Happy Tuesday everyone! Speaking of landscaping, I’ve been working in the yard all morning mowing, weeding and watering. (Where is the rain when you want it?) It got me thinking about how much I love our yard and the fun little accents we’ve added over the years to make it unique and fun. See how easy adding interest and privacy to your landscaping can be!
We’ve lived in this house for nearly 15 years so we’ve had lots of time to work on the yard and let the landscape mature. Some of it is overgrown, but we like to call it “mature”. We made an effort to privatize the backyard especially since we added a swimming pool shortly after we moved in. Our boys were in middle school so it made sense to have them entertain their friends here. (That way we could keep an eye on things!) 😉 We built a rectangular pool with lion fountains and a large urn.
We added a fence around the entire back yard and planted trees along the perimeter. This instantly created a screen between us and our neighbors. It also provides privacy from the walking path and the road.
On the fence gates we added two large metal stars which I painted black. My husband drilled holes in the top and bottom and used black zip ties to secure them to the fence. This adds interest and privacy.
When we moved in initially we had a large hot tub so we installed a white vinyl screen. This screen serves double duty. It gave the hot tub area some nice privacy and also hid the pool equipment on the other side. The hot tub broke a few years ago. We weren’t that sad about it since we rarely used it and it was SO expensive to keep it heated. Now we use it to store our lounge chairs when we aren’t using them. I have plans to make this into a little potting area.
The builder gave us two sets of awkward steps leading from the house to the back yard. This picture was right after the house was complete. We’ve since replaced the stucco with Hardie Plank.
As soon as the pool was complete we built a raised concrete and stone patio. A few years later we had a roof with columns built to cover it. At that moment it went from the patio to the “veranda”. I insisted everyone call it that from then on. It was just too pretty for a patio. We sit out here all of the time.
My husband added these paver columns and I bought these large concrete balls when I was in Wilmington, N.C. one year with my sister. Can you believe they were $25 each? And they weigh a TON.
One of my favorite things in this yard is the large urn and lion fountains at the back edge of the pool. I try to keep the urn planted most of the year and let it die back in the winter. It’s coming along nicely!
In each section of the yard we planted perennial climbers like clematis. The clematis brings beautiful pops of color year after year. These are a few of our favorite support structures for the climbers. When the flowers are not blooming I still love the architectural pieces.
And our windmill…
And this annual Mandevilla…. Look how much it has grown in just a few weeks?
I love statuary. But, it can be pretty pricey for larger pieces so I have a few little ones here and there around the yard. I love their sweet faces and how they add a personal touch to our yard.
We found this vintage plow years ago. It’s getting a little weathered but it’s still sweet and fun.
I love how our yard has come together. It has really changed and evolved in 15 years! I’m looking forward to the day when we move South and start working on our yard at Happy Hill. It needs a LOT of work. Hopefully this fall I can transplant some of my flowers and shrubs from this house to the lake house. That’s the plan!
I hope you have a wonderful day and week! Thank you for stopping by and for sharing my blog with your family and friends! xoxo Dell