My 2nd Backyard Makeover on a Budget! 🏡🪴 EASY DIY & Renter-Friendly Ideas

I’m finally introducing you to the last part of my backyard that needs a serious makeover! So today, I’m taking you through the process of transforming the 2nd and 3rd levels, focusing on two major problem areas to make the space more efficient for organization and also gardening! Not only has this part of the yard been barely livable or functional, but I am doing all the landscaping myself on the SMALLEST budget. So I’m really happy with how a few simple renter-friendly gardening hacks can get this backyard closer to a total transformation. I hope these affordable garden tips, landscaping ideas, and small, but impactful changes inspire you to get creative in your own backyard, no matter your budget or experience!

How do you think it turned out? Comment below!

_Every week I share smart, renter-friendly ideas for making ANY indoor or outdoor space feel curated for living. From practical design advice, to vintage decor + thrifted finds, to DIY upgrades and outdoor projects, I show realistic ways to make your home feel well-designed and more like YOU without a big budget or renovation!_

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0:00 Let’s Get Caught Up
2:06 Day 1 – Area 1
3:03 Day 1 – Area 2
7:09 The To-Do’s
9:27 Starting the Build
12:51 Deep Cleaning
14:03 Day 2
15:47 Finishing The Build
19:22 Day 3 – part 1
22:38 Day 3 – part 2

#diy #outdoorliving #makeover

[Music] Hello everyone. Welcome or welcome back to my backyard. If you’re unfamiliar with this space, definitely go check out my outdoor playlist so you can see how I’ve been transforming it from a literal dust bowl into my renter friendly homestead. I recently did this breezeway that I’m sitting under now. And I also kind of created this little potting station and table that I’ve been loving and using so much. That’s why it’s such a mess. But I wanted to continue on with what I started in April, which was like phase two of our backyard transformation. So, this backyard kind of has three different levels. I’m on the first level or level one and a half. The first level is mainly the patio area where we have seating and umbrellas. Level one and a half is like the breezeway where I have also like a passion fruit trellis and like a raised bed and like a little hangout area. [Music] [Music] And level two is where I have a bunch of raised beds and citrus trees where I’ve been pretty much harvesting things every day and using it in the kitchen to cook breakfast or dinner. [Music] I also often harvest something from the garden and take it right over here to my barbecue, which has been super fun. And this has just been honestly a dream come true having this yard and having this faux renter friendly homestead. But there’s still so much left to work on in this backyard as well as some areas that are completely undeveloped that I’ve started to work on. So let me go show you what they’re looking like and we’ll talk about my plans and then we’ll jump into it today because I hired a task rabbit to come over in like the next 30 minutes to help me with a specific project back here. So let’s get started. So, this is the other side of level two of the yard. I added these two wood beds back, I think, in 2023 or early 2024. And then by June, I gave this whole area a little cleanup and just a phase 1 makeover. [Music] And by April 2025, I had added some of these wine barrels to have a little herb garden here. [Music] And then I ended up moving this little table and chair set up into the breezeway, which I think is its final resting spot. So now this whole area is in desperate need of phase two of a cleanup as well as another makeover. [Music] This third part of the yard is the lowest part of the yard and it’s the most undeveloped. I haven’t really spent any time back here and the only thing that’s here structurally is this white playhouse. So, this little white shed on the property here is actually a playhouse. That’s why the roof is super short and it’s really tiny. We’re not allowed to remove it. I originally asked if I could remove it and put a shed or put a greenhouse here, but the owner of the property has like sentimental feelings about it and wants to keep it here. So, it’s staying and we’ve been shoving stuff into it. We’ve got like umbrellas and more pots and a whole bunch of stuff in here that just needs to find a better home or needs to get thrown out. Here, we’ve just got some additional stones that we used for projects. This is so that I can grab my lemons up here that are unreachable. I use this red stick. And then these boxes go back to the nursery and they give you like 25 cents a box. And this cardboard here we were using to lay down to keep the weeds out of the beds. This is what happened to the hammock. I ended up just leaving it here. [Music] Tons of pots here that are either broken or working. There was like a coffee table over here that I found for free that I never ended up doing anything with. And then I stopped using the greenhouse because it actually didn’t have enough space for me. So, I’ve been using the breezeway for seed starting. But, I don’t know. I think I just need to get rid of this cuz now it’s just storage for like all of these pots and things. Back behind here, there’s just more storage stuff like this trellus we found on the property, our chicken wire, this bin has like bird feed in it. There’s old hoses from previous tenants. Most of that stuff is actually from previous tenants. It’s just not ideal. And so this company, Keater, kindly reached out and sent me this 7 by7 shed that I could put down here on the third level of the property. And I thought it would be really cool to add some dimension to this area and just provide literally more functionality and storage. I think I want to keep maybe some projects in there like maybe some furniture flipping things that don’t fit into the garage because I’ve been keeping them sometimes on my driveway covered with a tarp or I want to put in some of these bigger trelluses, some of these big hoses, things that don’t need to be like sitting out on the property, like big pieces of wood that we use for beds. stuff that just does not fit in the white playhouse. I want to put in a dedicated shed that’s like weatherproof and also pest proof. As we had some pest issues earlier this year. So, I really think this third area down here is going to be great for organization and this really big shed. There was a bunch of weeds here clearly that we did not pull out because it didn’t rain so the ground was never soft and it was such a hassle. So, we just were like, you know what? We’re just going to let them all die. This whole area has never been developed. So, I really just want to try to make some progress down here. I don’t like that these things are here. They almost feel like wasted space. I could have more garden beds here or a corn patch or something. So, I’m almost considering maybe like ripping this stuff out and maybe even ripping this thing out. It’s really pretty when it blooms. And the blooms smell really nice. But, it ends up looking like this in the summer no matter how much we water it. And I don’t have irrigation back here. So I have to like shoot the hose from over here because it doesn’t even reach. And I have a 100t hose already. So there’s a lot of problems back here. But this is where I technically want to put the shed right underneath this big acacia tree. I think it’s the most flat and level and indiscreet area to put it. And it makes the most sense as it’s at the end of the walkway. And I’m hoping that there’s enough room between this bed that I created last year because I’d like to refill this and use it again. So, this task rabbit who’s coming over is actually going to help me build this keer shed. And I’m very thankful that he’s going to let me just film him do a little time lapse of it being built because as he builds that, I’m actually going to be working on this area so that we can divide and conquer and I don’t have to wear myself out doing all of this stuff back here by myself. There’s all this ivy that has come back and we were trying to just maybe like keep it under control where it covers the wall instead of having to paint the wall, but it does still need to be tidied up a bit cuz it’s so vigorous and invasive. And then this is our lowquat tree that gave us so many fruits. I love it. I’m obsessed with this tree. Down here, you’ll see that it literally just drops so many leaves. It fruits and then it drops 100 million leaves. And right now we just kind of gave up on this whole area that we created that was supposed to be our little seating area because I moved the table to the breezeway. So this is more cardboard that we were going to use to like put under one of these beds to block out more weeds. And this was just like an old saworse thing that I don’t even know what to do with. It looks crazy just sitting here. I have a bunch of weeds in here that need to get ripped out. And then these were two trellus things that I tried to make work for this tomato plant and they just did not work. They just kept falling over no matter how much I put them in the ground. So, they’re not helpful. So, I got this cage, but I think it’s almost too late to put the cage over the tomatoes. So, I might have to like create my own trellis. But, we basically just need to like tidy all of this up because it looks absolutely insane. I also just brought over a bunch of stuff that we need to throw into our compost bin right here. I’m also not even sure I want to keep these dragon fruit. And then right here, I had this really pretty poppy bed. They all died off. And so I do want to like harvest the seeds so that I can plant them here again next year. So I kind of want to define this more as like a little bed area and then define the path over here a little bit more. These are my shasta daisies that took 2 years to bloom. And so they started blooming and then they all died. So I deadheaded them. But now they’re growing some new blooms here, which is fantastic. And this bed just needs like a overhaul. It’s pretty messy and ridiculous over here and I’ve just been putting a lot of my attention into the rest of the yard and I really just need to give this whole space an overhaul. So, I’m going to be raking up all the leaves and putting all the stuff in the compost and trimming back the ivy. And hopefully by the end of this video, you’re going to see a finished shed in this little third tier area. And then eventually this area is going to be a lot cuter, a lot more organized, a lot more tidy. So, let’s get into it and get started. [Music] So, I was really happy to find Alex on Task Rabbit because he was super communicative and really nice and there’s definitely no shame in hiring someone to help you out, especially when it’s super affordable. I messaged Alex before he even confirmed the job and told him everything and sent him pictures and told him that I might have some more work for him in the future. And so, we were able to work out a deal with his rate. So, it was really affordable and super helpful to have him come over for 3 hours and level out this area cuz that gave me time so that I could work on the other side of the yard. [Music] So basically, he was just taking a flat shovel and trying to flatten out this area and constantly using the water to loosen up the ground so that he could then tamp it. So he was just measuring out pretty much an 8 to 9 ft area because the shed is 7 by7. So we needed some room to like walk around it. And then we also had to try to figure out where the doors were going to go. So the next step was to open up the box and take out the floor pieces because sometimes the best way to plan for things is to just put it there in front of you visually. You can plan for it on paper or in your head all you want, but until you actually get it out and look at it in this space, you really don’t know if it’s going to work. So, it was really great to have Alex carry a ton of the pieces down to this area. But, I have to say that all of the pieces for this shed were super light and easy to carry. So, basically, these two pieces just easily interlock. And I think for the next 20 minutes, we just took these two pieces and moved them around in different configurations in different layouts just to kind of imagine how the doors would open, what it would look like walking down to the shed, what might it look like from up above at the patio level. And finally, I just decided that the most flat part of the ground is over by this circle bed area. So, we were going to angle it so that the doors open up to the little circle bed. And I’m just going to move that bed somewhere else in the yard. But because of the gradation of the yard here, you can see that Alex is kind of like digging in and creating a little cliff in order to flatten the area and open it up enough so that the shed can sit comfortably. And this is why the majority of our yard has all of these random retaining walls is probably because previous tenants have done similar things and have never had a real landscaper come to the yard and officially grade it properly. So, I’m probably going to have to do something about the little cliff here that’s going to be next to the shed, but it shouldn’t be that much of an issue. [Music] Okay, so this is the area that he was able to flatten. And as you can see, it’s definitely on a slope here. I might have to back fill this with some top soil. But technically, this is where you’re going to open the doors to the shed, and then it’ll be shaded by this tree here. And there’s still like a little walkway here. So I can refine this at a later moment, but you can still get behind the shed as well. So from here, you’re going to see the shed. You’ll walk out of here, down this little walkway, and then to that other shed if needed. And we’ll kind of develop this whole area. But I don’t know. I think that that’s going to be the best solution. [Music] So, I’ve been putting in consistent work into the backyard for a little bit over a year now. And one thing I’ve learned is that it’s a constant chore. It’s definitely a labor of love. And I absolutely love the results of putting in a lot of hard work because it’s really nice to be out in a space that’s super curated and clean and tidy because I absolutely love spending time outdoors. But I was not used to how much maintenance goes into taking care of a backyard, especially one of this size. I don’t know the exact acre amount, but it almost feels like I have five different giant spaces to constantly maintain. And we don’t have a gardener and I do most of the work in the yard by myself. So, it felt really freeing to have someone come over and help me build a shed. And it made me realize that sometimes I do enjoy the meditative process of just coming out here and doing the work. [Applause] [Music] Okay, it’s day two and I definitely made a ton of progress yesterday. even though it kind of doesn’t look like it. I just got so exhausted with the heat and I really was trying to work with Alex to make sure that the orientation of the shed is correct. And I’m still kind of unsure of how it’s going to turn out. But he’s coming back to finish the shed for me, which is fantastic. I’m super excited. And I just need to keep plugging away at this little area. So, let me show you kind of like where I left off yesterday. So, I need to find something to do with these trelluses or get rid of them. And I still need to finish taking out all of this extra stuff that I’ve raaked into piles. I probably need to do some more weeding around here. And eventually I’ll have to get some kind of like wood chip or ground cover to cover this area. And then I want to put my mint and rosemary in a brand new pot here so that they’re not just like in these small tiny pots. I also need to figure out this area too. There’s a lot to be done here, especially taking off some of this like old ivy. But this is kind of the progress I’ve made, which definitely looks like progress has been made. There’s just more to be done. I often get comments asking me, “How can I make over my home? I’m on a severe budget. I don’t really have much that I can do, but I really want my space to feel made over.” And honestly, this is my best answer. Sometimes a lot of it is just the elbow grease and the time that you can put into really tidying up your area. Whether it’s scrubbing baseboards, picking up dead leaves or maybe just finally throwing out those things that you know you’re not going to need or use if for no other reason than to clear space for new energy and new things in the future. So, while I got started on picking up all of those dead leaves that seems never ending, Alex got started on building the shed. And it was a really simple build. I was helping him anytime he needed a second pair of hands. And the way that it works is that there’s a post on every corner and then you slide the big wall panels down into them and they just kind of lock in. And then you have to build the windows as like a separate unit. But once you’ve done that, you can just slide them on top of the wall panels like this. And then you secure them with these beams. And then you can slide in the front window. And now it just becomes like this sturdy square. And the rest of the process is just sliding on and screwing in the rooftop pieces as well as the molding that holds it all together on the front. And then putting the doors on as if you were putting a door on in the house. And it comes with a locking handle which is really nice. Okay, so here is the final shed. And I really do like it. I feel like there’s a natural transition from the walkway here that I still need to clean up down here to the shed. We’re opening it this way because this is the flattest part. Otherwise, we would have had to really grade all of this ground right here and it would have just been too difficult. I’m definitely going to backfill some of the dirt here or like put a planter here and maybe put some mining plants or even like hang some like aesthetically pleasing tools or even some pots or something like that on the side. So, is this ideal? No. But, uh I will find a way to make it work. And at least it’s flat back here and it’s flat in the front and it’s flat on that side. It’s just this part right here. And that’s just what I’m going to have to live with. This is a really nice handle and it locks the shed and then you can open it up like so. And it’s pretty big. It’s got these little nice windows in here and I think it’s super spacious. It’s about like 8 ft high so it’s really great for someone like me who is almost 6 ft tall and I think it looks really really nice. [Music] I also think that I could put the compost bin back here so that it’s kind of out of the way and it’s not in the garden area that I’ve been working in. And then I was also thinking maybe getting more of this and kind of extending it beyond so that it looks like more of an official fence. This little fence here was put up by previous tenants and I guess they just like never finished the job. So maybe by putting that there it’ll just look a little bit more official and finished. I’ll probably end up putting that bed somewhere else in the yard. And yeah, I think this is like on its way to looking a lot better and it doesn’t seem too awkward. I think it just feels different. It’s like a new layout for this backyard space. So, I’ll probably end up refining this path here and kind of creating a ramp right here that goes directly to here. And maybe I’ll cover it with like pebbles or stones or something. I’m also thinking now like maybe it would be cute to put like a little bench right here and maybe or maybe those like two little rocking chairs right here if I could create like a little platform. This is what it looks like from the second level where all of my beds are here. And I don’t think it looks that bad honestly. And I really like the wood slats. It kind of gives that fence feel. Here’s just another angle of it. It really doesn’t stand out that much at all. And I do like the way it looks. And I think this was honestly the best orientation for it. [Music] So on the third day here, my partner had some time in between work and decided to come out and help me and emptied out most of this playhouse and put everything in piles of like donate or trash or keep or clean. And then we also thought it might be a great idea to start taking out a bunch of these weeds as well. And there was just so much to go through because when we moved on to this property, there was already stuff in this playhouse. As I mentioned, it was leftover from previous tenants. And then we ended up acquiring so many different tools and supplies and materials to maintain this backyard and do all the projects back here like gardening and building beds. And it just kind of got out of hand and we’ve been in dire need of all of this organization and it’s really going to make such an improvement. So, I just felt like I had to say that so you guys don’t think that we’re hoarding a bunch of stuff in this playhouse. Like I said multiple times, a lot of this stuff wasn’t ours and a lot of it just needs to be organized or trashed. [Music] Okay, so there’s a few different piles here of stuff. So over here, I think this is stuff I need to keep but organize and just go through and probably clean. Like some of these are irrigation pipes and some trays for the pots and things like that. And then this is probably just all trash. I don’t need these cuz I have other ones and they’re just kind of trash as it is. I don’t think I’m going to do anything with this coffee table. It’s just too much on my plate, honestly. I think I’m going to toss that as well. And then these are just tools that need to find a home. All of these boxes, they’re like0 cents each at the nursery, so I can at least buy maybe like one new plant with turning those in. I don’t even know if like all of these are mine, honestly. I know I bought some to do like propagation. Yeah, probably half of this is going to get donated or tossed out or taken back to the nursery. Um, but these were like pet gates that we don’t really use anymore that we should probably get rid of. I have more pots back here that I probably need to get rid of and just more stuff to go through. But I’m trying to decide what should stay in here and what should go in the shed. I’ve also got a bunch of more tools here. There’s just like a lot to sort out and then I can finally figure out what to put in the shed over there. I think I might want to put some of this stuff in the shed or just on the other side so that you don’t see it so it’s not an eyesore. And then those trelluses will definitely go in the shed. I also want to clear out this area and spray it off and rip out all the weeds. But, uh, we definitely made a lot of progress out back here. On this side, I have some stuff that I don’t even know what it is. There’s also our old windows that we kept for some reason, and I don’t know if I want to keep those because not really sure what to do with them. I thought maybe at one point I could create like a greenhouse with them. But since I can’t remove this, there’s nowhere else on the property for a big greenhouse. So, this might make its way into the shed or behind the shed or something like that. I don’t know. And then eventually we’ll have to clear out this whole area. But this is what it’s looking like. I’ve been thinking that I really want to remove this square bed and then put in two smaller beds or one larger bed that’s a little bit higher up off the ground just because this one’s right smack tab in the middle. This was like one of the first beds that we put down and it’s just not an efficient use of space. Which also made me realize that it’s sometimes okay to just get started on a project even if you don’t know where it’s going to end up in the future. If I had never put this bed down, I never would have realized that I wanted to get into growing my own food and flowers. And look what that one step did to this entire yard. So, I’m kind of excited to return back to the beginning here and create more structure based on this one little idea that came from placing a random bed in the middle of this area. Our soil is mainly pretty sandy and so it gets really really dusty and so often I spray down all of this area especially when there’s no wood chips just to reduce all of the dust and dirt everywhere. And on top of that, we haven’t had literally almost any rain this year. So it’s actually good to hose down your plants in the middle of the day when it is hot and they have time to dry off. It can help reduce powdery mildew disease and you can even remove some pests that are living on your plants. So, I try to do this once in a while and when I do, I try to use the hose as a pressure washer to clean off all of the walking path tiles and all of the retaining walls and these random pieces of concrete because I have been known to trip over these things because I can’t see them. So, this is my way of trying to make it a little bit more organized and safe. I had one rogue bag of wood chips left on the property, so I thought I would just spread it out here. And I’ll have to go back to Home Depot and get some more. I don’t know what this is. There’s a bunch of like cement blocks all over the yard here. And I don’t know what they were for, but maybe one day I can like jackhammer them and take them out cuz honestly I’ve tripped and fallen on that before. And I took off all of the dead ivy here and really pulled out a lot of the weeds and dead leaves. I still need to go through this part of the bed, add more mulch to everywhere. I probably want to remove this jade tree just because it’s crooked and falling over and taking up a lot of space and creating unnecessary shade. But it’s honestly looking so much better. [Music] [Applause] You know, I always think these projects are going to be faster and easier than they actually are. So, I’m always having to reaccept that these home updates are a process that only get completed by chipping away at them over time. especially while I’m trying to balance life, like enjoying the summer and maintaining all of my other responsibilities. So, that’s why I’m going to wrap up the video here, just to make a point that some progress is still progress, right? It’s still a win. There’s clearly a huge to-do list for this part of the yard, which is why I’m going to release another backyard makeover/update in September to show you how I’m implementing some of these ideas that I went over with you in this video. because honestly once that shed went up, I finally really had a good idea of how I wanted to build some infrastructure around the third level of the yard. And I’m super excited to design it and also live with it. But on top of all of these outdoor projects and maintenance that I’m managing, I’m also doing stuff in the house as per usual. And my latest project has been the kitchen. So you guys will see that video coming out very soon to show you how I transformed my kitchen in a renter friendly way so that I feel like it fits in with the house a little bit better and also just meets my aesthetic a little bit more. Anyways, I hope that watching my process gave you a little bit of inspiration to get back into one of your own home projects. Other than that, I will see you guys on the next one. Bye.