Upgrading your landscape, patio or deck doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. These ideas for backyard makeovers on a budget will inspire you to create a yard you love.
You don’t need to invest big bucks to enjoy the backyard you already have (or to entice potential buyers to envision themselves enjoying it too!). First, think about what you love most about your yard. The privacy? Sitting around a campfire on the weekends? Your gardens? Hosting outdoor parties? Once you’ve figured that out, it’s time to concentrate on playing up your yard’s best features. Many of the ideas here are low-cost, yet have a large impact on the people who use—and love—the space on a regular basis.
Decorate a wall with an espaliered tree
For a high-end backyard look without high-end expense, try this interesting technique: espalier a tree. Espalier is the horticultural art of training a tree or shrub to grow flat against a support structure via careful, specific pruning methods. You might need a pro’s advice to get you started and to teach you about the technique, but it’s easier to create a living fence than it looks, and it adds visual interest and texture to a blank wall. It can also help you create backyard privacy without taking up a ton of valuable space.
DIY a seating area
Furniture can be an expensive investment for backyards, but there are creative recycling options for make-it-yourself benches, chairs and tables. Here, low-cost concrete blocks, dry-stacked and covered with a foam pad, offer lots of seating in a high-traffic spot outside the home’s back door.
Soften the edges with vintage or handmade finds
Sweeping fabric shades—made from yardage, sheets or other suitable material—add elegance and beauty to a backyard patio space. Plus, they can be used to shield family and friends from intense rays at key times of the day. In place of more expensive light fixtures, repurpose vintage elements into decorative backyard focal points. Here, nonworking chandeliers are outfitted with candles and trailing vines.
Display a collection
Collections are often thought of as high-end or expensive, but a simple gathering of plants in miniature containers can be a great focal point for a backyard. Here, this plain shelf provides a good spot for a low-cost stockpile of succulents and cactus plants. The easy backyard idea adds a fun pop of color to the outdoor area, and could be a great way to add color and interest to a garden storage shed.
Use remnant stone for hardscaping
One of the most expensive backyard ideas in any landscape is hardscaping: walkways, retaining walls, edging. But the stone leftovers at your local landscaping, big box or nursery supply store may be a less expensive option. Placed together in a dry stack, the stones (such as these in the elevated garden section) offer a pretty backyard element that looks as if it’s a natural, always-been-there part of the yard. Low-growing ground covers soften the edges with charming blooms. Bonus: Those perennials can easily be divided to plant elsewhere and save even more.
Use off-the-shelf materials
Custom elements easily increase a budget for backyard landscaping, but creative recasting can get you the same function at a much lower cost. Ordinary blocks elevate lengths of decking for a bar-meets-cooking-meets-seating backyard idea. The same materials in a different configuration can also be used to create an outdoor dining table, coffee table or side table. Be smart about outdoor kitchen design, and the cost might fall well within your budget.
Go vertical with your gardening
Go green with this easy and affordable backyard idea. Urban spaces or blank walls can benefit from the addition of vertical gardens. Use them for hardworking, pretty succulents or even low-growing vegetables. These simple boxes—made with found wood—hang from hooks and are big enough to serve as a focal point in a backyard.
Choose a simple plant palette
Although including a huge range of flowers and plants in a landscape is one backyard idea, another is to keep the plant selection simple. That translates into multiple opportunities for dividing plants and covering more ground with growing material.
Add vintage hardscaping elements
Many hardscaping elements, such as simple trellises or arbors, can be found either used or at flea markets. The backyard idea is great for adding height, defining traffic flow or indicating movement from front to back.
Build color with containers
Annuals can be less expensive than perennials and shrubs, and they’re a great way to add color and impact to a backyard, especially when arranged in containers. Here, matching vessels offer design cohesion, as does a similar color palette for the plants. Another backyard idea: a stone slab on top of a lumber scrap makes for a casual outdoor side table.
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