*raises hand high in air*
Meeeee !

Then again, I'd rather decorate the outside any day of the week than try to accomplish the impossible on the inside.

If that Backyard Thread ever gets started I wouldn't mind one bit posting a pic of mine.
If I showed you all the 'before' you'd hardly believe it was the same back yard and all of it DIY on a miniscule budget (we did a little every payday for a almost a year) so I'm pretty proud of it.

It's what we've been working on for a year this month so although it's not in it's complete 'my vision' form it's already held several large family gatherings and I was thrilled with all the praise I got ---- considering almost everything in the newly decorated back yard is from hand-me-downs, Goodwill/Salvation Army or yard sales that I've fixed up, repainted, repaired or used as something else--the praises made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Went so far with the backyard that I had Mr. Amity run a new conduit/wiring so that I could have a little table lamp on the iron stove next to the iron bench and a hanging light fixture from the middle of the pav.

So yep, I love decorating our back yard area to feel like a comfy indoor room.

amity what are you waiting for - just start the thread!!! I'd love to see what you've done.

mpmg I don't really consider my garden an extension of decorating but obviously it is to some extent. I fuss much more in my gardens, moving things around, replacing what didn't do wwell (or what I killed!) but then it's a much shorter season and less time to get bored. It can be a meditative process, too on a beautiful day. I fuss with my house but get saturated very fast and just want to get on with LIVING in my house not DOING my house - KWIM?

We do, we think of our garden as a living extension of our home...a big room -- with the sky as the ceiling...

Joann

Amity, I'd love to see your pics also!!

We have the front porch, patio and back decks which I do like to decorate, they are all fairly bare of furnishings at the moment though, besides the container plants I have out. We did a face lift on the house, then I became busy with the inside again. I'm still looking for new porch furniture and deck furniture.

As far as gardens, that's still on the list of things to do here. A lot of the mature bushes are in good shape, most of the flowers were so neglected they weren't salvageable. I did get one side garden cleared this spring and started planting. I also have 11 new annabelle hydrangeas to go in out front, but I decided to wait until it cools a bit in early fall before planting them. I have them in containers in the shade of the back deck. The high heat in the summer always seems to stress my new plants like that, plus last year we had such a bad drought, I wasn't sure what this year would bring. Gardens are going to be a slow process until we get the inside of the house finished.

Amity--start the thread, please!!

Absolutely! everything must co-ordinate inside and outside, hubby and I always do our own landscaping, even flowers must look good with trim of house..house trim is teal blue, all flowers must be pink, blue, lavendar, or fushia, here's corner fence one side rear and island other side of house and yes, we put all this in including lamppost only exception was curbing edging, no machine for that, even our car and our motorhome co-ordinates with house, driveway gar. etc.

Here is a link that might be useful:

susieq, I just moved from the Daytona Beach area--are you anywhere near there?

Last year we worked on the gardens a lot but not so much this year, decided I would rather finish projects and spiff up the inside( and finish the DIY kitchen) and then move outside to finish. I did make curtains out of painters cloth for my front porch and fooled around with furniture.
and YES Amity you MUST begin a thread about back yards maybe any yard parts you like. please?? lol

Oh my gosh, I think I like decorating outside more than inside! DH hates me putting stuff on the deck, and has rolled his eyes more than once on my yard designs, but I love it. One day I'll get pix of my work in progress on our back yard.

Susieq, that's unusual and definitely a first!

I love having free reign in the gardens! And I'm amazed at my use of color that would never be a choice inside the house. Nature guides me and that's the way it should be.

To fairytalebaby...nooo we are on the other coast of Fl. SW FL. and to natal, not unusual at all, I simply like things, well everything to look pretty together and not to clash! we get compliments galore on our home and landscaping, makes it worth all our hard work.

We always hear about bringing the outdoors in, so why not bring the indoors out. My living room is so small I have no choice but to extend the "entertaining space" to the backyard. I actually have more fun decorating the outdoor area than indoor because there's more freedom to let loose, you can get away with more silliness. Have you ever seen someone decorate their living room with pink flamingos?!

Amity...I want to see your pics too!

I do. In the fall I decorate my urns by the front door with fall pumpkins & a fall garland strung thru & of course at Christmas I decorate my porch area. I like lots of flowers & pretties around the front to see from the street & yard. We are having the yard landscaped in the fall with brick pavers around the concrete sidewalk & a plan the landscaper drew up. My pics are on webshots of some exterior shots if you wanna peek.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bonnie's

Bonnie--You have a beautiful home! I couldn't find the exterior ones, but the inside is gorgeous!

Susieq07,
We haven't been able to get around to painting the house and the added DIY sunroom yet but you've given me something to think about regarding the color/trim etc!

Great fresh look you have going with the plants/house color!

Thank you all for the encouragement.
Don't want to start a whole new thread since this one is here and you've all explained your wonderful yard/landscape and Susie already added her pics so I'll just add mine here.

Keep in mind, this was Budget Decorating!
Mr. Amity laid all the cement (except for the faux cobblestone steps leading up to the Pav.) a few squares every weekend and he (with my Dad's supervision hehehe) put up the Pav.

I created all 5 raised rock gardens with the rocks, we as a family collected over the years from Mt. Baldy day trips.
Lots and lots of great memories in those raised rock gardens.

I had emailed our own SquirrelH about suggestions for front yard landscaping but alas, that has been put on hold with all the funds going to the bath redo and all the water damage and mold we found AFTER we got started with the bathroom demo.

Here are some before and afters of the back. Nothing formal, but I'm really enjoying my new place of serenity.

Before.
This area was an 18 ft. round x 5 ft. deep above ground pool for all the years the kids were growing up.
The last kid hadn't looked at the pool in 2 years so we decided to take it out and make ourselves a nice garden area.
That got put on hold when my elderly (even more elderly than us! LOL) parents came to live with us 3 years ago.
Rusted metal shed for storage as we took in more kids, now used to help store some of parents' belongings and my own stuff now that we've turned my living room into their bedroom.
Yucca plant in the corner that seemed to grow over night.
During demo of 3 rooms (to give us living area/closet space/storage when parents moved in) the old pool area ended up being a place to dump the demo trash until we got enough demo'd stuff to fill/rent a slide-off dumpster.
{{!gwi}}

During.
Got the area semi-cleared out.
Yucca removed-Yipppeeee!
Mr. Amity started by priming/sealing/painting the metal storage shed.
{{!gwi}}

After. We did our best to hide the metal shed (can been seen behind the waterfall) but now that it's painted I shouldn't have worried so much about hiding it---doesn't look half bad with a new coat of paint!
I still need to get up there and paint out the Misters water line. And I still need to finish painting the faux stone and grouting around the waterwall/bench. I'll get 'roundtoit, eventually. *smile*
{{!gwi}}

Bonniee!

I looked and looked and couldn't find your yard pics but your other pics are eye candy!
Thank you for the link!

We do, too! We have an adobe hacienda-style home in the mountains of NM. Our small walled-in (to keep out rabbits, deer and coyote) garden has an Old World fountain, raised adobe walled beds, flagstone patio and a santo statue out there. Our front gardens and long front portal (covered porch) with kiva fireplace are typical New Mexican. We're in the planning stages for a backyard reno to add to the Spanish hacienda feel (adobe walls, kiva fireplace, walkways with tall adobe planters holding shade trees and flowers, another Old World fountain, etc.) I'd so love to get it started this Fall . . . if DH & I can ever find the right company to do it!
Here's some pics of our walled garden. We still need to add the flagstone to the walkway, hopefully this weekend:
This first view was shot over our tub in the master bathroom, if you're wondering.
{{!gwi}}
{{gwi:48311}}
And here's our (very New Mexican) goat pot on our front portal:
{{!gwi}}

Another pic. of my outside decorating, around our big oak tree..
{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

New Mexico looks like such a gorgeous place to live!And, Susieq I have always wanted one of those garden benches around the tree.

I have totally lost my desire to work out in my yard, so I'll share some pics of my mom's backyard. She is out there doing something 7 days a week and has made it really fun.

Daisy, I love your mom's garden art! Did she buy that birdhouse or make it? It's wonderful! I'd love to find one just like it. I'm loving her birdbath, too.
Lynn

Thanks Lynn, Most of the stuff in her yard has come from Lowes when they do their end of the season clearance sale. One of my many ex-BIL's works there and lets her know when it's on sale.
My mom's yard is almost an acre, and even in her 70's she is out there working on it daily.

Hi all.......The only front yard pics I have on webshots are Christmas ones.......sorry things are kinda dead at Christmas time. My red flowers were blooming still though at the doorway....can you believe? Here is a link to the front yard view at Christmas. I promise to post a new picture when we get our yard landscaped in the fall...we are doing brick pavers around the sidewalk & some more landscape. They didn't want to start until the weather cooled because of reusing some of the plantings we already have establised. Thank you all for the sweet compliments on the interior. :) Bonnie

Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas view outside 2007