When we sold our home and moved to Longview, the one thing I knew we would miss is our backyard. It was one of the reasons we bought the house. When we were looking for a home to rent here we had about 4 hours to find one. It was a fast trip up here and back to Baton Rouge. We actually only ended up seeing two homes, chose this one and were back on the road. It’s a on a corner, in a great neighborhood, but the backyard was the pits.

The actual backyard is divided by a chain link fence. The rest is open to the street. There is no privacy at all. It was really sad. For my daughter Hannah’s 13th birthday we decided that one of her gifts would be to fix up the backyard. She is the one that would go out everyday when she got home from school and swing on her hammock at the other house. I knew that she missed being able to have a place to go to just be outside and wind down after school.

Since we are renting, we had to do something that wouldn’t be too permanent and since we didn’t own the home it HAD to be budget friendly.

Hannah loves stepping stones. I found these square concrete blocks at Lowe’s on sale for $1.00 a block. We decided to paint them royal blue. I didn’t want to spend a lot on a tarp, so I got a plastic shower curtain at Dollar Tree and was all set.

I had picked up a hammock stand a while back at an estate sale for $4.00. It was dark green and in pieces. Nothing that a little white spray paint couldn’t take care of. Also, shout out to Google for helping me figure out how to put this thing together.

I found the perfect hammock at Walmart for $19.99.

My go to place for outdoor decor used to be Dirt Cheap. In Baton Rouge is was 3 minutes from our home. The closest one now is in Tyler which is about 45 minutes. Donny and I made the trip because I was sure that we would find something we could use. Sure enough, we found a Target hammered metal table that we drilled holes in, turned upside down and now use as a firepit. It was only $20. We also found some folding lawn chairs that were in the perfect colors. We were going to use adirondack chairs again, but I liked these better because we could sit more upright. They also remind me of the chairs from my childhood.

The chairs were only $9 a piece. We used two 8ft landscaping timbers that we purchased at Lowe’s for about $3.50 each. We just cut them in half to make a square and filled around the firepit with small river rocks. We used 4 bags at about $3.00 per bag, also from Lowe’s

I stained the timbers dark walnut just so they wouldn’t look so new. I like more of the reclaimed wood look.

I purchased two adirondack chairs from Lowe’s. I think they were about $17 a piece. I was in Aldi a few days ago and they had them for $12.99. That’s the best price I’ve seen so far. I might have to pick a few more up at that price.

Because it wouldn’t be complete unless we had some bright and little weird decor I decided that we should have a chalkboard. I didn’t want to buy one so I used a mirror we already had that was gifted to me. I spray painted the frame spring green that we already had and just painted the mirror with chalkboard spray paint. I only used one can and it cost a little over $5.

The little shutters on either side of the chalkboard were picked up at a garage sale for 50 cents a piece. They were yellow, but I painted them vintage teal with paint I already had. There is a metal planter underneath that I drilled holes in the bottom of, to let the rain drain out, that holds the chalk. It came from Dollar Tree.

I found these cute metal flowers at Dollar General for $5.50 a flower. I think they are adorable and add just the right amount of whimsy

Because we love Mardi Gras, I decided to make an ode to Mardi Gras hanging.

You can’t tell by this picture, but it is so sparkly in the sun. I believe in using what you have and since we had bags of beads I knew I wanted to use them in the yard somehow. The only thing I had to buy was the sun wind chime that was a dollar at Dollar Tree.

I hung a stained glass wind chime and a bouncing butterfly in the tree over the chairs.

I spray painted some baskets I had to make a flower for the fence.

Another one of Hannah’s gifts was a saucer swing. The picture is from Easter because when I took these pictures the swing and stand hadn’t come in yet.

She loves it and spends a lot of time outside now.

I think that the yard turned out great. Especially because we hardly spent any money to do it. It’s got fun happy colors and little surprises tucked in where you least expect them.

Enjoy the day!

Stacy