Jonathan Francis
Spring fever has hit hard and I’ve spent the last weeks scouring Pinterest, coming up with elaborate plans for our future dream backyard. Now is the perfect time to share some of the most inspiring Before + Afters I stumbled across in my search, to help others looking to update their outdoor spaces this year.
These are mostly transformations done by “regular folks” like us—with plenty of DIYs and budget-friendly ideas you can steal for your own backyard. stock tank pool to the stenciled floors and cute accessories—such a fun and fresh space from Lolly Jane Blog.
Laura and her husband DIY’d everything from demo’ing the old concrete to laying pavers and building a privacy fence, pergola and more. I just love when outdoor spaces are designed in harmony with the geographical setting, and that’s exactly what Molly and her husband did with their Southern California backyard.
Dabito from Old Brand New completely transformed his New Orleans patio with a rich black pergola, a stenciled ’tile’ floor and plenty of bold furnishings and plants. This small yard was thoughtfully designed to include a paver patio with a dining area, an elaborate cat enclosure, an herb garden and customized stock tank pool lounge.
I had a hard time choosing a favorite photo—you have to check out the entire space on her blog! Room for Tuesday custom built that sofa rom cinder blocks, concrete and stucco—so good, right? If you dream of having a garden + outdoor living/dining area in one, you’ll love this simple and beautiful layout from The Grit and Polish. Susan from Kindred Vintage always creates the most magical spaces in her home, and this backyard is no exception.
You have to scroll through her blog to see the Before’s and all of fun spaces they designed for the whole family to enjoy. These DIY privacy walls have become quite popular and I can see why—it’s a simple and inexpensive way to extend livable square footage by turning your patio or yard into an outdoor room. The talented Chris Loves Julia share how they transformed this unused yard space into a welcoming fire pit lounge in one weekend. Kudos to The Design Souk for dreaming up a creative solution to this 180 square foot “unusable” patio. The pergola addition is genius, and they even managed to squeeze in a dining area without it feeling crowded. It’s the result of months of hard work and dedication by my friend Shavonda at SG Style, and the girl nailed it.
This one in particular is serving as major inspiration for the design of our future backyard (spoiler alert: a plunge pool will be involved). I could go on for days sharing the backyards and patios that have been stopping me in my tracks, but you can follow along with me on Pinterest to see what I’ve been saving.
There’s some real good stuff out there tempting me to drop everything and start working on our backyard.
