You don’t have to spend a bundle on a fancy fountain for your deck or patio. Buy a few flowerpots and make one yourself in an afternoon for less than $75 instead!

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An outdoor living room is a space that you design outside that can be used for relaxation, family gatherings, or outdoor parties. They are typical in areas where the weather is mild throughout most of the year and use furnishings that can take a beating from the occasional rainstorm and the bright summer sun. Outdoor living rooms can be elaborate with fireplaces, bars, and expensive furnishings or simple with some wicker chairs and metal tables. The key focus should be conversation, comfort, and fun.

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One of the many things you can do to customize your home’s appearance is to choose unusual containers for the plants on your patio and in your back yard. You can choose to plant vegetables as well as flowers to make them stand out even more.

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An Inexpensive Way to Add WOW to your Backyard

Love the idea of a gazebo in your backyard but fear the high cost? Relax! You can have the gazebo of your dreams at a cost that won’t bust your budget.

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Today’s outdoor fabrics are nothing short of terrific! New methods for treating sturdy fabrics has ensured they are more durable, sun resistant and suitable for outdoor use and better able to stand up to the ravages of weather and time. Although the most well known is Sunbrella, it is also the most expensive and more economical versions are available on the market that offer the same benefits.

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Put the ‘Boo’ Back in your Yard this Halloween: Quick, Fun and Cheap Decorating Projects

Thinking of going all out in decorating your yard for Halloween this year? There’s certainly no reason not to—Halloween decorations are inexpensive and fun to make, and the effects on others, especially young children in your neighborhood, can be fun to watch as well.

Go through the family closets and find the oldest, rattiest clothes to use for dressing scarecrows. That pair of jeans you reserve for really messy tasks like painting the garage door or hauling trash to the dump will be perfect. Then gather up some white trash bags with pull closures, some small rags and an old broom an get started building your scarecrow. Stuff a small trash bag with rags for the head. When the bag is big enough and fairly round, tie it off and draw a face on it using permanent ink markers. Attach the head to the bottom of a small broom, secure a piece of wooden doweling crosswise under the neck, then dress your scarecrow, pulling a long-sleeved shirt over the dowel “arms” and a pair of jeans or trousers over the broom handle body. You can use the same process to make ghost heads and complete their ghostly look by tying old white sheets around the base of the “neck.”

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