Beauty in Your Backyard: 5 Tips to Create an Outdoor Space You Love

Today on the blog, I’ll be sharing 5 tips to create a beautiful backyard!

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Happy Friday everyone! Lately I’ve been sharing a lot of my outdoor spaces over on social media, and have been receiving so many lovely compliments! I can’t begin to tell you how much your kind words mean to me. I’m so thankful to have such wonderful support and hope to continue to inspire you in today’s post about creating a beautiful backyard!

I say all the time that I am not a professional; I’m just doing my best to design DIY spaces that I love on a budget, and hoping that I can be an inspiration to someone in the process to create beauty of their own!

I get so many questions about our DIY, budget friendly outdoor living space, from our backyard patio to our backyard garden, but the most common question or comment I receive is how to make your own backyard beautiful. Like I said, I am by no means a professional landscape designer, but there are some very simple changes you can make that will make a big impact! I hope these backyard ideas will help get you started on creating your own little oasis.

Borders

A great way to add beauty to your backyard is to establish borders in your outdoor space. If you have a long driveway or pathway, add a rock or stone border. Put up a charming white picket fence around your yard or wood boxes around your flower beds. If you look in my backyard, you’ll see little pockets of character throughout created by various types of borders!

Consider planting shrubs as a border as a natural, privacy fence. Add pavers around your herbs and vegetable garden. Build a little stone border around your pond or water features. Establishing these little borders will make such a difference in the overall look of your backyard.

Outdoor Seating

Nothing is more inviting that a comfortable space to lounge outdoors while enjoying a beautiful summer day. When it comes to outdoor seating areas, I still strive to choose pieces or build pieces that have a timeless, English cottage style look. Just because you’re outside doesn’t mean you can’t have lovely outdoor furniture for your family or entertaining guests!

For example, my husband built our patio dining table with wood legs and a concrete table top! I love that this rustic table is a beautiful focal point of our backyard dining area. To accent the table, we have sturdy but elegant black matte metal chairs, and of course some neutral colored cushions for a little extra softness and relaxation. We always opt for outdoor dining or midday picnics because it’s hard to resist the beauty and tranquility this space brings!

I try to make cozy little spaces all over my backyard to lounge and enjoy the views. We love our white wooden Adirondack chairs that surround our fire pit, the little DIY bench next to our grill, and of course the hammock swing and pillows we have under the shade of our tree by the kids play area.

Lighting and Ambiance

Another way to have a beautiful backyard is to incorporate special lighting and ambiance into your outdoor spaces! Around my pea gravel patio, I have string lights strung up to make summer evenings magical. The warm glow of lit lanterns around your backyard, or a crackling fire in a fire pit can make a big impact. I’ve seen some beautiful outdoor fireplaces as well!

I have so many lighting and ambiance visions for our outdoor space; maybe an arbor or a pergola with lights strung up to light up my gardens. I would also love to one day add string lights outside of our house around our flowerbeds, but that’s a project for a future date!

Low Maintenance Plants

Nothing says beautiful backyard like having a lawn full of gorgeous lush greenery, flower planters or a garden full of perennials! Seeing beautiful blooms in the springtime brings so much life and charm to any outdoor space. Planting a garden may seem daunting, but there are so many low maintenance options to choose from!

Perennials are my absolute favorite because of their low maintenance nature; you plant them and they return year after year, filling your garden boxes with so much beauty! One of my absolute favorite perennials are catmint! It creates a stunning, periwinkle flower and I don’t have to water it; I don’t have to do anything and it gets huge. Talk about low maintenance!

Another favorite low maintenance plant is hosta! After you plant them, they never die and grow bigger and bigger every year. You don’t have to water them, and they are so pretty and full year after year! We have one growing under our tree by our pea gravel patio!

Natural Finishes

Finally, to stay true to my English Cottage inspired design, I try to keep my finishes as natural looking as possible. I stick to neutral colors when it comes to outdoor decor; for example, the cushions around my patio table are a light beige color, and both my Adirondack chairs and fence are a basic white. I want the color focus to really be on my plants and gardens!

Well friends, I hope these tips inspire you to create your own beautiful backyard! Remember that my backyard transformation didn’t happen overnight – it took a lot patience and years of small projects to get my outdoor space where it is today! Focus on a small project and slowly add these elements to transform your own yard into a space you love. Don’t forget to sign up for my free mini homemaking course below for more home decorating tips!

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