When flipping through your favourite interior design magazine, you’ll find great inspiration for your home. What the stack of lovely magazines on your coffee table can’t help you with is turning that inspiration into a complete transformation of your space. In this article, we’ll discuss affordable makeovers that will upgrade the look of your back yard in simple, do-able steps!

Gazebos for beauty and function
Gazebos can cost anywhere from under $100 to a few thousand dollars, which gives you a wide range of options when it comes to accommodating your budget. Gazebos are made in a variety of styles:

• large or small
• wooden, metal, or plastic structure
• glass or fabric roofs
• foldable or permanent

They not only add visual interest to your yard, it helps you enjoy the outdoors in rain or shine.

Tip: the key to making the most of a gazebo is ensuring that it’s not too small or too large for your patio.

Night lighting for ambience
Being outdoors shouldn’t be restricted to when the sun is up, which makes porch lighting a priority over some other decorations in your yard. There are even more options when it comes to setting up lighting!

Using string lights suitable for the outdoors gives an ad hoc, quirky but romantic feeling to your patio, whereas professionally installed in-ground or ensconced lighting makes it more permanent and less susceptible to damage in bad weather. Outdoor lighting ranges from less than $50 to several hundreds of dollars, with a large selection at your local home hardware store.

Tip: opt for lights with solar panels to reduce energy use.

Barefoot on the patio
There is nothing like feeling organic materials on your skin, so if your patio is not safe or comfortable enough to walk on barefoot, you might consider renovating the flooring. The most affordable options are clay tile or leftover concrete and brick. If your budget allows, the better the quality of the flooring, the more luxurious your patio will seem. An expensive stone isn’t everyone’s style — in fact, reclaimed wood is another amazing option that will give a perfectly rustic charm to the area.

There are endless creative ways to make your patio a favourite spot for you and your friends. Regardless of how much effort you put into your patio, it won’t be half as enjoyable if the yard is lackluster. Gardening is a very easy and rewarding hobby to get into, so contact our experts if you have any questions about lawn care or a garden makeovers!