All I can tell you is to put out an APB… All Points Bulletin… to all of your friends.

For years, Deb and I have this agreement with friends.  If one of us NEED something regarding a home improvement project, just text.  We will all keep our eyes out for the item.  I will never forget when I was looking for a piece of stained glass.  I put out an APB and one of my friends text back that she had seen a big piece.  Sure enough, I ran to the antique store the next day and grabbed it.  It worked out perfectly.

I did the same thing with this backyard makeover project.  We are obviously on a very low budget since it’s a rental, so I sent out a few texts and asked for concrete pieces, stepping stones, bricks.. basically anything people wanted to get rid of.   We hopped in the truck and picked up the goods.

Backyard Makeover on a Budget – Fire Pit

One of the items we picked up were these curb stone pieces that had a natural curve.  So we figured they would work really well for our fire pit.  The previous fire pit was made from bricks that are typically used when building homes, etc.  They have the holes.  Those aren’t good for paths or fire pits because they break and crumble very easily.

As you can see the bricks were broken and kept falling over into the fire.  So, we re-used the broken bricks underneath some of the packing stone around the shed to lessen the amount of packing stone we needed to haul in.  Remember.. this shed is temporarily here because we bought it ourselves.  So it will either go with us when we move or we will sell it.

We did end up moving the fire pit to a different area in the yard, too.  So Deb will plant grass in the old spot.  I think these curb stones worked perfectly for our fire pit.  They are very heavy so they will pretty much stay in place.  We had our first fire in our new pit last night, and had such a great evening.

We are still at $29 for this backyard makeover on a budget.

Today, I am going to paint the clothes line poles with paint I already have on hand.  And tighten the lines because they are sagging, etc.  Deb said she is going to plant the grass and do a few other things in the yard.  Keep watching stories over on Instagram, because I will share a lot there.  And we will probably have another fire.  ????

If you’ve missed any of the other projects, I shared some before pictures when we brought in our shed, and then when we uncovered the large limestone pieces and incorporated them into a sidewalk.