Expanding your Outdoor Area on a Budget.
My top tips and inspiration! And the canvas roof my husband strung up over our courtyard this summer, an outdoor bathing area in a watering trough, a handmade wattle privacy fence, eating outdoors and more.
I’ve been dying to show you how we’ve been expanding our Outdoor Area as of late! Daniel (hubby extraordinaire) built me this gorgeous canvas outdoor room. I. Love. It. I can’t sing loud enough how much I love my new space.
Daniel built the frame with scrap wood we had, making false beams. We are going to paint them white down the road. The canvas roof is from three canvas drop clothes bought at Harbor Freight. He sewed them together, riveted the bottoms and ran rope thru to secure to the sides of the house. Daniel will waterproof it soon, but for now, it works great. I’ll update you on how that goes.
It helps to keep the Outdoor Area we call our “courtyard” so much cooler, especially since we installed water misters. We have been living outside in our new Outdoor Area during the evenings. I love eating, playing games, dancing, and cooling off in our new outdoor room.
We also took some wire and wired four panels of our wattle fencing to the ugly chain link gates, and it looks so much better. I’m training a rose to grow onto the gate as well.
I had this toolbox forever, hauling it around everywhere we have lived. I asked hubby if we could turn it into a refreshment bar, I was sure this time he would think I was nuts. However, he thought it was a great idea.
DIY refreshment bar:
- You simply attach the chain to the box and the lid.
- Secure box to the wall.
- Open the lid and use as a counter for your drinks and cups!
I sneak out after the kids are in bed to drink my herbal tea, read new cookbooks and cool off in this lovely tub. I am so glad we have a mosquito net this year, it’s nice not being bitten alive when the sun goes down!
Expanding your Outdoor Area on a Budget.
My top tips and inspiration:
1. Canvas, it’s cheap easy to sew, even if your a novice (my husband has sewed maybe twice in his entire life and sewed this canvas roof ) and it’s easy to waterproof too!
2. Setting up an outdoor bathing area is easy peasy (check out my post here outdoor bathing)Find your self an old tub, trough, barrel, or anything that you can take a refreshing dip in.
3. Make it a private spot, somewhere you feel cozy and comfortable. Privacy fencing, curtains, bushes, vines arbors areas made out of salvaged wood are all perfect for an outdoor area.
4. Get creative and DIY it, like the refreshment bar above. Siple little projects like this, transform an area! Follow my Pinterest boards for lots of DIY and outdoor living hacks.
I love to eat outside; the outdoors gets me excited about food! Maybe it’s the leisurely way we eat, or the fresh air. I don’t know, and I don’t care, give me outdoor living and food anytime. The End.
Do you love outdoor living?
– Abby Jo
Here is a video we did with my thoughts on outdoor living:
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