Courtyard Makeover

I have had courtyard house plans since we moved in and finally we were able to update the courtyard.  Here are all the details!

We spent the majority of our weekend cleaning up our yard and courtyard for some much-needed freshening up. The weather was absolutely perfect all weekend {with the exception of some thunderstorms this evening} so we had a lovely dinner outside with our new next door neighbors. On Saturday night after all of our hard work in the yard, we went to a dog birthday party and then Iron Man 2. Pretty much the perfect weekend.

Unfortunately, this afternoon brought heavy thunderstorms so I had a limited opportunity for photos after we wrapped up all of our work. So, forgive the wet concrete, the firepit/chair cover flung over the wall {seen in the reflection in most photos} and the cats showing up in virtually every photo. Regardless, I think you’ll agree this a huge patio improvement!

I posted here about the firepit and chair set we got from Costco. Aside from that we hadn’t done anything yet, but if you remember, the courtyard is the feature that totally sold us on this house and so we were very excited to freshen it up and breathe more life into the space. It’s like a little charming secret garden and I love it.

Here are the before shots taken yesterday morning – very colorless:

And the after shots. I’m sure all of our hard work will pay off once the plants have matured more and we get to enjoy this space all summer and fall!

One of the huge game changers in the ambiance- new lights. Our puny little lights are gone and we brought in these lanterns from Lowe’s. I posted here about what I was looking for, and these were not only amazing, but a fraction of the price of everything comparable I could find. It’s safe to say I’m obsessed with them. We’ll very likely be getting more down the road to flank our garage doors.

Another major change – removing the rocks from the flowerbeds and replacing it with mulch. We have quite the herb garden going now with two types of basil, sage, oregano, dill and chives! We also replaced the round concrete stepping stone with a more organic natural feeling stone {the same ones we used in our last house}. The mulch alone just makes everything look so much cleaner and crisper!

I believe everything we purchased this weekend for this project was from Lowe’s – the plants, lights, stepping stone and trellises. The brown mulch was from WalMart. I would estimate that each planter cost me about $20 to fill {the tall spiky plants were only $9.99 and then I added a few impatiens and shade-loving vines and a small fern}. Both climbing vines on the trellis are varieties of clematis {the dark purple bloom on the tall trellis is from Lowe’s and the smaller vine on the interlocking squares trellis was from my trip to Iowa last weekend}. Our large birch trees are also starting to fill in nicely – another week or two and the leaves should be fully developed!

I’m loving how our whimsical little secret garden is turning out. It really changes the feel on the inside of our home as well because of all the little windows. The Famous Dave’s delivery guy {from this party} even commented how cool the courtyard was {pre-makeover} and said that we could totally walk around naked outside all day and no one would notice. Ummmm….not sure that will happen, but it really is an amazing and unique space so we’ll take it as a compliment 😉 I’m fairly certain all of our hard work this weekend will really pay off!