Backyard livin!

Y’all… I created the backyard of my dreams!

I mean it’s not my favorite saved Pinterest backyard but dammit it’s as close as I’m gonna get on my budget🙄

Isn’t it lovely! And we did it ourselves! Seriously, me and my 12 and 13 year old daughters did the patio and walkway ourselves.

I’m still in awe and we’ve spent so much time outdoors since the fence was installed. My hubby, dad and cousin picked up the pavers. This was originally supposed to be a project my dad was doing for us however he was working on another project for my brother so I figured hey… if I google I can figure it out right?

Without digging the simplest method I found was to put a tarp over the grass, add some sand to level out any uneven spots, lay the tiles, add some edging and finish with sakrete. That’s exactly what we did! It’s not professionally done by any means but it is beautiful, serves its purpose and we LOVE our backyard oasis.

I’ve had the large patio table and 3 chairs in the backyard for over a year now. They were a $40 thrift store steal! The orange conversation set and table has been in the box in my garage for at least 3 years now… it was an amazing Aldi find that I could not pass up. We also have a gazebo from there that is STILL in the garage that I am dreading putting together. The lawn chair, also Aldi, was purchased last year and the gorgeous umbrella… hi Aldi again, this year.

All of the lighting is courtesy of Big Lots. And that gorgeous fire pit I found on sale at Home Depot for $69. It was a labor of love and I still have a garden and flowers to plant but I’m super proud of the way it looks so far.

Now that that’s out of the way,

Let me tell y’all how this stuff is my BFF…

My neighbors to the south of me has a massive seagrape tree on their property. Said tree typically grows to cover about 1/4 of my backyard 😳 a couple of weeks ago I had to have my yard man cut it so the fence could be installed. Man that tree’s leaves die and fall every frickin where. Of course there are piles of them on their side of the fence and mine. There is no way to rake them fast enough. And of course they hold water every time the sprinklers come on or it rains so mosquitoes and flies are out here often.

Not anymore! I literally ordered this stuff from Home Depot yesterday, sprayed it this afternoon and haven’t seen a bug or been bitten since! I also put down some pellets that are for mosquitos so I’m hoping the combination brings us many bite free nights.

The bottle claims it works for 12 weeks. Not sure about that however I will be putting it on auto ship via Amazon.