It’s official: Summer is here! And I’m spending way too much time and money trying to get the most vibey back patio in the neighborhood this summer.

It’s my favorite time of the year again. The weather’s warm, the kids are out of school, and the mouth-watering smell of a backyard barbecue is just around the corner. As our first season post-pandemic—or at least, post-vaccine—I’m determined to make this the best summer yet. And that starts with creating the perfect space to bring friends and family together. 

With this in mind, I set my sights on turning the backyard into a beautiful space for entertaining guests. I’ve been slowly adding furniture and outdoor decor to my space, and trying to save money by buying secondhand through Facebook Marketplace. I’ve spent so much time and money making my outdoor space look presentable, it’s crazy! But I recently read that 40% of Americans have spent thousands of dollars landscaping their yards, so at least I’m not alone.

Read on for more on the DIY projects I used to turn my outdoor space into a fun and idyllic gathering place!

The first project that I tackled was a simple, single post pergola. Though easy to assemble, this is a DIY project that will have guests swooning over its graceful appearance and beauty. And even better– it costs a fraction of what pergolas sell for in-stores! You can even use repurposed or reclaimed wood to bring the cost down more. 

The pergola took me a total of three days to complete. I spent two days gathering materials, reading instructions and building the frame. The third day, I took to decorating my new staple piece. I decided to use the pergola as a structure for climbing plants, and took to my local Lowe’s to buy a beautiful morning glory vine. Over time, the vines will overtake the pergola and create a stunning screen for shade and privacy.

Now that I had a gorgeous staple-piece, I switched my focus to seating. My yard already had a patio with several chairs and a table, but I wanted something with a bit more character. So, I built this outdoor bench. I never would have thought that cinder blocks, some wood and fun-colored paint would turn into such a hit, but they sure did! Guests and neighbors alike often ask where they could find such a bench, and the look on their face is priceless when I tell them how easy and affordable it is to do it yourself.

My final addition to the outdoor space was a rustic fire pit. The kids love s’mores– almost as much as us adults do! So, this project was a given. 

These three DIY projects transformed my yard into the perfect space for a summer full of fun, relaxation, good food and many reunions.

I am pretty sure I have mentioned that my child might actually be a monkey!  Seriously! He climbs everything!  As a result his clothes do not last very long!  He climbs trees and rips his shirts and tears holes in his pants on a regular basis!

Seriously… this is my monkey child. Climbing up everything and anything every time I turn around! He is the oldest of my three boys and a real boy through and through!

I am always finding ways to preserve his clothes a little longer!  I buy the jeans with reinforced knees,  mend rips if possible, but still end up tossing plenty of ruined clothes.

Making cut off shorts out of old jeans that have gotten too short or have holes in the knees is really easy and makes me feel better about all the clothes my boys go through!

1.  Cut straight across just above the hole in the jeans (or measure to your desired length making sure to leave an extra 1/2 to 1 inch for the hem).

2.  Take the part you just cut off and lay it on top of the other pant leg to use as a guide to make sure you cut both sides the same length.

3.  Turn the jeans inside out and fold the cut of ends of the pants up an 1/2 inch to 1 inch and sew.

That’s it!  Easy!  Now these pants can get a little more money’s worth out of them!

 

I tutor a couple evenings a week.  One night after one of my students came over he told me how he almost forgot where I lived and then remembered that I still had my clover wreath up on my door and was able to find my house.  Ha!  Yes, my clover wreath from St. Patricks Day in March.

Wow, I am a slacker.  So I set out to fix that asap.  I got a few suplies from Michael’s and was ready to go.

The stick wreath part was $4.99 and each of the three colors of flowers were on sale for $1.29 each.  I also had a 50% off one item coupon.  So basically I made the entire wreath for under $7.  The premade wreaths in this style are selling for $30 – $60 so I feel pretty good.

I love finding a good deal.  I use to say that I am cheap, but my mother-in-law has since taught me that its not being cheap it is being frugal!  Frugal sounds so much nicer!

All you have to do is pull your flowers and leafs off the stems and arrange them anyway you like on your wreath.  Then use a hot glue gun to glue it all together.  You can hang it to your wreath hanger using any ribbon or string.

This was so easy and turned out so cute I think I will make another for my mom for Mother’s Day.

Have I mentioned that I have three boys and NEVER EVER get to do anything girlie? My life is fun and full of sports, bruises, grass stains, dragons, knights, and complete adventure! I love it and am not complaining, but sometimes I dream of a day I can crawl into bed without laying on a match box car or  put on my shoes just to find them stuffed with legos and plastic dinosaurs!

Okay, I guess I should just admit that I sometimes watch in wonder as my nieces or friends little girls play sweetly with their dollies while they rock them in their rocking chairs pretending to feed and care for them. I then look over at my boys who are usually smashing their toys together, rough housing, or jumping off the couch to wreck their large block towers…. and well sometimes I just want a moment of frilliness!

I decided that if I ever did have a baby girl she would have to wear a tutu every day of her life!!! With this in mind, I decided I would learn to make tutus!!! So my dear friend (and co-author of this blog) has two little girls and she is really good about humoring me and letting me play dress up with her girlies from time to time so I started with making one for her sweet Anna Belle’s first birthday!

This ended up being so easy… really not sure why anyone would spend money buying one when they are so simple! Let’s start with the supplies!

Supplies:
3 yards of tulle
Ribbon
1 elastic headband

You need 3 yards of tulle. Any color, multiple colors doesn’t matter as long as you have 3 yards total. I found mine for $1.49 a yard at Jo-Ann Fabric and used a 50% off coupon you can get in every weekend paper or online.  Add some 50 cent ribbon from the sale rack and you have spent a whopping $2.75. Not bad huh! For the elastic I just used an elastic headband I already had in my collection. You could use regular elastic if you need too, but the head band is really the perfect size already!

Step 1:  Cutting your tulle
The easiest way to do this is the roll your fabric up 1 yard at a time, cut the end so it is even and then cut strips every three inches. Then you take each individual strip you cut and cut that exactly in half.  Yep… that’s it!  Very easy!

Step 2:  Tie your tulle around your elastic
This is the most time consuming part of the tutu, but it is pretty mindless really.  I just sat myself down in front of the tv and tied it all up before the half hour TV show was finished.  So, all you do is take a strip of tulle, fold it in half, then pull the ends up around the fabric and through the loop you created by folding it in half.  Think of attaching a ski lift pass to your coat when they use to use the bands instead of the metal hooks.  Super easy!  Here is a good video that demonstrates how to loop tie if you aren’t quite getting it from my description.

That’s it really.  You are done.  If want to tie a ribbon with bow around it go for it, but it isn’t absolutely necessary.  Some people like to put the tutu under something heavy to flatten it out a bit, but personally I love it all frilly and fluffy looking!  There are a ton of variations you can do here too.  You can use all one color of tulle and lots of different colors.  You can also tie strands of ribbon through out the tulle too.  

Very easy and very inexpensive!  Just look at this little princess… sigh!  Isn’t she perfect?!  Maybe one day I will have one of my own I can gush over… doubtfully, but hey one can dream!

These dining chairs had gotten pretty grubby, but the chairs are solid so we didn’t want to replace the whole set.  We decide to see how hard it would be to re-upholster them.  As it turned out, this was so easy and cheap to do!

Total time for all 4 chairs: 20 minutes!  Total cost:  $20

All you need to do is measure your chairs so you know how much fabric you need.  You might want to get a little extra in case you make a mistake or want to have some material leftover to make future repairs using the same fabric.  1 yard for every 2 chairs will be plenty!

If you don’t get the Jo-Ann’s Fabric circular, just google “Jo-Ann’s Fabric coupons” to get a 40% off coupon.  Then, go pick out a canvas fabric that you love.

Here is what you do in five quick and easy steps:

Step 1:  Measure your fabric.  Make sure you have enough fabric to cover the enire seat part of the chair with 2 to 3 inches extra around all four sides.  Time saver hint:  Fold your fabric in half when cutting it so that you are cutting the fabric for two chairs at once.

Step 2:  Remove the seat part from the chair

Step 3:  Place your fabric on the floor with the pattern side down and place the chair seat down in the middle of your fabric so that the bottom of the chair is facing up.  You should still be able to see several inches of your fabric from all four sides of your chair.

Step 4:  Fold one side of your fabric over the bottom of the chair seat and use a staple gun to secure the fabric in place.  Repeat for each side.

Step 5: Replace the seat back on the chair! That’s it, you’re done!  So easy!!!