Most people are sensible and do their garden makeovers in Spring/early Summer to make the most of their gardens in the warmer weather. To be fair this was our plan too but injured workmen, camping and rainfall meant that our makeover this year didn’t go quite to plan.
Trouble Spots
Like most gardens, our garden has always had its problem areas. As a North facing garden we get the sunshine on part of the garden for the morning, the majority of the garden in the early/mid-afternoon and then the section closest to the garden wall becomes shadier as the afternoon turns to dusk. The result of this is that the grass has never grown well and can look very patchy. We have tried all kinds of fixes but nothing worked as we hoped so then I came up with the idea to deck this area.
Decking
Last Summer Simon spent most evenings and weekends creating a raised decking area which would house the Rabbit Hutch, Barbeque and Garden Seating. Ever the perfectionist, there are aspects of his workmanship that he isn’t happy with but I think he did a great job. Our plan for this year was to continue to make our garden work for us.
Tile Mountain
I was provided with the opportunity to work with Tile Mountain. We have used Tile Mountain previously to purchase our kitchen/dining room floor tiles so we knew they were suppliers of high-quality materials and jumped at the chance. Our original plan was to create a path from our patio area outside the back door to the decking area so that we could feed the rabbits or access the decking without walking on the grass and traipsing the mud back into the house.
Tile Mountain kindly sent us the Surface Outdoor Sand Porcelain garden slabs from their Portico Outdoor Slab range for this project. As we began laying the slabs out, we felt the path looked too wide for the garden and then realised that if we only made the path one slab wide, we would have enough slabs left over to cover the area behind the garage, in front of the children’s playhouse. This would give them a clean area to play in wet weather, rather than the soggy bark they had got used to (and avoided).
Simon laid the slabs by first digging down a layer or two and filling with hardcore, then levelling it and applying sharp sand and cement. The result is a very clean, smooth path to the rabbits and decking as well as a lovely bright, open area in front of the playhouse. We love it!
Valspar Paint
We made the decision a few years ago to move away from traditional fence paint colours and have loved it. It’s something we are always complimented on. This year we knew that we needed to give the fence spruce up but couldn’t decide whether to stick with the same colours or try something a little different. We selected a slightly brighter ‘stone’ colour for the fences from the Valspar Garden colours paint and then chose three bright colours to paint the crossbars; pink, blue and green. I did worry that it might look a little like a preschool garden but actually, I love the effect now it is finished.
Novasol Spray
I have long been coveting the Novasol Spray Paints from all of the amazing craft projects which Kara at Innocent Charms has undertaken. Our small child’s bench in the garden has become very sun-bleached but still has lots of wear left in it so we gave it a coat of PintyPlus Tech Ferric Primer as an undercoat and then gave it a new lease of life with the PintyPlus Evolution Spray in Sky Blue. The children are over the moon with their new-look bench.
Still to do . . .
Sadly, after a rather savage hail and thunderstorm our Wayfair Rattan Effect Garden Sofa Set ended up with a number of big holes and parts snapped off after the sofa and chairs blew into a wall. We are on the lookout for the perfect replacement to really set out seating area off and we are also looking for some sort of garden screening to partition the patio area from the garden.
I love the colours you have used on your fence and the spray paint on the seat. It adds such a lovely pop of colour to your garden.
Thank you. We really wanted our garden to look bright and inviting instead of the same old golden brown colour. We love it 🙂 x
I love the end results! Those slabs look really smart and all of that colour is perfect for cheering up the garden at this time of year. 🙂 x
Thank you, I am sure we will be adding more along the way. I fancy lots of big potted plants too but Rome wasn’t built in a day 😉
The decking looks great and really love the way you’ve painted the fence..love the colours you’ve used.
Thank you, I know it won’t be to everyone’s cup of tea but we love it and obviously the children do too.
What a fabulous idea to tile up to the kiddies play area! It looks so neat and clean like that. Sounds like Tile Mountain did a great job and are easy to work with too.
We honestly can’t recommend them enough. You can even order free mini-samples which really help you to make your decision.
I really love what you have done, it looks fab. I could do with a bit of a garden makeover, I am often stuck for inspiration.
Thank you, it took us longer than we anticipated but we are loving what we have done so far. Of course it’s still not ‘finished’ – will it ever be? x
Your garden looks fab. I love the decking area. It’s such a shame the furniture didn’t survive. Hopefully you find something longer lasting to replace it x
Thank you, I know I was really sad about the furniture because it fits so nicely on the decking. We have had it a couple of years though so I think it became brittle 🙁 x
Your garden looks amazing! Totally jealous of your garden furniture, we really need to get some nice ones for next year x
Thank you, I do love this furniture. Such a shame it didn’t stand up to the storms 🙁 x
This looks really nice! I love what you have done, the spray painted seating is a great idea and the blue colour looks great xx
Thank you, the children love their new bench 🙂 xx
Your garden is my dream 🙂 I hope I’ll be able to create a cozy place like yours in my backyard as well.
Aw that’s lovely to hear thank you, there were times I wasn’t sure it was going to work but we are really happy with the results 🙂
Oh I think that you have done an amazing job with your garden! I know firsthand how tricky north face gardens can be. They can feel really dark and wet and growing anything is so hard. I love how you have made it a really lovely and bright space to sit in. The paints you have used are gorgeous.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment. Yes the North facing garden has been a real challenge but I am so happy with the outcome and the lovely bright colours 🙂
Oh this looks great!! I love the decking and the colours that you have chosen – it looks really cool!!
Thank you, there were times I wasn’t sure about all the colours but I am really happy with the finished results.
I love all the pops of colour, it really brightens it up especially at this time of the year. I hope your find some furniture, we got a bargain on rattan furniture in Debenhams if you haven’t looked there!
Oooh thank you for the tip-off will definitely have a little look on there x
This will be the place to be come Spring and Summer, love the colours
That’s what I love, even on a rainy day like today, my garden still has some spirit in it 🙂
Wow!!! It looks fab. It’s amazing how some simple changes can really make a difference.
Isn’t it, Hubby and I are not very green fingered so this is our way of adding a splash of colour x
Oh this is gorgeous! I love what you’ve done with the garden, that furniture set is lovely and I can just imagine myself lounging on that in the summer.
It’s a fab corner in the Summer because it’s quite the sun trap so I sit there and watch the children splashing around in the paddling pools 🙂 x
We are the same as you – a new baby meant that our garden makeover didn’t start until autumn and is far from finished. I love the stripes of colour on your fence, I might have to steal that idea!
Steal away, I love it now that it’s finished. It was worth the wait – congratulations on the new baby 😉 xx