When we were in England last year, I came to love the quiet secluded spaces I found in certain parks and gardens. It occurred to me that if I were creative, I might be able to create such a spot on our property.
A few days ago, I took the time to pick up debris and pull out weeds in a 15-foot diameter area underneath some overgrown laurel and lilac in our front yard. It’s a perfect spot. Now I need to find a low-cost way to turn into a space where I want to spend time. Can anyone point me to good resources for building patios or outdoor seating areas? I’m willing to spend a little money to do this, but I’d like to be as frugal as possible. (Maybe it’s time to start scouring Craigslist for patio furniture.)
Meanwhile, here are some personal finance articles that I’ve found interesting recently:
SVB at The Digerati Life recently wrote about simple, affordable changes you can make to increase the value of your home. Though she’s writing about prepping a home for sale, these changes can also be used to make your home more livable for you. When Kris and I prepared our first house for sale, we were shocked by how much nicer it seemed from just a few small changes.
A writer at Divine Caroline shared a list of the 20 healthiest foods for under one dollar. No surprise — most of them are whole fruits, vegetables, and grains. Maybe next year I’ll track expenses while eating only high-quality foods for a month, and then track expenses while eating only processed foods for a month.
Finally, The Mighty Bargain Hunter wonders, “Will frugality ever be ready for prime time?” As part of an ongoing conversation with a couple of other personal finance bloggers, MBH notes that stories about people getting out of debt are inspirational and exciting, but nobody wants to hear about a person who simply makes smart choices day-after-day. It isn’t sexy. Yet that person who regularly makes the right choices deserves praise, too.
This article is about Spare Change
If you are looking for a *private* spot as opposed to a gathering spot, these are my favorite seating in the world. http://www.skychairs.com/ They will have a minimal impact on the ground of your spot. Of course, I’m not sure how sturdy your greenery is: you might not have a place strong enough to hang a skychair from.
Failing that, what about just a designated sturdy blanket and pillow that you take out there when you’re going?
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When I was a young thang I built a brick-on-sand patio (1250, count’em, twelve hundred and fifty bricks). It wasn’t very difficult — the hard part is grading the dirt beneath it and coming up with inexpensive but durable headers. The project turned out well; it was very durable (still looked fine when we sold the place 12 years later); and because the bricks are laid on sand, drainage is golden.
I followed the instructions from one of those Sunset Magazine DIY books. Home Depot has a bunch of big, illustrated paperbacks for home improvement projects. Check their book/magazine rack. Also google brick-on-sand. Price brick carefully, though — I understand the price has gone way up.
Another possibility is crushed granite. If landscaping stone is available in your area, get 1/4″ Madison gold or something along those lines. To keep grass from growing through it, dig out the sod and the lay down about 4 inches of gravel. Do NOT be persuaded to lay plastic under it!!!!! This will harm and eventually even kill your tree. Either use nothing and plan to spray Roundup until the grass gives up, or lay down landscaping fabric, which allows air and water to pass through but discourages weeds & dratted grass.
Crushed granite goes down rather soft — at first you think, with horror, that it’s just soft sand. However, after a week or so it settles and packs down (especially if you sprinkle it a few times), so you get a firm surface that works just fine for a bench, a table, and other outdoor features. Again, drainage is good. A border of brick (if you feel decorative) or just ordinary metal garden border stuff will hold it in place within your lawn.
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i would LOVE it if you would track high quality foods vs. the regular fare for a month.
Last year, we went vegan for a few months, eating only unprocessed foods (and lots of it). It seemed outrageously expensive (like $200+/week for 2 adults and one baby). By the time we fell off the wagon and were buying the things that we used to buy, those items had obviously gone up in price too. So I waver back and forth on what’s expensive and what’s not. Is a giant salad with beans and walnuts more expensive then chicken breast, rice, and broccoli? I don’t even know anymore.
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I second the recommendation for a Sunset Magazine book or getting the magazines from the library or somewhere for a while. They always have good projects and even will show planting suggestions for different kinds of spaces. You might also try Googling “how to” and “outdoor room” for some ideas, though nothign I saw was as concrete as I would wish.
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Portland has a plethora of cob builders. You’ve seen some cob pieces around town, I’m sure. You could make your own cob furniture – you could take a class in cob-building and maybe even offer up your secluded spot as a class project. I haven’t worked with cob, but it definitely looks like a group project.
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Thanks for the tips so far. Megan, I love the notion of an “outdoor room”. That’s sort of what I’m going for, actually: an outdoor living room.
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We bought an acre of land with a ranch in New Hampshire, 1/4 in trees and for the past 3 years we have cleaned out some of the pine needles with a leaf blower and hauled them down to the town re-cycling center, where we found old bricks from a dismantled chimney that we hauled home to create an area under the trees.
There were also some old garden chairs that we hauled home, wire brushed and painted.
We planted flowers around, later found some garden edging stones, and garden stepping stones to make paths.
It didn’t happen over night,
. . . or look perfect.
but . . . it’s Free and we enjoy sitting out under the trees.
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MBH notes that stories about people getting out of debt are inspirational and exciting, but nobody wants to hear about a person who simply makes smart choices day-after-day. It isn’t sexy.
Aren’t the inspirational/exciting stories the end result of a long time spent making the un-sexy smart choices?
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J.D., Matt Haughey (of MetaFilter fame) built his own deck in his backyard, and it wasn’t expensive or difficult to do the way he did it. Incidentally, he lives fairly close to you, if I’m remembering things correctly.
As far as building the “walls” and “ceiling” — I would put up a basic pergola. The posts and beams are simply 4x4s from any hardware store — you need the four basic posts and then four beams across. Then just use 2x4s or 2x6s to build the top slats. My personal preference is to orient them east/west, because you get maximum shade during the heat of the day that way. Then again, you live in Oregon, and I live in Texas — you may want the limited amount of sun you get. Just remember to pay attention to which way you orient things. It’s OK to have the slats not “square” with the structure… in fact, I kind of like it that way.
For a northwestern touch, train the lilac/laurel… or my personal preference, hops, vines up the posts and let it cover the top and hang down the sides. It’ll take some trimming to keep the vines from overgrowing, but the smells and quiet rustle on a peaceful August day is sinfully luxurious.
Bonus: the 4x4s should be strong enough to support hooks from which you can suspend a hammock.
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I remember reading a low-cost way to create a pation area in one of the lasagna gardening books. I just can’t remember which one! Lasagna gardening techniques in general are a good, cheap way of creating outdoor gardens and also work with potted plants. I am sure that you could find it. A few years ago I actually purchased 14 square feet of interlocking teak patio tiles at a yard sale for $20! They said they bought it for $600 when they had given a party a couple of years before. I cannot imagine such a thing, but it sure makes our yard look classy. Outdoor furniture can be purchased at yard sales, but it tends to be be pretty beat up or missing a chair or something. I always thought that an old wooden table could be brightly (or mutely!) painted and decorated, and covered with a couple of coats of polyurethane for outside. And then some chairs made to match.
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I just did the same in our backyard. We planned it out and I did all of the work myself…including hauling the ~8 TONS of material in my little Tacoma. Totally worth all of the work though. I’ll e-mail the resources I used.
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Family Handyman has some helpful-looking articles on their site:
http://www.rd.com/familyhandyman/content/18277/
http://www.rd.com/familyhandyman/content/17623/
Have fun!
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Hubby and I are working on a patio project right now. Ours is probably much larger (12′ x 24′) than what you’d want but pictures are on our site. We’re using stone patio pavers over sand.
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I wish I can help on the DIY front, but unfortunately we’re not very handy people!
We’ve always ended up having to secure the help of some landscaping friends who are in the business of doing yard renovations. What we ended up doing is barter our computer services for their landscaping expertise to get our own yard developed.
I do check up a lot on what they have in Home Depot and Orchard Supply — that, coupled with books from the library on DIY and hopefully it’ll provide some ideas.
I love concocting yard ideas but I realized rather quickly that it’s another thing to actually execute those ideas!
Best of luck on your project J.D.! And I very much appreciate the mention
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My partner and I recently finished making a 12 x 15 gravel patio in our backyard, after a year and a half of talking about it and reading books & magazines. It turned out to be easy enough to knock out in a couple of weekends. We rented a gas-powered sod cutter from Home Depot, went over the whole area with it, and excavated the sod to a depth of about 6 inches. We put in bricks standing on end as an edging, which was the most time- and labor-intensive part, because we spent a lot of time trying to make sure they were level. Then we filled in 4 inches of 3/8 minus gravel and tamped it all with hand tampers. Finally two inches of 3/8 rainbow gravel went on top. It looks great now and we are spending a ton of time out there. Definitely call around for gravel prices – we ended up getting the two kinds from different places, because even paying two delivery fees it came out cheaper than getting both from the same place.
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If you’re handy with tools, find a set of plans for outdoor furniture and build it yourself out of treated wood. That’s what I do. A nice pergola like #9 suggests would be good and leave the ground natural.
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Even better… find someone redoing their back deck and use their old wood! I built a table and 4 anarondack chairs using the old wood from a co-workers deck she was redoing. Built 5 years ago and still in great shape! All it cost me was the Sandpaper, screws and stain!
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You might also check Freecycle.org for free patio furniture in your area. It’s a Yahoo group usually and you can just post a request asking for what you’d like. If there’s someone out there who is ready to part with theirs, they will email you and you arrange pick up. It’s a great alternative to the landfill for people and I think it’s fun to make sure my stuff is going to someone who really wants it.
We have two wooden Adirondack chairs that are peeling and splintering, so next time we’re going with the less-aesthetically pleasing but easy to care for plastic versions. Easy to move around to mow as well.
I also highly recommend a hammock if you like them – my mom has issues getting in and out at times, but does love hers as well.
Good luck!
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I think frugality for the sake of being frugal not that sexy. I think being frugal for a goal:
planning a great trip,paying off the house early, financial independence is cool. I think it is all in the marketing. Does frugality make you happier, give you freedom, security and peace of mind? Those things are grown up sexy.
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Definitely add an outdoor fireplace at some point. Great way to make the space work more for year round. It would be another good thing to look for on Freecycle or Craigslist.
Skychairs and hammocks can still be used without the trees or the right trees. Posts and crossbars with hooks can be used.
We followed Mary’s advice, but for other projects. Our neighbors replaced their deck with a sunroom. My husband helped them take it apart with another friend of theirs. That friend had been promised the majority of the material, but we were given what he couldn’t use. It was enough to build a dock for our mtn property (precut boards with holes already there!) AND repair all the damage done to our treehouse/retreat in our own yard done by a tree falling on it this past winter. We still have material left.
As far as gravel, our streets were just retarred and graveled. Leftover gravel was left in cul-de-sacs and available for anyone who wanted it. My husband has redone our whole driveway by loading up the truck with many 5-gal buckets of free gravel and spreading it. Plus, we’re helping clean up our streets.
Consider repurposing things you already have for the new spot, too, like someone else mentioned. An old table painted for a table, a chair used for a planter, etc. Sort of like you see on the covers of Country Living and the like.
I think if you are open to possibilities and mention what you are doing to friends and neighbors, you’ll get tons of free or low-cost material and will find exactly what you’d like.
I love the 20 healthiest foods for under one dollar list. Common sense, but great reminder to eat basic, healthy foods. I especially liked the fact that almost all were gluten free or have gluten-free versions. I’ll definitely share with my support group.
Need to check out the other links here. Thanks.
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This site has some great ideas: http://secondnature.bz/portfolio.html
You could get lots of interesting things from Craigslist and Freecycle.
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If you own your own home and are vaguely handy with simple electrical wiring, one of the cheapest, nicest things you can do for yourself is to replace all of the outlets and switches in your home. A new electrical outlet is only a buck or two but not having to look at that dingy old outlet that just looks like it’s going to throw sparks the next time you plug something into it is money well spent. New light switches, which tend to be more up at eye level, are a great visual touch (don’t forget new faceplates), and together they give the impression of a newer electrical system even though you didn’t touch most of the wiring in the house to do the work.
When I sold my previous home I did it for resale value. When I bought my current home, I did it for my own enjoyment and I couldn’t be happier.
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