Outdoor | Sledgehammer With Style

For those that don’t know, LA was slammed with an unexpected heat wave this past weekend. It really feels like summer and has only accelerated my plans to redo our backyard.

Since we moved in last year we haven’t really had a chance to do much with the space but now that the weather has really turned towards summer, I’m raring to go.

Here’s where we currently stand:

Most of my plans consist of working with what we’ve got. I’d like to relocate the trash cans entirely out of the backyard, but that’s not really an option. So I’m going to scoot them over to the back wall where I feel they’ll be less of an eyesore. The wall they’re currently in front of only contributes to them sticking out like a sore thumb with that big empty orange wall above them. As of right now, we have some crawling vines along the targeted back wall and they’ve only been filling in with each week. I’m hoping in the coming months the vines will really liven up the space.

With the trash cans out of the way, I need to spruce up that giant blank wall. One of our neighbors added a few free trellis panels they got last year so I’m planning to lean the two of those against the wall. To anchor them and fill in the space with some visual variety, I’ll add one of the small potted trees in the middle and a bunch of existing potted plants along the base of each. It will provide a secure foundation for the panels and the plants are varying heights so it will really give that wall some newfound visual interest.

And a really rough mock-up I shared with my landlord to get the A-OK:

Now with our new rearranged space, we’ll pull out our furniture set and grill for cookouts. But we can’t just leave it at that, can we? As most of our cookouts happen later in the day, we’ll need some string lights to brighten up the otherwise dark space. As there aren’t any outlets, I’m on the hunt for some great solar options. I really want those beautiful cafe bulb-style lights, but I have yet to find any in great solar options.

And since we’ll be the new place to hang, I’ll obviously need some backyard-BBQ safe dish ware and beverage containers for all of our guests, am I right? And because I can’t get enough, I’ve decided to go with a blue theme which I think will contrast nicely with all the burnt orange painted stucco of the backyard walls.