided to upcycle it. I removed each pot and painted it then attached it to the frame with new wire.

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I found several metal pieces that I loved at Hobby Lobby. Since I’m drawn to the same color scheme, when I got them home and on the fence, the all blended together so I painted a few of them a bright yellow. The metal ones I painted are the tree of life, heart and owl. The cross is ceramic and was cream – I painted it yellow too.

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More fence art

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If you are a Pinterest fan, I’m sure you’ve seen the glass flowers people create from plates & cups. I decided to give it a try so I went to the Goodwill and bought a plate, vase and what I think was a candle holder. I glued them together with E6000 then sat the vase on an old metal pole that I had laying around. For the leaves, I painted some chicken wire white and attached them to the pole with wire. Total cost to create – $3! How cute is this?!

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Water Fountains

I have an adorable water fountain that my friend Cyn made for me many years ago and I have had it outside year-round all this time. Can you believe that little baby still works?! We have exterior outlets on the house and for years, I used this little fountain on the front patio. This year, I decided to move it to the back deck where I can enjoy it better.

I just love the sound of running water, it’s so peaceful! I wanted to add some fountains to the new bark beds but none of the beds are close to an outlet. I did some research and found solar fountains. What a great idea! I created 3 solar fountains and placed one by the house, one by the South fence and one by the shed. The fountain next to the house is made from 1/2 whisky barrel which is plastic so it makes a good base for holding water. I found the solar fountains online and they work great most of the time (I have attached links on where you can purchase these solar fountains if you plan to build one for yourself). If the weather is very cloudy, the fountain head doesn’t put out as much water as when it’s bright and sunny but still enough to enjoy. They are a great option when you want a fountain and there isn’t a power supply close by. The picture of the South fountain is at the end of the season after I stored the solar gear, but in the video you can see what it looks like during the summer season.

The South fence fountain is made with a metal bucket bought from Ace Hardware for $12.99 and an oil can that I’ve had for years. The stand is from Fred Meyer, a local store and was on sale for $19. The fountain by the shed is also made with a metal bucket from Ace Hardware with rocks from the yard. I placed a small metal bucket in the center of the rocks so the fountain head could be placed on top of it at the water line – it has suction cups on the bottom so it stays in place.

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Here are videos of the 3 fountains. I hope they work once this post goes live because they don’t on the preview right now.

Tree Rings

While shopping for the cinder blocks, I saw the little cement rings to use around trees to protect the trunk from lawn equipment like mowers and weed whackers. I decided to pick some up for three of our trees – two in the back yard and one in the front. To install them, I removed the sod around each tree, covered the soil with landscape cloth, set the cement rings around the tree then added bark to cover the cloth.

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Pavers

The next backyard landscape project was to add some stepping stones in front of the shed and by the little patio at the back of the garage. For the front of the shed, I used 12″ x 12″ stepping stones, the same type that I used at the ends of the bark beds.

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For the space by the back patio, I used the 8″ x 12″ pavers that were used to line the bark beds. Installing stepping stones is not difficult, you remove the sod where the stone will go (I used a garden shovel to loosen the sod), make sure the ground is level and then set the stone. If you’ve made the hole too deep or too wide, just add back some of the soil you removed and tamp it down.

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Can you believe there were so many choices for these stepping stones? Me either! It took awhile to decide which I liked best but I’m pleased with the choice I finally made. Measuring the distance between the stepping stones so the pattern is even is important. You don’t want to dig up the sod just to find out it’s in the wrong spot. You’ll see that I am also using a level so the stones are even when you walk on them.

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Videos of the yard

Hubby took a panoramic video of the backyard….it’s a little shaky and I had to cut it into 4 sections, but it’ll give you an idea of the project results. This was taken before I added the cinder block planters.

Last summer was spent updating the landscape and fence in the backyard and it looks fantastic! This year, I plan to add gardens to the West side of the house in the front yard.

What are your landscape projects this year? Leave a comment below and let me know!

Fun DIY outdoor projects for you!

• Let’s Rip Up Some Sod!
• Let’s Fix the Fence!
• Let’s Build a Garden Bench!
• Let’s Build Planter Boxes!
• Let’s Build Some Arbors!
• Let’s Build a Tree Bench!
• Let’s Paint the Shed!
• Let’s Make a Raised Garden Bed!
• Let’s Save Some Bees!
• Let’s Build a Little Patio!
• Pallet potting bench
• Perpetual Deck Project

I’m excited to share more projects with you as well as tips/tricks/freebies! Just enter your email below to become one of my Blog Peeps!

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