Fix up Your Old Furniture

Why buy new furniture if you can improve the old furniture? When you invest in good quality furniture, you don’t have to throw it away as soon as the fabric starts to fade. With reupholstering and refinishing, your old furniture can look as good as new. I revitalize my old furniture all the time. If you want to stop thinking of your expensive furniture as disposable and start thinking of it as something that you can periodically improve, you’re on the right track. I started this blog to provide you with tips and tricks for reupholstering, refinishing, and upgrading your old furniture.

Updating Your Backyard Landscaping With A Personal Touch: Ideas For You

Home & Garden Blog

When the cold and snow of winter finally seem to be letting up and you feel as if spring may finally be arriving, you likely begin to think about your landscaping and how you would like to change or update it. After all, following a long winter, you likely look forward to nothing more than spending some nice time outside enjoying your backyard oasis. If you are looking to update your backyard landscaping and to give it a personal touch but do not know where to start, you may need a few ideas to get you going.

Install a Pergola

Pergolas, also often referred to as garden arches, can add a touch of class and whimsy to your backyard landscaping and design. Pergolas come in many sizes and heights but all tend to be stand-alone landscaping structures with several beams across the top. While most have a flat, squared off open roof, some are arched as well.

These pergolas can be customized in different colors, sizes, or styles and are perfect for growing landscaping vines, climbing roses, or other plants that can grow and wrap around the structure of the pergola giving it character and a naturalistic feel.

Add a Garden Pathway

A path through your backyard made of stepping stones can help add direction and purpose to your landscaping design as well as allow you to navigate your yard while avoiding mud or getting dirty. Adding such a pathway can completely transform your yard into a whole new space.

Plus, if you already decided to install a pergola or other garden structure, having a stone garden path through the structure is the perfect way to highlight it and make the structure a focal point in your landscaping design. Garden pathways can be made of anything from loose gravel to ceramic and cement stones or even bricks.

Make Your Own Stepping Stones

If you want to take the idea of installing a garden pathway one step further, you can also make your own stepping stones rather than purchase standard ones from the store. Using crushed glass is a perfect way to create unique and colorful stepping stones for your backyard landscaping.

You will need to build a frame out of wood first that is the shape and size of the stones that you want to build. Then, pour mortar into the frame. Take crushed glass from old beer and wine bottles or other glass jars and items that you can use for such a project and create a pattern or design by pressing the glass into the mortar. All that is left to do is to wet and cure the mortar to create your stone.

Using quick set cement is also an option but for this option you will need to place the glass pieces in the pattern on the bottom of the mold that has been lined with shelf paper and pour in the cement on top of it. The quick dry cement will set and harden within 45 to 60 minutes and be ready to remove from the mold. You will end up with stepping stones that are entirely unique to you and your home.

Now that you know a few of the ways that you can update and personalize your backyard landscaping, you can get started in making your yard a place you want to spend your time in this spring and summer.

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14 March 2016