DIY Backyard Patio Makeover on a Budget! 🏡🪴 EASY Outdoor Living Space Ideas

You’re not going to believe how this neglected patio has transformed into a beautiful, functional & colorful outdoor living space in my backyard! Today I’m making over our patio from start to finish with some DIY furniture and gardening hacks! Because this makeover needed to be completed on a serious budget, we filled this patio with free or secondhand outdoor furniture & decor. By adding in small, affordable changes like $10 string lights and basic landscaping, I’m confident we can effortlessly entertain and lounge around in the summer months! I hope these affordable design tricks give you some inspiration to revamp your own backyard, patio, rooftop or balcony space — despite your budget or experience!

How do you think it turned out? Comment below!

Check out my HOME UPDATES playlist here! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMUAg3aweJPwdgzfB7iVxG_Y1jJYBxdbz

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✌🏼 LK
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+Ryobi Multitool: https://amzn.to/3VPzFbx
+Contoured Sanding Blocks: https://amzn.to/3U7HnMZ
+Solar Tiki Torches: https://amzn.to/3UieJsJ
+Dense Foam Rollers: https://amzn.to/3J7a2vp
+Rustoleum Spray Grip: https://amzn.to/3xtDzNe
+Mosquito Repellant: https://amzn.to/3xoSmbU
+Milwuakee Gloves: https://amzn.to/4aHQjhj
+Comparable Stackable Pots: https://amzn.to/3JbjFJw
+Outdoor Pillow Cases: https://amzn.to/3JaBA2S
+Raised Bed: https://tinyurl.com/3x7rfmet
+Behr Tight Space Brush: https://tinyurl.com/2d227wcd
+IKEA Rug: https://tinyurl.com/m6t7eh33

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✶ If you’re new here, my name is LK and I’m a design focused renter in San Diego. I love California aesthetic, Thrifting, DIY + Vintage Home Decor!

0:00 Where to start?
0:31 Total Garbage
3:04 Repair
5:38 Landscaping
13:54 The Bench
17:38 Final Touches
25:51 The Reveal

Music by Epidemic Sound & Thematic:
Sam Celentano – Ovaltine Sunset – https://thmatc.co/?l=4A256F98
Chinsaku – Blossom – https://thmatc.co/?l=8C86C46E
Ryan Little – Think About You – https://thmatc.co/?l=0058BC54
Mark Generous – Meganne – https://thmatc.co/?l=9F2A0FB8
Mark Generous – White Peony – https://thmatc.co/?
l=5DBE347F

**Some links may be affiliate links which would earn me the tiniest commission**

#diy #outdoorliving #makeover

[Music] hello everyone warning what you’re about to see is total garbage my backyard patio is an absolute mess and I really want it to be functional for the warmer months but I am honestly so overwhelmed by it so I’m going to take you through the process of me transforming it into something clean and colorful for spring and summer so let me show you what we’re working with [Music] okay so this is the outdoor area that we’re currently working with the backyard came with these brick tiles that are pretty nice because it kind of centers and anchors this area it is a little bit uneven but I don’t think we’re going to put in the time and effort to level out this area so it’s going to work for now but Furniture wise this table is something I found on the street and I literally just grabbed it so that we could have something to play games on out here and these rugs these are just old outdoor rugs that are gross now from the rain this is some Ikea table that’s just full of water and dirt so I might want to repaint that or do something with it as like a side table the house also came with this little side table thing don’t know if I want to use that at the moment these are two terra cotta pots that are stuck together I’m not sure what to do with this at the moment I found this bench on the street at our last house and I got it because all it looked like it needed was a new piece of wood right here and I think it would be really nice to have because it fits a lot of people and it’s kind of comfortable as well these are two Ikea chairs and I’ve had this one forever there was actually two and we ended up selling one because our balcony was so small so then we ended up finding this one in the aiz section when we moved but it’s just in the wood tone and so unfortunately I really like this coloring but this one is white and I’m not going to sand it back to look like that so we might end up just painting these to match and then this is an umbrella I actually got from rid for like maybe $11 it was on sale during like the winter time and uh it’s been working pretty great I just have this like stand that I got off Amazon and it’s just on an angle because this is really not a flat area so I don’t know if we want to keep these pots but I’ve got these really cool like solar tiki torches here so we don’t have to have any open flame and then we’ve got these really nice lights that Connect into the Breezeway here and then they come over here as well we thought it might be nice to have like a gazebo kind of thing or pergola kind of come out here with more lights because it’s really pretty out here but it does get pretty bright at night so we wouldn’t need it so it’s a really nice area it just needs a lot of work and there’s a lot of like random pieces of furniture that are pretty busted so we’re going to have to come up with something to make this yard look nice and I just really wanted to feel like it’s an intentional kind of outdoor living space um I don’t know how much much we can do because I’m on a severe budget we’re going to find a way to make it look good so let’s get into it all righty so I measured the slat that’s broken on this bench and went to Home Depot and found a similar piece of wood in thickness and then I was able to go over to my brother-in-law’s garage full of really cool woodworking tools and I was able to use his table saw and we cut it down to size in width and length and then we took one of his chamfers and basically rounded The Edge so it’s not as sharp as the bottom here as you can see it’s a little bit more rounded so that when you sit on it it’s not as Pokey and it actually feels comfortable so this is literally an identical slat to what’s on this bench right now so I’m just going to pop off the broken one we’ll put this one on and then we’ll get to making this look brand new [Music] again [Music] so this was probably the most detailed process I just wanted to make sure I was going to get the holes right I put the board on the back and I measured on either side and just made a pencil Mark and then I also measured with my ruler and tried to get the center point as well and then I just drilled about halfway into it to make a pilot hole so that it didn’t crack when I actually drilled the screw in in and connected it back to the [Music] bench all righty well it’s on here and I think it looks really good it’s really sturdy I just need to sand everything [Music] down [Music] okay so I made some progress and this took about an hour or so but it’s getting overcast and a little bit dark outside so I want to revisit this tomorrow I also want to think on whether I want to stain this or paint it painting is going to be so much easier I’m not going to have to be so careful with sanding this down um but staining would look so nice something like you know like that IKEA chair that I have right now that teak kind of color would look really nice so I want to consider that but I will revisit this tomorrow and let you know what my thoughts are okay so it’s been a minute because we’ve had tons of rain and hail and just like not ideal weather for doing a patio makeover and so in between where it was like Sunny for a couple hours I was doing a couple gardening projects like planting some wild flowers for the summer and spring as well as planting a bunch of different veggies so I didn’t get any of that on camera just because it was like half of it we were actually doing in the rain cuz I just want to make sure that I’m getting everything in the ground before the season starts so I want to show you that real quick and then I also think today would be a perfect day because it seems like there’s absolutely zero clouds in the sky I thought I might as well do a little bit of gardening because I think part of a patio space is like the foliage you know like when you’re outside you want to be part of the manicur nature and so I would like some like veggies like Lett uses and radishes and things like that that I can grab for I’ve also got some cute little tomato plants that I’ve been trying to develop so I think having that around this patio area would just kind of make it really nice and then also I want to plant some of the cactuses so just give that like desert Vibe then we can kind of return to the furniture I’ll show you where I’m at with the bench when we’re done with [Music] this so first this is the cactus I picked up with that one and the other one and I planted this one in the middle of the rain but I want to put the other big one here so that it doesn’t just seem like one Cactus coming out of the ground I’m definitely going to take those out of those pots and put something else maybe like blueberries or something so I actually created this bed with cinder blocks that we found on the property so we didn’t have to buy them and I filled up every hole with a different seed so these were wild flowers I planted before building this so we kind of left this side untouched but this has got some Golden Boy beets some dino kale some lettuce bok choy and then these are all flowers that are coming up currently and then these are all like herbs that just haven’t emerged yet and then these are chives these were also found on the property these two things only one of them is coming up so far and then these are wild flowers and then this bed right here is a strawberry bed so I got this from epic gardening and I love the color of it I think it’s really nice looking and then this is our wild strawberry right in the middle here but then these are a couple that I picked up from Home Depot for only $5 so I’m going to hope F get some strawberries in here then I created this like really halfhazard ugly garden bed with other bricks that I found on the property and I planted some old potatoes and they’re actually sprouting with all the rain that we’ve had so hopefully we get a lot of golden potatoes here so these are some yellow peppers and then this is a beef steak tomato plant and I used those two terracotta pots that were connected to each other and then this right here is another bell pepper it just does green and red and then over here I actually added some Mulch and bricks around the orange tree just to make make it look a little bit nicer and retain the moisture in there and then here we took out all of these like Chaz methas and we actually created this bed with some blocks and 2x4s basically from Home Depot so we’re in the process of filling it up with soil and then over here I added some Mulch and bricks around the plum tree and we just removed as you can see like tons of those Chas manthia weeds like these ones right here and then over here we’ve actually got our spring onions that came up and so I think I want to turn this into an official bed at some point so hopefully you don’t mind the little backyard impromptu update I think Home and Garden go well together so hopefully you guys feel the same way I really think after making some upgrades here with these plants it’s going to really change the landscape so I went to the Dollar Tree and I saw these triangle-shaped Planters and a ton of seeds so I picked up a good amount because this stuff can be quite pricey at the big box stores or hardware stores the one reason I wanted these pots were because they stack which is super cool and if you’ve ever gone online and looked for like a vertical garden they at least like $75 or so so I only spent maybe $12 on these so I basically can have a big vertical garden or I could split it in half and have two mini [Music] ones and then on the bottom of these Planters you can pop out the holes for drainage and I found the easiest way to do that was to just use a [Music] drill I got so many different types of flour mixes and veggies mixes I’ve got Sunny ones shaded ones sunflowers ground cover some that are bulbs that don’t pop up till summer I just really want this yard to look super Lush and colorful by like May or June if possible after that I went to Walmart and I saw these giant bags of soil for only $5 so I mix them in with some vermiculite and seed stting mix just so the seeds can get enough sun to sprout I think I’m going to be definitely planting most of these in the Triangle Planters I want to do lettuces for sure and then maybe some beets and radishes and then once the seedlings get bigger I can just transplant them to a bigger pot or bed all righty so these are all filled up with different seeds and they’re all labeled and I will just end up watering these a little bit tonight but we’ll see what comes [Music] up I actually did plant some full shade wild flowers here as well which are starting to come up which is awesome I’m also thinking I might need to add some more pebbles in here and just make it look a little bit more manicured and maybe in the in between of these tiles I’m not really too sure and then these walking Stones it would be nice if they were all like the same but right now they’re just so random that it doesn’t even really have a path to begin with so we need to work on that as well so I think the first step is to just clean off this entire [Music] [Music] area [Music] I’m so glad that I actually removed all of the weeds from the tiles it just looks so much cleaner and I also don’t know if I want to add more Pebbles and little rocks in between each tile because I don’t want to spend the money on Stone glue to keep them there but it is an option I’m thinking [Music] about I’m I really was in a war with these and these are so gross looking to me they’re like definitely rootbound and they stink so bad so can’t wait to use them for something else this was honestly worth it because these are really nice terra cotta pots they’re really great size and they would definitely cost at least 30 bucks at Home Depot and they also have drainage which is great and it’s just great that I was able to inherit all of this stuff from previous tenants it is actually quite shocking how hot it can be in the sun when it was like 48° and raining the other day I’m going to have to cool off for just a [Music] [Music] moment [Music] a okay I think I’ve reached a stopping point this is all clear and clean I want to find a way to clean these tiles and also just maybe add a little bit more pebbles in here but I want to go shopping for an area rug just in case I end up wanting one I think I just need to also figure out what to do with these pots here and the other ones I unloaded earlier but I deweed this entire area and it looks really nice and then I think we’ll follow up tomorrow with the bench but I’ll meet up with you then so this is a must I am constantly getting bit by mosquitoes even at this time of year because it’s kind of warmer out at the moment I’m going to link this down below if you’re like me because honestly it’s odorless not sticky 8h hour protection and it’s pretty great and I think it’s like non-toxic as well so highly recommend but it’s been a while since we talked so let’s get started on this bench so I did the majority of the sanding on here it’s pretty much done but there are some areas like inside these nooks and crannies that were really hard to get and so I found something that might help me and it’s this box of like sanding blocks and basically they’ve got like different grooves on them so like this one for example because I needed something to get into the round bubbly part of the legs and so this is like kind of velcro and then this is for like an orbital sander and it’s also velcro as you can maybe hear and so you just stick this on here and it takes the shape of it and then you can kind of stick it in between where you need so let’s try [Music] that okay so I had to put my hair up cuz it’s like 75° surprisingly so if you ever want to do a project like this and actually stain it then you definitely need something like this to get in the corners I also found out later in the game after using my hand too much with this that I could actually take my multi-tool and this has that same like velcro texture and this is the softer one so I can just go like this and turn it on and I don’t have to wear out my hand or my arm so this is actually a really awesome combination that I highly highly recommend if you want to do projects like this I mean I feel like for me personally this totally opens the gates for how many other pieces of furniture I can pick up off the street and restore because this is just like literally game-changing honestly so highly recommend so if you’re ever painting a piece of furniture that’s going to live outside definitely use an exterior paint this one has like milde protection and prevents cracking from the Heat or other types of weather and this one was awesome because it had a primer in it so I didn’t have to do the extra work of priming so that is always something I’m looking for because I just want to like reduce the amount of work I have to put in when I’m painting because it is a lot of work I also wanted to try something new by picking this like Compass blue color by bear I just really enjoy bare colors and I feel like they have really great saturation and I thought it would be great to have a really fun pop of color out [Music] here so I’m really happy with this I really love the color it’s kind of got a gray undertone which is interesting to me and I feel like it’s really vibing with like the red tiles and just kind of the vibrant space that we’re in so I love that um I just wanted to show you a few tips and tricks that I use to get in between these small areas if you ever paint something like this because I think it can be kind of hard to just get like really smooth coverage so first of all in between the slots it’s a really tight space so in order to not get any kind of Dripping I use this it’s just like a flat foam roller basically so as long as you’re not like me and don’t put too much paint on it it won’t gloop up but if it does you can just put the foam roller on top I’m also using a really dense foam roller which I feel like gives the best smoothest finish and then for areas like this I just use a really soft paintbrush and this really helps a lot I usually buy a pack of these every time I go to the dollar store along with some foam brushes as well that will also easily help you get some paint in these smaller [Music] areas good morning it is the next day I have to get a lot done today because it’s been like half overcast half sunny and it’s supposed to rain tomorrow so I need to like power through as many things as I can uh the few things I need to address are the two chairs that don’t match I have two green side tables that are just totally trashed and I need to like make them fit in here if possible as just like side tables I just picked up a outdoor coffee table yesterday evening and it’s totally I think going to work in here I also picked up another bag of Pebbles so I can put it in the other planter with the purple plant and so I have tons more to do so let’s get into [Music] it I cleaned out most of the weeds from this area there’s a lot of dead leaves from these like trees that drop flowers and it’s so frustrating to have to clean it every day so ignore that mess and then I actually moved these pots that were here and I put these ones here these are the ones where I removed those two plants and I like them a lot I think they really look good here and then I went to Home Depot and I found these really pretty bushes I guess they’re called a rice flower dark pink and I just think that they have a lot of great like height and I love like the legginess of it I think it’s a really cool look I also think I might just kind of put more Stones here and kind of make it more of a thing and maybe we should move these mismatching Stones away so that it looks a little bit more cohesive and then maybe like replace some of these red stones here [Music] so I went to Ikea last night and I actually saw this rug in the AIS section um there is a lizard on my rug there’s so many lizards anyways I want to roll this out and show you guys and let me know what you think it’s a little bit different I didn’t want to do something Just J I kind of wanted to add color in here as you can tell so let’s see what it looks like it’s the can stpy rug it is a 6′ 7 by 91 and I think it just like fits this space perfectly so I really like this I feel like it’s my style and I like the colors I feel like it just kind of meshes well with what’s going on here and I feel like it doesn’t Clash too much with the blue once I bring everything in it might look really nice as much as it absolutely pains me I have to paint this I need these two chairs to match and honestly I cannot find another one like this I don’t think this is Teak I think it’s like AAA wood or something I’m not really sure but this applaro chair I think is what it’s called is discontinued so I can’t even find another one I don’t even know how I got this from the AES I guess someone had bought it just before they discontinued it so I actually picked up this Max Flex gliten spray paint that I’ve actually been wanting to use it says that it’s all surface wood metal vinyl and more and it’s for interior and exterior so this is probably going to be the fastest way to paint this and it has primer in it so let’s cross our fingers and hope this is a good [Music] [Applause] idea I’ve always wanted to try this thing so I finally got one myself and basically you just use it to take the pressure off of your finger and to also eliminate any paint coming back on you because I think after spray painting a big project like this and can get really sore so I absolutely enjoyed using this I feel like it’s kind of a in between between a paint sprayer and spray [Music] paint okay I just finished doing the last coat on this I’m actually not regretting it it looks really clean and good this little handle thing is absolutely amazing super cool didn’t make my hand hurt at all and then I actually just gave like a quick coat to this chair it just had some chunks taken out of it so I tried to just kind of like fill in some of the gaps and I think they’re looking really good all righty well my candid review of that spray paint is that it smells so bad even with the mask on while we’re letting that dry I think we have to move on to another spray painting job this is our second product from Ikea to spray paint I got them from Facebook Marketplace for only $10 so I have two of these it’s just been Trashed by the weather and I don’t really like the color I actually bought these to try to do like a mosaic DIY but I don’t know if I’m feeling that anymore so I just want to spray paint it a color that makes it feel a little bit more subdued and elevated and just like brand new again because as you can see this is totally [Music] trash I feel like this table really matches the rug now and I really love the way it’s turned out and then I found this coffee table on Facebook Marketplace so I want to see what it looks like in here because I’ve actually never brought it out here to see if it even goes with the vibe I really like this a lot I love that it brings in a natural wood tone that is complimentary to the Terracotta it’s kind of orangey and matches the blue bench and it also goes really well with the greens here so this is like the perfect size for people to put their food and drinks on and to play cards and stuff I love this and it was so cheap and then I also picked up some more lights because I kind of wanted to extend the lights behind me so that it would feel more like a square when it’s turned on at night so for 10 bucks I think I can just like connect it to the other strand and then tie it on to either the pole or a branch over [Music] [Music] there [Music] so I went to Target and I was looking for some cushions for either the chairs and a rug also I was looking for some cushion maybe or pillows for the bench and I actually came across these they’re from the threshold collection and they’re kind of like a creamy white and then they’ve got this like navy blue pinstripe and I feel like I wanted to bring in some kind of pattern in here that’s also why I liked the rug cuz everything is kind of solid color besides the coffee table um so I wanted to really try this out because there’s blue on the bench but I wanted to bring it over to the chairs and I thought this would be kind of the perfect way to go about it plus I can actually unzip these and wash them so I feel like that’s a really good deal because they’re of course going to get [Music] dirty and then I really wanted to emphasize the orange tones here like the Terracotta tile the coffee table and specifically the orange umbrella that’s also striped I’m just embracing the repetitive linear theme here with these really pretty orange pinstripe outdoor pillow cases that I found on Amazon for only $112.99 for a pack of two so I just put some Ikea pillow inserts in here and I feel like this is the perfect Finishing Touch to this [Music] bench [Music] W okay let’s take a quick look at what this gross neglected backyard patio used to look like [Music] I am obsessed with this patio space in our backyard I just cannot wait until everything starts to bloom this is like the perfect spot to just do some bird watching and just watch all of the trees and plants and now are growing Garden I really think this space embodies the approachable fun and colorful Vibe of the yard because that’s what we love about being back here this was a total labor of love and something brand new to me as I’ve never lived in a place with a backyard before and I really don’t know much about Landscaping but I do think I was able to take some leftover random and broken down items and turn them into something that creates a really cohesive backyard patio it was a bit overwhelming to attempt in between like what weather patterns and also working on a budget but we finally did it and we did it for under maybe $180 or so for materials and Decor so I think you could call that a success this space has plenty of room for guests and we have some extra space for additional seating if needed I can just imagine hosting a summer barbecue here and having lots of fun colorful drinks using all the fruit and herbs from the garden I literally just cannot wait I’m just so grateful and happy that we were able to put in the time to prepare this outdoor space for better weather because this is going to be such an awesome space to hang out in I hope this inspires you to consider revamping your outdoor living space whatever it may be because I think it can really make a positive impact on your day-to-day living if you want to see what this entire backyard area looked like before I made over this patio area I will include a link to a playlist of all the different home updates I’ve had so far since moving in here in the description below also remember to like this video if you did and let me know in the comments what you think and what you would have done if you were in this space other than that I will see you all next week bye [Music] yeah