Small backyard makeover

[marliemakesit]

From an ugly and unused space into a garden oasis! 

To start this courtyard and garden path makeover we stripped the area right back including removing the old bamboo fence panels, pebbles, plants and Astro turf. We then painted the fence using Dulux Weathershield in Woodland Grey. 

To prepare the area for paving we laid down a base of metal dust and compacted that down with a plate compactor.

We then laid our beautiful 600x600mm porcelain pavers and brushed over landscaping sand to fill any gaps. 

Once the pavers were laid we built garden beds using H4 treated pine. We lined these with landscaping plastic prior to filling with soil and then added plants including agaves, frangipanis, yukkas and olive trees (most were cuttings from Mum & Dad's garden!).

We stained the garden beds using Cabot's Deck and Exterior Stain in mission brown.

 

Finally, we built a bench seat in the corner using treated pine and clad with merbau decking boards. After leaving the boards to weather for a couple of weeks we finished the bench with Feast Watson matt look decking oil. 

Now we have a beautiful outdoor area to spend time gardening, having a morning coffee on the bench or barbecuing for friends and family. 

[Jason]

This is terrific @marliemakesit, thanks so much for sharing. Reasonably tight outdoor spaces like this can be difficult to transform but you have done a stellar job! I particularly like your raised garden beds - they look fantastic with the stain.

Those community members inspired by this wonderful project might also find great ideas here - Ideas to revamp your side yard.

Thanks again for sharing with the Workshop community @marliemakesit. We're really pleased to have you join us and sharing your creativity and experience.

Jason

[marliemakesit]

Thanks Jason! 

[marliemakesit]

For more DIY projects and inspo follow me on Instagram and Pinterest

[Dave-1]

Marliemakesit

What an improvement From an ara that was so so to this! Can imagine it being used a lot more activly now. 

Dave

[Caron]

Thank you for the inspo!  I had been thinking of using pebbles (ie your old look) but now considering something like this!!  Much better - thank you!

[marliemakesit]

Thanks Dave! Definitely, we love spending time out here now 

[marliemakesit]

Glad you like it Caron! We do much prefer the full pavers over the paver/pebble combo 

[Sharoon]

This makeover inspired me so much that I've decided this my next Project. Awesome. 

[EricL]

Hello @Sharoon

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. Thank you for joining the discussion. 

Let me tag @marliemakesit to make them aware of your kind words. It's great that this backyard makeover project has inspired you to attempt your own backyard revamp. Please make sure to post an update when you start working on your backyard. I'm sure our members would be keen to see what your makeover will look like.

Eric