Small Garden Makeover Idea

Sam Franklin
by Sam Franklin
$750
3 Months
Advanced
Sometimes I think it can be quite hard to decide what to do with a small garden but with a little inspiration and some careful planning it is possible to transform even the smallest of places.

For us, this garden makeover was a really long time coming but now we have managed to get it all done we finally have an outdoor space that we love to spend time in.
As you can see the garden was a real mess to begin with and I am quite ashamed to say that we caused a lot of the mess. When we moved to this house five years ago there was actually a very large pond dominating the garden and whilst I thought it was quite pretty, it was totally impractical with a toddler running around. I insisted the pond be immediately removed and as a temporary solution we filled it in and topped it (badly) with some second hand paving blocks. Unfortunately, as we were concentrating on doing up the interior of our house the garden took a back seat and took a lot longer than anticipated.
The first thing we did was sand down the existing fencing and repaint it with a semi-transparent fence stain. I was unsure how this would turn out as it was not going on to fresh wood. We used a sort of gray/green shade and I was super happy with how it turned out - it looked like new fencing. We also painted the shed and changed it from a dark green to a light grey with a white trim.
Whilst we would really have loved to have lots of grass, trees and bushes it was not possible with the amount of space we had available. So we decided to totally clear the ground keeping a few of the established bushes for the borders. We used grey two-tone paving slabs and buff coloured blocks to edge the borders.
Once the basic ground work was done I then could go on to the fun bit of adding plants and dressing the garden. We found this table reduced down to a ridiculous price at a local DIY store and I dressed it with a pretty pink fuschia teamed up with a few galvanised buckets filled with succulents.
For the planting, I chose a combination of mostly pinks, blues and whites with a few grasses dotted about to add a bit of texture.
I filled the smaller border with lots of white and pink impatiens.
My hubby built this wood store out of a few pieces of timber and some old roof tiles.
The patio set is our old battered one just dressed up with a few cushions and blankets (that will have to wait until next year).
And this is the finished garden! I think the little details make it feel more cosy. Apart from the basic paving and walling I managed to create this look on a tiny budget. Nearly all the candles and accessories I used were found in second hand thrift stores. I know how hard it is coming up with ideas for small spaces so hopefully this will give a few people a bit of inspiration as to what can be achieved. If you would like to read more about my garden make over you can find it over on the blog : http://ahappyhomeinholland.com where I have shared it as part of a Summer Garden Tour Blog Hop that I have done together with 8 other home decor bloggers.
Sam Franklin
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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