Backyard Blues

This is my first post in a series about backyard entertaining with Lowe’s. Find out which fireplace I chose in post #2 – it can be found HERE

When we bought this home it was brand new and there was no landscaping at all. It had also been on the market for a year and so there was a year’s worth of weeds everywhere. We were limited in our budget so we weed whacked our way through that summer and then the snow came and we did nothing. Year two had us out in the front yard. We put down stone as the slope is sort of weird there and we weren’t interested in mowing it. The stone looked great, we put in some shrubs and a rose bush and called it a day. That ate up the budget for that year so more weed whacking happened in the back yard and that was it. Last year we hired landscapers to get up all the weeds and put down sod. They also finished the fence and installed a gate. It was a lot of money (for us!) to do both yards and timing was such that by the time they were done, there wasn’t much point in putting in a garden or flowers as the season was pretty far along. The kids bounced on the trampoline for the rest of the summer and we watered sod and kept it alive. When I write it out like this it sure nails home how short our summer season is here!

This year we are going to spend some time in the back yard. We want to sit out there with cool drinks and maybe have a fire pit. We want to enjoy the investment that went into the space so far but to do that we have to bring it away from the bare-bones state that it’s in now. Now, it’s just a flat yard with a fence.

See? Sad.

To the right of the grassy area shown on the photo is a bit more space and then the trampoline, but it looks the same over there. Just grass. Nothing else. Also to note, the white railing on the bottom of the photo is our deck. There is no access from the deck to the yard and the deck is pretty small. We have a bbq there but we would never entertain there….there’s just not enough room.

We need seating. We need a focal point. We need some sort of plan. So I set out to put one together, again, our budget is limited but I thought I’d share my vision!

 

Seating – standing around is okay, but I like somewhere to sit and sip a cool drink. Seats for 2-4 people would be ideal and I would love if we could use them both on our small deck and out in the yard if we had a group over.

Defined space – right now, the ‘flooring’ is grass and there’s a lot of it. I don’t want things to feel like they are floating in space. I need something to pull it all together.

Focal point – We always want something to ground our eye, even when we don’t realize it and I’d like that thing to be gorgeous!

Lighting – Nothing crazy, I don’t think we need any big fixtures or wired in things but I would like a bit of light out there even if it’s just candles.

 

These mason jars with straws are my inspiration. I love the red. I love the casual vibe. I love the structure with the organizer caddy. They are super fun and I was drawn to them right away. I kept these in my mind as I shopped.

I’d love to have a casual space where myself and a friend can sit and watch the kids bounce on the trampoline and have a beverage and talk. I’m not looking to have huge parties out there – that just isn’t me. Entertaining one can be just as lovely as entertaining 12! As things are right now, nobody is going out there except the kids and I’d like to change that up. To get all of this accomplished I’ve done a bit of shopping at Lowes.

I can’t WAIT to show you what I’ve bought and how I pull this all together and I am SO excited to get to use my space. Backyard Blues be gone! Lowe’s had a HUGE selection of fire tables and fire pits and furniture and accessories. I had a hard time choosing but shopping was a blast. Stay tuned as I share my tips and tricks for easy backyard entertaining with Lowes over the next few weeks!

I’m on the #lovelowes team this spring and am receiving product to facilitate this series of posts. As always, my opinions are my own.