You may remember that a few weeks ago, Homebase and Mumsnet challenged me to makeover my garden for entertaining. With £100 voucher in my pocket and some tips from the Homebase website, I started on my project.
We moved into our house just over 6 weeks ago and the previous owners really looked after the garden. Now we have more space I am looking forward to entertaining family and friends more regularly. The Homebase website made everything easy for me. Simple ideas that could be implemented without a huge amount of work or cost. Lighting for the evening is recommended to give an inviting atmosphere so I decided that some fairy lights would look great in the trellis in our bench area. I have to say that at £4.99 these heart lights are a bargain.
Out of all of the changes that I have made to the garden, big and small, one of the most useful things is filling this strawberry planter with herbs. I cook from scratch a lot and I love using fresh herbs. Now I can just pop out into the garden to get some. The herbs were less than £5 for a mixed tray and have really grown well.
We have placed this by the BBQ with the idea of being able to use them as we are cooking. Although looking at how well the mint is doing, I think that some Prosecco Mojitos will be on the menu too!
My last task was the hardest, It was to create a perfect patio with chill zone and fire pit. I started by painting the trellis and archway in the bench area. I will need to do some more painting in the autumn when we can cut back a lot of the plants, but this has really lifted the whole look of the patio. It was looking old and tired rather than inviting.
Added to this I purchased these bright red cushions to make sitting on the bench a more comfortable experience. Again the colour of these cushions make the area come alive.
A fire basket was also on my list for helping create the perfect patio. At under £16 this was great value. Now my boys are older I can trust them around it, and the fact that I purchased marshmallow forks made them very happy!
The tips on the website helped me decide how to rearrange the patio. It suggested a number of areas to sit. So I moved our Bisto table down to this patio too. Simple tips like adding a few flowers from the garden to glass jars and tea lights dotted around in the evening are easy and inexpensive.
So just to show you, here is my before photo
And this is my after - helped by a bit of sunshine too!
What do you think? It is amazing what £100 and some elbow grease can do. I loved the ideas on the Homebase website as well as the prices. Now, I am hoping for some good weather so that we can invite our friends over and use our updated garden for some entertaining.
Have you got any good and inexpensive tips for updating a garden for entertaining?
Pin it for later:
I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity. I have received a voucher in return for writing this post
No comments:
Post a Comment