Well…   Plans sure do change at the drop of a dime, don’t they?  We truly thought our new build would have at least been started by now.  We were hoping we would be in there doing our finishing work by mid-summer.  And moving in by the end of summer.   But, we finally admitted to ourselves this week that we will for sure be living here at this rental throughout the summer, even if we started it tomorrow.

Another reason to hold off building was made because of none other than The CORONUS!  Even if our crews could start tomorrow, we are just afraid that too many things are up in the air as far as the economy.  What if we get the basement dug and there was a halt in progress?  What if we get started and material costs skyrocket?  If we build it now, and material costs drop, we will have wasted lots of money. Things are just too uncertain at this point, so we will be waiting for a few months to see what everything does.

In the meantime…. we either twiddle our thumbs, or we create outdoor spaces where we want to hang out in.  (We approved all of this from our landlord.)

Backyard Makeover on a Budget

If you’ve been around here long, or watch us over on Instagram, you know we LOVE to be outside.  Any day that is nice enough here in Indiana, we sure as hell aren’t going to sit inside.  At our previous homes, we’ve had several different outdoor spaces.  We had a fire pit, a pergola, screened porch, porch swing, gazebo, etc.  And, depending on our mood, that’s where we relaxed at the end of the day.   Coffee was spent on the porch or under the pergola, happy hour was spent on the front porch swing, and television shows were watched on the screened porch.

Having a nice space to relax is a necessity for both Deb and I.  We decided since we would be here all summer, we may as well make some of the areas a place where we loved to be.

Shed to Store Yard Items

First up… we needed a shed.  There is no garage or shed here at the rental so that was a must.  We did the math.  Hiring someone to mow the lawn was going to be way more expensive than buying an inexpensive resin shed.  We will be able to sell it when we move and even get some of our money back.  It was on clearance and already put together so we got it for almost half price.  So that decision was a no brainer.

After purchasing it online, we ran to pick it up.  Social distancing due to The CORONUS meant we had to unload it ourselves when we got home.  Deb using a 2-wheel cart and me pushing, we soon figured out that it wasn’t too bad to maneuver.   We found the best place for it was leaned up against the back of the house.

Load of Packing Stone

The decision to put the shed up against the house meant we needed to buy a load of stone to make a level surface.  We bought an entire load of 11-F packing stones for $16 at our local stone quarry.  And unloaded it along the back of the house.  We used the broken bricks from the fire pit as a base and a filler for the low spots so we could use less stone.  And we used cardboard to cover and kill the grass and weeds underneath.  That part isn’t necessary as the stone usually kills all of that, but we had the cardboard so that’s what we did.

After unloading the stone, we used a tamper and a 4′ level to make sure it was all nice and packed down and level.  This stone pretty much stays in place once it settles. (Sorry about the blurry pics… they are the only ones I had.)

What else do we have planned?

Remember, we are doing this backyard makeover on a budget.  Therefore, we are trying to use everything that is here at the rental to create this backyard space.  I found a few penis shaped bricks ???? at the back of the property around a janky flower bed.  We will be incorporating those penises in this makeover somewhere.  ????

Grill Area

The load of stone for the shed sparked another idea to make a grill area.  Deb actually had the back legs of one of her grills propped up on bricks because the yard is so un-level.  ????  So we will be using the rest of that stone to make a pad for our grills.

Vegetable Garden

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being able to walk outside and grab our meals.  I have a method that I have used for the last several years and it’s basically fool proof.  I will be talking about that soon.  It takes a little more work in the beginning but after that’s done, you basically sit back and watch your veggies grow.  I have that all planned out as far as where it will be in the yard, what we will be planting, etc.  Stay tuned for that in the next couple of weeks.

Fire Pit

We LOVE hanging out by a fire.  I already mentioned the janky fire pit that was here when we moved in.  The bricks were in terrible shape.  They were all broken and kept falling over into the fire.  So we recycled those as the filler and base of the shed.  Now we need to find something that looks a little better to make a different fire pit.

Sidewalk

We have a step outside of our back door.   That steps down onto a few limestone pieces that were removed from The First State Bank here in our downtown area.  I have no clue how or why they are here but I remember when they were taken off of that building.  Somewhere along the line, one of the renters must have gotten their hands on them.  Those will be recycled and used in our design.

Clothes Line

I LOVE having a clothesline and I use them all of the time for sheets, blankets, bedding, etc.  That will be spruced up with a coat of paint that we already have on hand here.

We aren’t counting our shed as part of the budget because we will be selling it when we leave.  So far… we have $16 in this backyard makeover.

I am SO EXCITED for this project.  I explained over on Instagram that Indiana weather is really dumb.  It may seem like we are bouncing back and forth between this project and the camper.  And, we are.  When it isn’t raining, we will be working on the backyard.  When its cold and rainy, we will switch gears and go to the camper.

STAY TUNED.

Oh… If you would like to see what we did to our backyard at the House on Winchester, I have shared it several times.   Deb and I built a pergola and I talked about our plans, when we started it, an update mid-build, another mid-build update, and how I decorated it for Summer.  Those posts also show you how we used packing stone in our design of that backyard, too.  And, how we recycled concrete.