Outdoor Candle Lanterns
You can use scented or decorative garden candles to make your garden attractive in the nights. Candles scented with citronella oil will keep insects at bay while adding an enticing perfume to the garden. As the outdoors can be breezy, you need to place the candles in special glass holders that can keep out the breeze. Colored glass lanterns that can be hung from hooks or branches can convert your garden into a fairyland at night. The dim light of the candles can provide a soothing background for family get-togethers or an evening with friends. Choose from frosted glass, colored, or other lanterns such as miner’s lantern depending on the overall effect you aim to create. Rope lanterns as well as lanterns made of steel or metal are also a fantastic way to enhance the ambience of the garden for a night time party and they look great even during the day. Candles provide an ideal combination of safety and beauty in the garden. The flickering flames add an element of drama and motion to the garden, making it come alive. The play of light and shadows can enhance the beauty of a garden. Candle flames are also easy to contain, making them a safe option, especially if your garden will be used by children as well, even in the night.Battery-Operated Lights
Battery operated lights can be placed in strategic places in the garden, especially in those areas where it is difficult to get wiring for electricity operated lights. This is so if you have a large garden and special arbors or areas that need to be lighted only occasionally. Instead of investing in expensive wiring, you can stock up on a few battery operated lights and enjoy the outdoors even at night.Outdoor String Lights
While candles, especially aromatic candles, can create a special atmosphere in the garden, you need to also add electric lights to the open areas. These will provide better light for activities such as reading, dining, or even cooking.Outdoor Light Fixtures
Just as you have different lights for different purposes at home, you need to have different intensity lights for various activities in the garden. The choice of lights depends on the purposes you have planned for your garden. If you will be cooking outdoors, you need bright task lighting over your barbecue, grill, or outdoor kitchen counter and stove. Similarly, you might want to install hanging lights over the tables set around the cooking area, to provide islands of light for the diners. Pathways will need to be lighted with sufficient light that is not too bright to ensure that people can navigate the garden safely while still keeping the garden cool and pleasant.Landscape Lighting
Apart from functional lights, the garden should also have decorative lights that can add to the beauty of the plants and water features at night. These can be colored lights that can highlight certain trees, plants, and shrubs, as well as the water features and other parts of the garden. A fountain that includes colored lights will make an interesting attraction in a garden and can be switched on when entertaining. Similarly, if you have a waterfall or pool, these too can be decorated with colored lights. If your garden includes a swimming pool, you will be able to host pool side parties or relax by the pool with your family even at night if you get lights installed in the pool and by the pool side. Installing lights in the pool and close to it is a specialized job that should be undertaken by an electrician who has the certification to do so and can follow local codes.Patio and Deck Lights
Apart from lighting the garden, you can also make the outdoors more usable at night by providing a mix of lighting options for the patio and deck. Include lights of varying intensities or install lights with a dimmer switch to provide yourselves with the option for mood based lighting. The only limitation is your imagination.Small Backyard Plans for Simple Living
People today are leading busy lives. This hardly leaves time for things we enjoy. So people are choosing an avenue towards simple living. Taking this concept a little further, and set the stage for simple planting. This basically means not cluttering up your small backyard. Instead, space out the tree and shrubs in such a way that there is still sufficient space to move around and create a haven that becomes your escape for privacy, quiet, and tranquility when you want it. Moreover, when deciding your small backyard, be sure to pay attention to the type of shrubs, trees, and flowers you want in your garden. Take into account, their growth pattern, as it could crowd your backyard and make it appear even smaller than what it is. Remember the maxim – less is more in this case.Small Backyard Landscaping
Before you start landscaping the backyard, check it out from all angles. Write down the features you want to get rid of and the ones you want to showcase. Here, you also need to take into consideration the architecture of your home, so that you plant shrubs and flowers that complement the style and design. Remember a small backyard requires more formal gardening than a sprawling one, as you are dealing with limited space. This lets you maximize the usage of space and still have sufficient space for entertaining and relaxing. You can go with a classic look, and fence your small backyard, so that you can get the privacy you need and also use the area along the fence to create flowerbeds for vibrant flowering plants.Small Yard Ideas and Themes
There are many themes that are ideal for small backyards and you can use them to recreate a garden to your vision. Here are some themes to get your creative juices going:Tropical Getaway
Use the space along the fence to plant bananas and heliconias. Along the wall of the main house, erect a trellis and let vines climb up. Get a small water fountain for the side to add a water element. The musical sound of the water will relax you and ease away the rigors of modern life.Relaxing Backyard
Even if you have a small backyard, you can still install a pergola. Get a customized DIY pergola kit that comes with precut parts and all the hardware and instructions you require to set it up. This is perfect for homes that want to have a place for entertaining without using up precious space to installing an outdoor patio. Select a customized DIY pergola kit that uses Western Red Cedar, as this wood is durable, gorgeous to look at, and naturally repels pests. Once the pergola is up, you can decorate it with flowering pots, have a portable barbecue and a few cushions and pillows where you can sit and relax. You can paint the pots with glow-in-the-dark paint and get the illumination you seek. Alternatively, place many candle stands and use candles to create a romantic ambience.Romantic Backyard
Install a hot tub under a Red Cedar gazebo. Make sure you have a privacy fence around the backyard. Plant hibiscus, passion flower, and other sweet-smelling flowers around the gazebo for that romantic feel. Use tiki torches to light up the backyard in the evenings. You don’t have to install the gazebo from scratch. Just invest in a DIY gazebo kit designed for hot tubs and you are done. It will take you just a couple of hours with a helper to get the gazebo up and over your hot tub.Family-Friendly Backyard
If you have kids and an active family life, such as barbecues, you should choose a pergola with a retractable canopy. This way, you can enjoy your garden, even when the weather is not your best friend. Use this space to add a portable barbecue, music system, and a few strategically placed outdoor furniture pieces to ensure adequate seating. Focus on planting perennials in flowerbeds to enjoy vibrant colors and a relaxing fragrance. A small backyard actually gives you many opportunities to showcase your taste and personality. It hardly takes a couple of weekends to get the landscaping done and you will be able to enjoy your handiwork for years to come. Use these tips to make your small backyard into a haven where you can create outstanding memories and increase the value of your property simultaneously.Playhouses for Kids Should Be Small
A fort should ideally not be a very large room. A small space, enough for your child and a couple of friends is just the right size. You can build a small room and ensure it has a door and few windows. Maybe a moat with a bridge will enhance the authenticity of the fort. Your fort could also have a small turret or tower if you are building more than a single story structure.Provide Appropriate Décor for Your Backyard Playhouse
To make the fort authentic provide some appropriate décor. You and your child could create a flag that can be draped on one wall, install pictures of weapons, and so on. Apart from this, you should also add basic furniture such as a chair, table, rug, and some lights. To maximize space utilization, ensure that the furniture can do double duty. For instance, a trunk or chest can be used to store stuff while also providing a seating or surface space. Make sure that the furniture, and any outdoor structure for that matter, can handle the rigors of Mother Nature. Make sure there is some insect repellant in the fort or spray all around there before you want to out hang out in the fort. If you do not like insects, then perhaps you only need to hang out in the fort in the winter. Make sure there is no rough housing since someone can get a splinter and that could wear out the fort even quicker.A Secret Opening Adds Mystery to Childrens Playhouses
If you have a tree or some shrubs close to the fort site, you can also consider installing a secret opening. This could be concealed behind the tree or shrub, and require your child to crawl or stoop to enter the room. Make the opening smaller than for adults to ensure your child feels it is more exclusive to them.Low Lights Bring Wooden Playhouses to Life
A well-lighted fort is more like a playhouse. Instead, provide shutters and low lights including glow sticks to ensure that the fort can be converted into a place of mystery and secrets. It is possible to build a fort using pallets or pieces of timber. All you need is a flat surface and timber for walls, floor, and roof. Another idea would be to purchase a basic playhouse and redecorate it to convert it into a fort.Playhouse Kits or From Scratch?
When building a fort from scratch, include defensive features such as a moat, windows from which one can keep watch for the enemy, and a secret entrance. Here’s how to build a pallet fort playhouse:- Begin by laying one or two pallets on the ground to provide a level surface for the floor.
- Next, check if the other pallets you have fit around the floor to form walls.
- Once you have tested that the pallets are the right dimensions, you can fix them to the base pallets using screws. Use OSB sheets for the floor.
- As pallets can have splinters (as already mentioned), use sandpaper to thoroughly remove all splinters from the pallets and make them smooth for little hands.
- You can place a couple of pallets over the walls to for the support structure for the roof and use galvanized sheets to ensure that the roof is water proof.
- If the walls of the pallet fort are too low, you can place 2x4s along the sides of the room and place the wall pallets on them.