Transform Your Backyard in a Day

Does the sight of your own backyard make you feel gloomy? Is the space dark, uninviting, boring? Do you have ideas of making your backyard better but feel that you don’t have the time? With some straightforward backyard hacks and a little bit of DIY skill, you can transform your backyard in a day and turn that space into a place that makes you feel cheerful and bright.

Backyard Hacks

Take a day to hack your backyard with some DIY projects that just about anyone can do. With some hard work and a few ideas, you can transform your backyard in one day and turn it into a place where you love to be.

Power Wash Your Sidewalks, Siding, Shutters, Gutters, Brick and Stone

You might think your porch or your front sidewalk looks just fine and that it's not dirty at all. Power wash just one square foot of this space, and you'll change your mind immediately. A power wash makes an enormous difference to many, many outdoor areas of your home. You can rent power washers, and they're pretty easy to operate. They're also fairly quick to use. You can get all sorts of areas of your home power washed in just a few hours.

Pull Up the Weeds

Once you start looking for them, you're going to notice lots of weeds growing around the base of trees, the foundation of your home, your downspouts, and many other areas of your backyard. Pull up all the weeds around your property, and it's going to make a huge, huge difference immediately. Don't forget to weed in the cracks of the sidewalk and around the deck area if you have one.

Dig a Fire Pit

It actually won't take long to install a fire pit that instantly becomes a communal gathering area. This project doesn't have to be difficult at all. Dig out an area about 6 inches deep, fill it with pea gravel and surround it with rocks in a square, circular or oval shape. That's all you need to make a fire pit and make a quick transformation for your backyard. With a little firewood, this will be a great gathering place where you can roast marshmallows and hang out.

Refinish Your Furniture

It doesn't take a ton of work to transform your patio furniture. All you need to do is sand away old paint, create a smooth, clean finish, and then spray paint the furniture to freshen it up instantly. Add new cushions and pillows, and your furniture is going to look brand-new.

Hang String Lights

Every outdoor gathering area needs lighting. String lights are a simple way to get it. There are many different styles of string lights available. Hang them around trees, along a pathway, on the house, and anywhere else you want to shed a little more light.

If you don't have a convenient way to provide power to the lights, you can always bury an extension cord. Run the cord through a length of pipe, bury the pipe underground and extend the cord wherever it needs to go to give power to your lights.

Plant Flowers

Get a few packets of wildflower seeds and spruce up your backyard. If you have an old tree stump, grab a chisel and a jigsaw and hollow it out. Fill it with soil and seeds, water it and just let it happen. In a couple of weeks, you'll start to see the beginnings of a pretty, natural wildflower planter that's going to become a point of interest. It will turn that ugly old stump into an innovative and eco-friendly flower planter. Spread seeds anywhere you want to add some color and brightness.

Create Your Own Patio

Use steel walkway edging to define the parameters of a patio to create a sitting or grilling area. Once the edging is in place, fill the area up with pea gravel. You don't have to wait for gravel to set or spend hours and hours digging up an area to place flagstones in. A little edging and some pea gravel create an instant transformation and give you an area you can start enjoying at once.