DIY Deck Mounted Umbrellas

When we built the deck off the back of our house, I couldn’t wait to start dining alfresco!  The sun sets behind our house, which has been an issue when eating dinner outside.  The table umbrella helped a little, but we needed something else to help block the sun.

Over the summer we attended a party, where the hosts had umbrellas mounted to their deck.  Mark & I both thought this would be a good solution to our problem, so we set out to buy a few tilting umbrellas & mount them to the deck.

Basically, after purchasing the umbrellas, we decided on their placement.  We mounted them on the larger deck posts in the bump out.  Next, my husband added two of the fasteners (seen below) to the deck, where the bottom & middle of the umbrella would hit.



Mark added a nail below the bottom fastener to keep the umbrella from falling through.



Once the hardware was installed, we slid the umbrellas through.



These definitely help the problem during dinner time.  We also think the opened umbrellas kept our house cooler during the day, since they were blocking the sun.  Win, win!

Creating an Outdoor Fire Pit

When building our house, we chose our lot based on the beautiful wooded view.  Unfortunately, that view came with a steeply sloped back yard.  We knew that with a little creativity, we could figure out a way to make our sloped yard functional.  Last summer, while watching the kids play in the woods, I noticed this:

 

a small amount of flat space at the bottom of the hill.  I mentioned to my husband that it would make a great place for a fire pit.  We added the project to the summer list & Mark got started right away!  In the picture above, he has already begun finding creek stone from the creek bed & started getting the ground level.

The first official project was to build a small retaining wall.  We decided to give this wall two functions.  First, it would prevent erosion & secondly, it would act as a bench for seating.  We ended up using landscaping timbers to do this pretty inexpensively.  (During Memorial Day, Home Depot had them on sale for $1 each!)

The next step was to build a French drain, since this area sits at the bottom of a hill & needed to have drainage.  A French drain is a pipe with holes in the top of it, which allows water to seep into it & then channels the water to where you want it to drain.  To do this, Mark dug a trench & added the drain.  Then, he added a layer of gravel above it to further help with drainage. 

We Mark then covered the area with crushed limestone.  Then, he traced out the area where the fire pit would be & added the creek stone, which would become the patio.  After purchasing the pavers, Mark built the fire pit by stacking stones in a circular shape.  (He grabbed a free brochure next to the pavers, which gave directions, dimensions, & the amount of pavers needed.) 

We then added pea gravel to fill in the gaps between the creek stone. 

Here are some pictures of the finished product:

The Adirondack chairs came from Lowes & were about $20 each.  I think they give a nice pop of color to the area.

I waited too late to get some night shots, but here is my attempt at one showing how the area looks all lit up…

The above definitely doesn’t capture how cool it looks with the tiki torches lighting the path at night.  Oh well, I tried!

We just love this area of our yard now!  It feels like we are camping in the mountains, far away from suburbia!

Linking Here:

Remodelaholic, At the Picket Fence, Be Different, Act Normal, Between Naps on the Porch, Crayon Freckles, DIY by Design, Evolution of Style, Miss Mustard Seed, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Simple Home Life, The DIY Showoff, Thrifty Decor Chick, Somewhat Simple, Tatertots & Jello, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, Todays Creative Blog, House of Hepworths, The 36th Avenue , Stuff & Nonsense, A Stroll Thru Life, Savvy Southern Style

Our Take on a Nature Playscape

For the past two years, I have desperately been trying to add some outdoor play areas for our kids.  I was so tired of our kids spending all of their outdoor time in the neighbor's backyard.  I wanted our house to be the "cool" house.  You know, the one where all the neighbor kids want to hang out.  Well, I think we have finally achieved that with this area of our yard!

{The Full View}

Our back yard is on a steep slope, so it wasn't quite possible to put a play set in the back.  Plus, it would have taken away from our beautiful wooded view!  After clearing away lots of tall grass, dead trees, & brush, we realized that this area in our side yard worked great!

Here's a closer look at what we added:

{Our version of a tree swing!}

{Hula Hoop Tent, which I begged my mom to make for my daughter's birthday!}

{Zip Line...We made it short enough that they have to lift their feet to go down.  It seems less dangerous that way, & they can always put their feet down to slow themselves!}

{The zip line is a hit with the neighbor boys!}

{Fallen tree balance beam}

{Tree climbing}

{We cleared a path in the woods that leads to the creek.}

{Posing on the path!}

{Giant Sandbox made from landscaping timbers}

{Bigger, messier view of the sandbox}

{We also have a picnic table which is great for snacks or for observing leaves & bugs!}

The great thing about this area is that it really gets our kids involved in nature.  They spend countless hours searching for insects, leaves, buckeyes, & other treasures! 

I'm so glad our kids are finally able to utilize our backyard, & I'm even more thrilled that the neighbor kids want to join them!

I'll be sharing here:

Remodelaholic, At the Picket Fence, Be Different, Act Normal, Between Naps on the Porch, Blue Cricket Design, Crayon Freckles, DIY by Design, Evolution of Style, Miss Mustard Seed, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Simple Home Life, The DIY Showoff, Thrifty Decor Chick, Somewhat Simple, Tatertots & Jello, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, Todays Creative Blog, House of Hepworths, The 36th Avenue

         

For the Birds

A couple of weeks ago, I showed you these birdhouses my family & I painted.  We finally hung them last week, so here they are now:

We ended up hanging them on the 2x10 that our swing hangs from.  I was hoping that adding the birdhouses would make this eyesore a little more whimsical & fun.  I think it works well, although, the birdhouses look pretty small up there!

We're not sure if birds will take up residence in these houses or not, since the kids are constantly playing nearby.

I'll show more pictures of this area next week (probably) once we get the new sandbox sealed & some more brush cleared.  I'm so glad my kids finally have an outdoor spot to play in our yard!