Making the most of a Small Backyard - Vol. 1

Living inside the city limits of my small town has it's perks. I am less than a mile from retail and grocery stores, I have quick access to school and jobs which saves us lots of money on gas and wear and tear on the car. A few things that are not so great are the close proximity to my neighbors and the fairly small yard we have. My front yard is nearly unusable with a very steep slope across it's entirety that goes straight down to the road. My back yard is really the only space we can use outside our home, and a good portion of it has been taken over by the detached garage/shop that is large enough to house two full sized vehicles. So I am determined to make the most of the small space we have left, and make our backyard a fun, usable, and relaxing place.

First, I want to decide what I love about my backyard.

• The patio
• Though small and uncovered, I love having a patio for the grill, the kids to draw with side walk chalk and ride bikes, and a nice place to sit potted plants.
• The Swing set
• It's definitely not the prettiest thing in my backyard, but the kids get so much enjoyment from it.
• The privacy fence
• This is a must have in our neighborhood with neighbors within 30 feet of each side of our house, and a public alley in the back. It's not in the best shape, but I'm sure we can fix that.
• Grass
• I don't want to sacrifice much of the grassy area in our yard because it's just so pretty and soft, plus it keeps dust that might get into my house during long Oklahoma summers to a minimum.

Now to figure out what I want to get out of my backyard.

• A place for the kids to play
• This means the swing set needs to stay in a level place with plenty of room and soft grass, and there must be enough open space to run, play ball, blow bubbles, and chase butterflies :)
• A garden
• I love to grow my own vegetables and NEED a good sized garden to make it worth my time and money.
• Comfortable seating for adults.
• If the kids are going to be outside, I have to have a place to sit where I won't be in the way, in the blaring sun, or uncomfortable.
• kid-friendly ornamental plants
• My great grandmother's rose bush is a beautiful heirloom, but it's thorny branches are not practical for a backyard where kids will be playing. So I need plants that will beautify our space without posing a hazard.
• Attracting some friendly wildlife.
• I'm not looking to create a den for raccoons or a snake pit, but having a few of the squirrels and birds from the field across the alley stop by for a visit would be a fun treat for the kids. 

I've bnen gathering ideas and inspiration from lots of places, and so far I've got a few projects planned. 

First I'll be creating a raised garden bed from donated cinder blocks. I was given about 35 cinder blocks about 2 years ago, and they've been collecting spiders and performing various jobs around the yard since that time. I've mapped it out and can create a garden bed that will house about 8-10 plants while taking up minimal space in the yard. I will be installing it near the back corner of the yard to keep it out of the kids' main playing space. Alongside the bed I have 3 large plastic planters that will hold my tomato plants. As an big bonus, two of my husband's coworkers have offered to give us some free fill-dirt, and compost! That means my garden will be almost completely free!

Next I plan to plant some sunflowers along the back panels of the privacy fence in an effort to attract butterflies, bees, and other pollinating insects. They will also provide an little extra coverage from the alley behind us since they will grow taller than the fence panels. Once they have wilted in the fall I can dry the flowers and save the seeds for bird feed for the winter!

As soon as things get good and warm I'll be raiding my grandmother's garden for some clippings and sprouts to start my ornamental plants. I'm also keeping my eye out for plants on the clearance rack at the local stores to add to my yard. 

Follow me on pinterest to keep up with new ideas and inspiraton until my next post! 

Are you planning any outdoor projects for the spring? Email me with your plans and pictures, and I may feature your project on my blog! 

mommamadehome@gmail.com

Happy homemaking! 

~Stefanie

More on Spring Cleaning and Renovation

As usual, life has thrown us for a loop. In my last post about spring cleaning I shared that we were planning on selling our home and renovating an older, larger home, but plans have changed. I won't bore you with the details of how this all happened, but we've decided that the right thing for our family and finances is to stay where we are and make the best of the space we have.

In an effort to get that process started we spent much of spring break (last week) painting the interior of our house. I'm totally in LOVE with the color of the main part of our house. It's called "Creamy Pebble" by Better Homes and Gardens. It falls in the popular family of "greige" colors, and is a beautiful modern, neutral for almost any space. I chose this color for my living room, entry, hall, and dining room (only because my dining room shares a wall with my living room, and making it all the same color made my life easier).

Pardon my little one playing with her new basket full of toys :)

I also added some new blinds to my living and dining areas. This update came out of necessity since my lovely children had successfully destroyed 3 sets of vinyl blinds. We opted for a slightly more expensive, energy efficient, and kid-friendly window treatment. If you haven't looked into cellular shades, you need to. They are durable, easy to clean, and hide all the strings and gears from tiny hands. The ones we chose also have a thermal lining on the interior to help keep heat and cold out of the house, while also providing room darkening (the best I've ever seen!). Though they appear to be paper thin, they are very durable. We spent a few minutes in the home improvement store hitting, scratching, and pulling on the display pieces to assure we were making a good choice :)

Stock photo from Lowes.com

We tackled a few smaller projects as well including installing a new digital thermostat, adding some decorative baskets for storage, rearranging the living room furniture, and spray painting the doorbell chime cover a nice glossy white.

 

We have a lot more projects planned for the next few weeks, including new laminate wood floors!! I'm really excited about those! The backyard will be getting a few raised beds and I hope I can get some outdoor furniture on the patio pretty soon.