Although most people want the inside of their home to look nice, let’s be honest: The yard is more important when it comes to first impressions. Many people will never see the inside of your home, but everyone will see your yard. Of course, it’s not just about the cosmetic appeal, either. After all, what good is a backyard if you don’t use it for all sorts of fun activities? With this in mind, let’s look at five good backyard improvement ideas.
A Firepit
If the laws in your area do not prohibit a firepit, we would recommend installing one. You can buy ready-made firepits, but it isn’t too hard to dig one. We would recommend that you make the pit 1-2 feet deep and build a wall of piled earth around its edge.
You might also want to bury a piece of 3-inch steel pipe at the lowest point, allowing rainwater to drain through. Obviously, you need to drill holes along the length of the pipe beforehand.
A Personal Spa
You might think that a hot tub or spa is too expensive for you, but prices have definitely gone down in recent years. A good hot soak is one of the best ways to relieve stress and sore muscles, and your guests will certainly appreciate its comfort as well.
Many spa owners will choose to build a small patio area around their tub, giving everyone a place to hang out and relax. A Softub spa collection seems to be the most comfortable. These are made from a soft material rather than concrete, which also makes them lighter and easier to install.
A Gazebo Or Canopy
The main purpose of a gazebo or canopy is to get people or objects out of the rain. Apart from its practical uses, this can also add a lot of beauty and color to your yard. It’s a great place to put large tools, a backyard grill, and all sorts of other things. The basic design is just four posts and a roof, so anyone ought to be able to build one of these.
A Natural Stone Path
This will take a little bit of effort, but a natural stone path is one of the most useful and attractive things you can put in your yard. You will want to go to a creek bed and look for large, flat rocks. Try to get rocks that are more or less the same thickness. You can do this by using a variation of the old Roman road-building method.
Now, choose your area and dig a shallow trench before lining it with thick plastic. Now, put a thick layer of gravel on top of the plastic. Finally, it is time to fit your top stones together to create the actual road. Take your time and get those edges matched up perfectly. If you can’t find something that fits, start flipping rocks over and keep trying. If the ancients could do it, so can you.
A Semi-Underground Room
This is a more elaborate project, but a very impressive and useful one. You can dig an underground room if your yard is large enough, but make sure to check with the city before digging in a certain spot. You don’t have to go very far, either. 2-3 feet down will be good enough for our purposes. Here is a good example to give you ideas.
Take the earth that you remove and use it to build an earthen wall around the pit (which is meant to keep rain from flowing inside). From here, you can put posts in the corners and add a simple roof made of tin or clay tiles. The result is a wonderful place for storage or just hanging out with friends.
These are just a few of the wonderful projects and ideas that can transform your backyard from an unused space to an amusing playground. Both you and your guests will surely get a lot of enjoyment from these things, as we have tried to concentrate on things that are useful rather than decorative. If this small article has helped to give you some large ideas, we hope that you will come back again.
