NEW BACKYARD SUMMER REFRESH 2021 | Low budget small patio makeover

hi friends welcome back and if you are stopping by for the first time welcome to my happy home i am your host aurelius you guys i cannot believe i am finally getting this.

Video out to you guys you have no idea it took me i think over the course of three months to finish this video all because we had a bad spring there was a lot of rain we had some snow we had frost it was just about all seasons in one and there wasn't any good day at least the ones that i.

Was able to work in my yard so as you can see this is how it looks after the winter season i have a lot of project i need to do i want to take down this butterfly bush i wanted to do that for ages already and as you can.

See here most of the refresh of last year can use another refresh this lantern for instance so anyway there is a ton of work that i need to do to get the space ready for the summer because i can enjoy this in the spring now here is a look of all my dead geraniums and other plants.

That did last me over three seasons but because of the heavy snow they all died and i was so bummed out but yeah anyway i am going to get this done again i always like to start by cleaning the.

Pavement just removing all the wheat in between the towels now i like to do that because once i start my other yard work i won't be seeing any of the pavement anymore so as you can see here these borders they need a lot of attention i.

Also have my fresh mint growing here i love that because in the evenings i like to make a tea out of it but anyway these tables last year i thought they were so pretty but i wanted to make something new for a year as you will see the bench that i made and i wanted to.

Give them to my mom but when i went to pick them up they just fell apart at least this one so these were ready for the trash but yeah it is too bad but anyway i'm gonna continue doing the yard work right.

at the beginning of the spring season i always like to pay extra attention to all my plants in pots also the ones in the ground but more the ones in the past i like to give them some extra plant food for my roses i'm using this dried manure and i like to just give.

Them that extra boost so that they can grow really nice during the spring and the summer season now when i remove all my perished plants i do reuse the soil and i do use the same manure to revive the soil and reuse that for my next plants now here's my first.

Large project for me that i have to do is take down this butterfly bush and here i am going in with my little handsaw thinking that would do the job and of course it did with the smaller pieces but then i had this a large piece here and i went in with the heavy artillery and i cannot.

Use this handsaw you guys but i got it done and i was so happy and this is what came off now what i decided to do you can throw this out but i thought why not save up a couple of branches now if you have a large backyard you get branches like all the time but.

My yard isn't that big so it doesn't produce a lot of branches so i decided to save up some of these branches to use in my future projects such as my fall pumpkins one of the projects i've been meaning to do for some time now are these borders and to be honest i don't know.

What i want in this space maybe i want to redo this and get all the old gravel out and put in some new or maybe put in some nice plants or just close it up with towels i just don't know yet but in the meantime i have to read this every other week you.

Guys now anyway this is uh the first mess that i am left with i did all the yard work now and i am done so i can start cleaning this mess up goodbye.

Now that i've cleaned up everything this is what it's looking like and already it is looking so much nicer it took me a long time to get this done but i am so happy that i finally did here are the pieces of the butterfly bush.

That i saved i don't think i'm gonna save everything but yeah anyway this is what it looks like now what i want also wanted to show you is the view from my bedroom here you can clearly see how dirty these styles are so i am going to use my power washer to.

Clean that and this is just a view from my bedroom when i wake up in the morning or when i go to sleep it is so nice anyway let's move on ask me and in between jobs i do some housework.

I am hanging up my laundry i love it when the sun is out and when my laundry can dry in the open air and on the left you can see some diys that i'm doing at the same time i also wanted to show you my two lips because by the time i am ready to show you the reveal on my.

Backyard they will be gone but they were so pretty in the springtime you guys now let me know do you have lily bulbs growing in your yard because i have these three and usually they don't make it to full bloom because i have these.

Pesky bugs they keep eating them before they get to bloom so let me know if that is something that you have experience with and what do you do to get rid of them thank you goodbye another project i've been sleeping on.

Are these two tables i've had these swivel casters for such a long time i think over two or three years already in my storage and i wanted to do this so much sooner because even though i love these tables they are so so heavy to lift and to move around.

So i wanted to make it easier on myself so i decided to do this project now and it was a very easy to install i just used two screws to attach each of the swivel casters to the bottom of the table and in the package they came with four they were a set of four but.

Two of the swivel casters were with lock and two without and i installed the locked swivel casters diagonally if that makes any sense and here you can see how easy it is to move around and to lock here's a quick shot of what most of spring season.

Looked like so i couldn't finish my backyard but as soon as it was dry i decided to go to the garden center to get some plants now look at how cute this york in front of me was anyway i was so happy that i had a dry day to go to the garden center and to get.

Some flowers for my back and my front patio goodbye again will.

And this is always the highlight of my summer you guys i love coming to this garden center they always have a wide variety of annuals and this year wasn't any different and it is always at such a great and affordable price and this year i was going for pinks and.

Reds and whites and i always pick up my favorite florals geraniums petunias impatiens and the begonias because of these bloom so abundantly throughout the entire summer season and i brought home a bunch of annuals and i tried to keep.

It in the same color like this red pink and some white and i also picked up this perennial this tiny wine and i love the color and that it kept the color during the winter time now it is time to plant all of these i have a bunch of planters and old soil that i'm going to be.

Reviving i also bought these planters for my fans and i already had these so there's a lot i need to plant and what i like to start doing is making a batch of soil in a large planter so i can start filling the smaller planters.

First i used to just go ahead and start planting all my annuals and then only to find out that i used the wrong plants in the wrong planter yes that happens so now these days i like to lay down all the plants with the planter so i.

Know exactly which plant goes into which planter making it easier myself maybe i could keep you here someday but we come apart didn't mean to steal that time you had couldn't ever.

you've seen my video of my front patio summer refresh i will leave a link of it in the description box below i told you that i use a diffuser to clean my tiles these styles are a natural stone.

And i want to protect them using the power washer straight on it will damage these styles so that is why i use a diffuser it is always astonishing to me how well these styles clean up making such a big difference.

Now that i have all the cleaning done i can start decorating now last year i used two rocks to create one large one and this year i decided i used this smaller rock again i picked this up in the after summer sale last year and it was for i think 50 off and i thought this.

Green would go perfect with the theme this year because i am gonna go for a green and i like to switch out the colors of my backyard now these outdoor chairs that i had for a while i talked to you about them in my last years a video i absolutely.

Love them and this year i decided to do a different setup i wanted to do something completely different not having them next to each other and facing each other like symmetrically i wanted to keep them in a more of a round setup as you can see here and i'm putting my tables uh.

Next to each other instead of loose and i was so happy with the swivel casters making it so easy for me to move them around now these two tables they were a diy and they kind of came out like a nesting table i absolutely love how they look i had this for such a long time.

This had a mosaic glass top that broke during a storm and i just decided to spray paint it black and this cast iron table i've had for many years as well and as you can see it had a return top and bottom the weather just chipped away at it so i cleaned it up and i just gave it a.

Little send down and i spray painted it white as well and for both the tables i used some left over wood i painted or i painted i draw out two circles as a top and then i saw those out i sanded them down and painted them white and this is the end result i absolutely.

Love how this turned out i know you feel like you want me and i guess in the way you do holding my breath unraveling emotions i need some space to think this through and like i mentioned i love changing out my.

Color scheme and this year i'm going for green and last year i had yellow and aqua and these pillow covers i already have these but i didn't have inserts for them i didn't want to go out and buy new ones so i'm using the cushions that i used last year and i know they are not a.

Perfect fit but they will do the trick to give a little bit of back support and as you know i love drifting so i found this green tablecloth at the thrift store it cost me only two euros and i made my new cushion covers for them my seating.

Cushion covers and i thought that this color was so pretty it was nice and fresh and in my last video i shared with you how i diy this bench from these pellets i finally got around to doing this project.

And here you see what i was talking about this was the look i was going for i really did like the wood stain but not for this area now in my last video or in my video last year i also talked about my lounge chair how it broke last year and i needed a wall to get me through the summer so i.

Picked up a beach chair and it did held up but it wasn't what i was looking for then i finally came across at this one this was the one that i was looking for now these lounge sets they can go up in price really quick and i think um they can go over a hundred euros.

And i didn't want to pay that because i know you know me i'm always on a budget and i'm always looking for a good deal so i finally found this one on amazon for only 65 euros and what i love about is they are easy to install and easy to store away and this one has wheels.

To move around look away so you won't see me cause the pain is in my eyes it feels like i could break it any moment a great way to bring in color into your backyard is using these outdoor canvases they are.

So affordable i think i've had i've had these for a long time and i think i paid only three or four euros each now i am still looking for some new ones to replace these ones when they are done they are still good to go but they only seem to have.

Smaller ones these past few years so i do hope i come across the larger ones eventually but i absolutely love this for the pop of color another very affordable way to bring color into your outdoor space is using a table runner or in my case.

This year i am using a table cloth i came across this table cloth for only 2.99 and i thought it was such a great deal and i love the color it was perfect for the color scheme that i was going for as you know my yard is facing south so i.

Have the sun the entire day and it can get really hot even with the sunscreen that i had and the umbrella so i decided to create a sitting area here in this shady place here and i had these two chairs i actually had four of them one of them broke so i still have three and i take them out when i entertain so.

They are good for additional extra seating but i thought i would create this additional sitting place here these two little tables i've had for a while and i thought they were looking a little bit worn.

So i decided to freshen them up i cleaned up the glass and gave them a quick coat of black spray paints in my video where i refresh my summer patio i talk to you about the thrift store you guys check out your local thrift store.

For planters you can use just about anything and again in the kitchen section i found these storage bowls i thought the sizes were perfect and i thought i would pick them up to use as planters and i think i paid one euro or 150 for the set and i also remembered i had this.

Rust-oleum textured paint it is this aged iron and it has this rich texture to it and i thought this was perfect for these balls and they came out amazing you guys i absolutely love the look of this now you guys i have been wanting outdoor lighting for my backyard.

For the longest time really ever since i moved in i've been looking for outdoor lighting but i didn't want to break the bank i didn't want to have someone come in and install lighting for me so i was looking for something that i could install myself and then i came.

Across these sets it was early spring they were on sale and i love these because you guys it is so easy to install them they came with these spikes that you can adjust the light in any direction that you want and each set has its own power plug.

And you just stick it to the power outlet and that's done i'm gonna show you in a minute how easy this works and how easy it is to install it before i actually show you how i installed the lighting i want to show you how i connected it to the power line i have this extension.

Cord that goes all around my backyard all the way over here where the outlet is where the power plug is gonna go in now i wanted this extension cord to be secured to the ground i didn't know how to do it properly and this is what i came up with so far maybe i might use.

Some duct tape or something but yeah anyway let me know in the comments down below if you have a better idea because somehow i don't feel that this is the safest method to go with but anyway this is what i'm gonna do for the time being now that i have my outlet in place i can.

Start setting up the lighting here i'm just placing them where i think i'm going to be putting them into the ground and what i love about this set also is that the power line that comes with it the electrical cord is so long you can add multiple lightings to it multiple sets.

To just one electrical port and one power plug now here is the manual and as you can see it is fairly easy you take off the cap you put in the electrical part you push it down until it reaches the two pointy metals and then you shove the cap back on and.

That should do the trick so that is what i am doing here and you guys this was really so easy i didn't expect it to go even this easy but anyway i love this and this entire set i have a set of three and two sets of two.

And it the total cost was less than 90 euros so here you see me putting the power plug together and there you go they work so you guys i just want to share with you what just happened i wanted to adjust this and um it broke so i cannot adjust it anymore.

And yeah i feel so bad you guys it happens so yeah i'm just gonna think i'm just gonna duct tape it in its place and then how i wanted to have the have it set and then i'm gonna duct tape it so yeah that's a major bummer.

And once i set all the lights where i wanted them i went ahead and i just hit the electrical cord and the power outlet now what i want to show you is that um the ones the set of two i am just going to connect uh the wires together so that i only.

Have to use one power plug instead of two so that's so easy with the system uh this is where the power plug should go but i'm going to connect it with this loose end and then i'm going to get this cord all the way over here to get two more lights here so i'm gonna.

Have one there one there and i think one here and one here i went ahead and installed this one off camera but make sure you watch till the end of this video so you can see the lights on i got these battery operated lanterns last year but since i have my.

Electrical outdoor lighting i didn't have to use for these as outdoor lightings in my planters anymore so i decided to hang them up on my fence and i thought they looked very cute like this but as you can see the last one isn't hanging evenly because i just used the screws.

That were already in the fence but i will adjust that now as you can see now i also thought i would try to hang them in a different way so you can move them up front like this and i thought that was even cuter so leave me a comment down below which one is.

Your favorite hanging up like this or down like this so you may have noticed that i'm using a lot of lighting in my backyard this year now i wanted to make it very cozy when i sit out here in the evening with these lights on now what i like to do.

Is use regular christmas lights in my outdoor lanterns i think it is so much more cost efficient and i think it also looks very whimsical kind of reminds me of fireflies and this is what they look like up close.

And what you can see is i stick some of the lighting up the lantern just to keep the bunch of the lights up instead of having it all lie down on there in the lantern if you saw my uh backyard summer refresh from last year you noticed i had this large space that was just.

Empty and i had this sitting corner here but this year finally i am able to set up my pool and that's what you're gonna see me do next now i have these pieces of faux grass and they are not even resembling grass they're just some pieces of green math and some pieces are even blue as you can see.

Those parts were exposed to the sun you can even see the the lines where the pool has been so what you see me doing here is kind of like a puzzle i am trying to put all the blue parts where they won't be visible so that most of the green part um will be visible to the eye when the.

Pool will be installed i was thinking this year even as a project to buy some really nice faux grass and i already ordered two samples or two boxes with uh different samples and as you can see they came in different sizes first i had like these smaller pieces and the second box.

With the samples had some larger pieces and i thought these were all very very nice and this one might be the one that i think i'm gonna get next year because it isn't all that tall it is just the perfect size and this one i didn't really like this.

Because this one was a little bit too shiny for me it didn't really resemble the grass i thought it looked a bit like that grass as you can see i thought the other one the mod was uh looking much more fresher much more greener so yeah but this will be a project for next.

Year i'm definitely going to be replacing these blue mats and while the pool is filling up with water i want to quickly share with you this hack that i saw on pinterest now if you have the space in your yard you can totally try.

Those solar mats but i don't have that so i decided to try this for once you get a hula hoop and you cover it in a garbage bag and a garbage bag being black should collect the heat from the sun and give it back into the water and that should be um warming up your pool water with i think.

Two to four degrees i'm not sure but anyway i thought i would try it the hula hoops cost me two euros a piece so if it's a bust then i'm down 10 euros before i show you the review here's a shot of how this space looked like before i started finally here is the final result you.

Guys i'm so happy with how everything turned out and it took me over three months to get here but i have to say it was totally worth it now i cannot wait for the sun to do its job and get everything in full bloom so you guys i'm gonna leave you with a tour of this space and again make.

Sure you watch till the end to see all the lights on because it looks so so pretty in the evening as well so for now i want to thank you all so much for watching i hope you have enjoyed this video that you could have taken some inspiration for your outdoor space as well leave me a comment down below what's your.

Favorite in this video and if you enjoyed it so anyway again thank you so much for watching and i hope to see you again in my next one really really soon until then always remember to live love and love and happy summer you guys.

bye do you