outdoor diy Archives

Weekend Warrior DIYs: Doable Home Improvement Projects for Your Lake Home

Posted on April 2, 2024April 3, 2024 Jeanne Delathouder

Boat House in lake with bright kayaks up against building, beautiful lake landscape — *Photo courtesy of Helen Norman via Southern Living*

For lake homeowners, spring means getting back outside to experience the joys of lake living. It also means tackling those home improvement projects you’ve been putting off until the weather warms up. But almost every DIYer knows the feeling of diving headfirst into a project before realizing it’s going to take a lot more time than you planned. It can leave you feeling deflated without the sense of accomplishment you had hoped for.

No worries. We’ll ease you into this slowly with a few quick yet high-impact projects you can accomplish over a weekend. Some of these ideas are more labor-intensive than others, so take your pick and choose one you know you can complete. Who knows? You might even be game to try another one next weekend. Happy home improvement!

Warm Welcome

front facade with bright red door, window flower boxes, landscaping, stones, little white dog — *Photo courtesy of Kevin Miyazaki Photography via Better Homes & Gardens*

Start with the obvious and spruce up your curb appeal with an eye-catching front door. This bright cherry-red hue pops against a fresh green landscape adorned with potted plants and flowers. Window boxes brimming with white and red blooms complement the vibrant color palette while enhancing the exterior façade. You can easily do a complete makeover of the entrance to your lake home over a weekend. Don’t forget to include exterior lighting and updated hardware for your new door. A small stone walkway or a new welcome mat can also make a big impression, creating an inviting ambiance for your guests.

Self-Watering Veggie Garden

self-watering vegetable garden in raised wooden bed with basket of tomatoes — *Photo courtesy of Family Handyman*

If you’re feeling ambitious, you won’t mind the extra time and effort required for this weekend home improvement project. And if you love fresh vegetables, you will reap the benefits this garden delivers for many months to come. This raised garden bed is made of beautiful cedar and incorporates a perforated drainpipe that stores and distributes water as needed. With this ingenious design, you will save water while growing your favorite vegetables—or flowers. Once the work is done, the fruits of your labor will be well worth it! For a list of required tools and instructions, visit Family Handyman.

Paver Pathway

white stone pavers over green grass — *Interior design and photo courtesy of Jacob Fox via Better Homes & Gardens*

This multi-functional stone walkway provides a beautiful accent for your outdoor living space while still allowing rainwater to seep into the soil. But the best part is that you can complete this home improvement project in about two hours. These easy-to-install pavers protect your grass from foot traffic and provide a dry, stable surface you can walk on when entertaining outside. They are also flat enough to the ground that your lawn mower can roll right over them. Create your own look with a random pattern of square and rectangular pavers for a crisp, modern aesthetic. Visit Better Homes & Gardens for tips and instructions.

Fishing Finesse

fishing rod garage storage system — *Photo Courtesy of* *Family Handyman*

If you live at the lake, chances are you or someone in your family loves to fish. But fishing rods can be awkward to store and easily get tangled if you stash them haphazardly. Why not create a designated place in your garage or storage area to organize your fishing gear and get it off the floor? This brilliant garage storage system requires just a few household tools, a foam swimming pool noodle, and some 3-inch PVC pipe. Just follow these simple instructions—and voila!

Drill 1-inch holes spaced every 4 inches in the PVC pipe.
Use a utility knife to cut slits in the foam noodle, spacing them 4 inches apart.
Line up the pool noodle on the wall so that at least two of the slits sit over studs.
Pull slits apart, slide in a fender washer, and screw the noodle to the wall with 2-inch screws.
Screw the PVC pipe to the wall beneath it at a comfortable height and insert your fishing rods.

Fired Up!

stacked stone outdoor fireplace — *Photo courtesy of* *HGTV*

This outdoor stacked stone fireplace requires a bit more patience, time, and grit, but if you have some experience with concrete and mortar—and some extra help—you can conquer this project over a long weekend. Once you’re finished, you’ll enjoy crackling fires by the lake for years. This eight-step project takes you from creating a design and a concrete foundation to installing the stacked stone and attaching the chimney cap. Visit HGTV for instructions, a list of the materials, and a helpful two-minute video offering tips and inspiration.

From organizing your garage and building a workbench to resurfacing your driveway and installing an outdoor deck, here’s wishing you success in all your DIY weekend projects at the lake!

DIY Bird Seed Tips

Posted on November 4, 2021January 8, 2022 Camille Smith

Photo courtesy of Andrew Dernie / Getty Images via The Spruce

In summertime when food is abundant, birds are more likely to scavenge for their own meals. However, resources are scarce during the cooler months. So, this season, birds could use a little assistance finding a reliable sources of food. Installing a bird feeder in your backyard is a great way to attract birds to your lake home and enjoy birdwatching on a regular basis. But when it comes to filling those feeders, things get trickier. If you decide to make your own bird seed (a fun craft project for everyone), how do you know what the “dos” and “don’ts” are? Which types of seed will attract a wide range of birds? At Lake Homes, we’re here to help. Check out these tips for creating DIY bird seed this winter!

Essential Ingredients

The key to creating a delicious homemade bird seed recipe is including nutritious ingredients that birds need in their diet. Luckily, these essential components are inexpensive! You can usually find them in bulk at most grocery stores. For instance, peanuts are beloved by birds and provide them with enough protein for their diet. Besides peanuts, any good bird seed mix will include sunflower seeds. Whether hulled or in the shell, these seeds are highly nutritious. Specifically, black oil sunflower seeds have high fat content, as well as protein and fiber, which is perfect for birds.

Extra Ingredients

While key ingredients like peanuts and sunflower seeds may be the star of the show, supplemental ingredients are necessary to round out the nutritional value of your DIY bird seed. First off, white millet (as opposed to red millet) is an excellent source of protein, calcium, magnesium, oil, and phosphorus. Similar to white millet, cracked corn is a great high-protein ingredient. As opposed to whole corn, cracked corn is easier for both small and large birds to consume. Just be sure to use limited amounts! Too much cracked corn can absorb moisture and dry out your other ingredients. Finally, an ingredient often excluded from store-bought mixes is dried fruit. A handful of raisins (white or red) can attract a host of birds to your backyard who might not otherwise hang around.

Ideal Ratio of Ingredients

As one might expect, the essential ingredients (e.g., peanuts and sunflower seeds) should be prioritized in these DIY bird seed recipes. For a standard recipe option, include one cup of peanuts and sunflower seeds and ½ cup of extra ingredients. This ratio excludes dry fruit, in which a little bit (just a handful) goes a long way.

Ingredients to Avoid

Although birds are known to devour a host of seed-like ingredients, there are several that you’ll need to avoid when creating your own DIY bird seed. Among them is milo, a filler grain. This large, reddish seed with a round shape is less appealing to most birds. A few select species, such as doves, enjoy eating milo, but including it in your recipe will turn the majority of birds off to your backyard. Canary seed, grass seed, oats, wheat, and sticks are other bad ingredients to avoid. One of the benefits of creating DIY bird seed is that you can avoid these “bad” or “filler” ingredients that are often included in cheaper store-bought mixes. In fact, so many mixes contain more milo than other, healthier and more appealing ingredients. Making your own bird seed will ensure that birds are attracted to the food you’re offering!

With these tips, your backyard is bound to be a hotspot for birds this winter!

Best Materials for Creating a Backyard Walkway

Posted on July 12, 2021August 11, 2021 Camille Smith

When designing your lake house’s backyard, low-maintenance landscaping strategies can help you cut down on manual labor and reduce water waste. One often overlooked tip for a stress-free backyard is incorporating hardscapes. In particular, walkways are an excellent choice. Not only do they minimize your grass maintenance workload, but they’re also beautiful. The contrast between grass and a material like brick or stone adds an element of visual interest to your lakeside curb. If you’re thinking about installing a backyard walkway into your landscape, check out these ideas for inspiration.

Stepping Stones

Photo courtesy of How to Build a House Blog

For anyone who prefers DIY over hiring a professional, this backyard walkway idea is for you. To make a stone walkway at your lake house, all you need is several large stones. Just arrange them over grass to form a simple yet beautiful pathway through your backyard. To create a more interesting, rustic look, pick stones of all different shapes. The DIY Network walks you through this easy process with their tutorial.

Gravel

Photo courtesy of GAP via This Old House

Gravel is an easy, inexpensive way to create a stunning walkway. These small stones come in all different colors and sizes so that you can customize the path to your liking. You can even add stone material alongside the path to evoke a more structured look. To ensure the gravel doesn’t wash away in bad weather, The Gardener of Good and Evil has instructions on creating a foolproof DIY gravel walkway.

Pallet Wood

At a lake house, a rustic pathway through your lakeside garden is certainly fitting. If you want to lean into the natural look, use pallet wood to create your backyard walkway. Plus, if you incorporate space between the wide wooden boards, it allows room for plants to grow. Laura from Garden Answer demonstrates a budget-friendly way to create one of these charming pathways. For this DIY project, all you need are wooden planks and some basic power tools.

Brick

A brick walkway is perfect if you prefer a more upscale, polished look. This design also allows for customization, so you can arrange these bricks however you’d like. While a herringbone pattern is classic, you could also organize these stones in many patterns, alternating between vertical and horizontal to create visual interest. As brick pathways are a bit harder to DIY, installing this yourself is possible, as demonstrated in this HGTV tutorial. Just be sure to take the time to level out the ground first.

Mulch

With a backyard walkway made from mulch, you’ll immediately make your guests feel like they’re entering a botanical wonderland. DIY friendly, this material evokes a strong sense of natural beauty. It’s a perfect combination of rugged and sophisticated. Mulch is also easy to combine with other materials such as stone. The blog Pretty Handy Girl details instructions for creating mulch and stone walkway combinations.

Mosaic

Want to invoke the same aesthetic as the Ancient Romans? Installing a mosaic walkway is a great way to impress all your guests. It immediately gives off an elegant, stately essence. Due to its complexity, many lake homeowners would have a mosaic walkway installed by a professional. However, if you’re interested in the DIY route, follow these instructions from This Old House. By creating a mosaic pathway yourself, you can incorporate your own creative designs into the mix.

Concrete

Photo courtesy of Home Talk via Pinterest

Concrete is one of the most popular choices because of its versatility. It comes in a variety of colors, so you can stick to a beige industrial look or opt for a darker gray tone for a faux-stone aesthetic. Concrete also gives off a striking impression when contrasted with grass, as its smooth surface stands out against textured greenery. If you want to use concrete for your backyard walkway, The Family Handyman has tips on how to DIY.

No matter what material you choose, we wish you the best of luck with your backyard walkway DIY project!

2020 Outdoor Furniture Design Trends For Your Lake Home

Posted on March 31, 2020March 30, 2020 Camille Smith

navy and white coastal theme - outdoor furniture decor inspiration lake house — Photo courtesy of Martha Dayton Design.

With Spring quickly approaching, revamping your lake house decor might be on your mind. Of course, warmer weather means hosting family and friends on your outdoor patio, and as such, you may be wondering if your current outdoor furniture is sufficient or if it’s time for an upgrade. If this is you, we’ve got you covered with the outdoor furniture design trends of 2020.

Leaders in the outdoor furniture industry such as Brown Jordan, Sunbrella, and Summer Classics have all shared their cutting-edge insights about these trends on their respective blogs. We’ve synthesized the top trends from these companies’ reports and are here to share with you the latest color, material, product, and design trends for the year. We hope these inspire you to get started on redecorating your outdoor area at your lake home!

Color Trend – Say Goodbye to Saturation

While bright, bold colors were in style a few years ago, the theme that’s been emerging over the past few years is color-infused neutrals. Rather than aiming to wow your guests with bright neon pillows, you’ll instead find that fabric trends are headed in a more muted direction. These faded shades create a softer look that complements the outdoor furniture’s material, rather than overshadowing it.

neutral wicker patio farmhouse style - southern living decor inspiration — Photo courtesy of Southern Living Magazine.

To highlight this trend, Brown Jordan named Peche (French for “Peach”)– a dusty pink color, similar to rose gold– the color of the year in 2019. This color has also featured prominently in 2020 designs. Of course, peche is not the only neutral color that’s trending this year. Blue, especially a bluish-gray color called chambray, is still a classic, can’t-go-wrong color for pillows and cushions. Further, luxury umbrella retailer Shadowspec has named dark green as another trending color in 2020. Especially at a lake house where grass and trees abound, featuring green fabrics in your outdoor designs creates a look cohesive with nature.

Material Trend – Create Texture Variety

This year, don’t be afraid to mix different materials when it comes to your outdoor furniture. Whether you’re combining a concrete dining table with wicker seats or a teak sofa with an aluminum end table, the goal is to evoke an exciting, textured look. However, it’s best to be cautious about which materials you choose to combine. To avoid a junky, haphazard situation, start by focusing on two elements and exploring different combinations.

lake house boat house - outdoor furniture decor inspiration — Photo courtesy of John Bessler.

Currently, some of the most popular products in 2020 are natural materials such as wood and wicker. Lucky for lakeside dwellers, these materials fit seamlessly with the shoreline in your backyard. They also create an exciting sense of texture that already exists in nature. Another popular content to mix into your designs this year is concrete. On its own, concrete appears strictly industrial. However, when combined with contrasting materials like fabrics and wood, it takes on a more dynamic look.

Product Trend – In Keeping with Comfort

The trend of outdoor kitchens has been on the rise for the past decade, and there are no signs of this trend slowing down. As lake homeowners continue to host gatherings in their outdoor kitchens, whether it’s a small family get-together or a large party of guests, furniture manufacturers have kept up by creating large dining tables to accommodate the lifestyle of entertaining. This way, every guest can have a comfortable seat at the table.

daybed hayneedle summer - outdoor furniture decor lake house — Photo courtesy of Hayneedle.

Based on this trend as well as other popular products, it’s clear that comfort is the name of the game in 2020. Luxury furniture retailer Summer Classics lists barrel chairs as a new outdoor furniture trend this year. These chairs, designed with a broad, curved back rather than a traditional box frame, are made for ultimate relaxation. If you’re looking to dive right into the comfort theme of 2020, consider investing in a daybed. Hayneedle, an online home furnishings retailer, names daybeds as one of the top outdoor furniture trends this year. What better place to relax and take a nap than on a plush daybed surrounded by your beautiful lakefront property?

Design Trend – Stick to Simple

modern luxurious sofa outdoor inspiration — Photo courtesy of Summer Classics.

Quoted in the luxury lifestyle magazine Arizona Foothills, the chief brand curator for Brown Jordan notes that furniture with modern, clean lines is the trend for 2020. This simplistic style has been recently popular in interior decorating, and now, it’s making its way to outdoor designs as well. High-end retailer Summer Classics agrees, and they have incorporated this style into their 2020 collections Elegante and Claro. Both of these lines showcase unembellished elegance, underscoring the beauty of a simple, linear design. Additionally, Shadowspec names minimalism as a big outdoor furniture trend in 2020. Especially in the outdoor space of a lake house, choosing a minimalistic style will beautifully blend with your natural surroundings rather than overshadowing them.

We hope these 2020 outdoor furniture trends give you inspiration for your lake house designs. The use of stylish color and content will add fashion to your home and your life!

How to Build a DIY Fire Pit

Posted on February 16, 2015December 1, 2022 Glenn S. Phillips

Building your own DIY fire pit is a great way to bond with your friends and family when you are hanging out in your backyard.

You can sit around the fire and enjoy it, but first, you need to know how to build one. There are several steps you need to take in order to build a proper DIY fire pit. Keep reading to find out how you can build a fire pit to enjoy at home.

Preparation

There are first a few things you must do before you get started. First, you need to make sure you have all the tools and materials handy before you start working on your DIY fire pit. According to a number of estimates, these items should cost you no more than $200. Here are those materials:
• Gravel
• Sand
• 52 retaining wall blocks

Optional items include a steel ring to line the inside of the pit and a metal grate to cover the top of the pit once it is built.

Dig Your Hole

You will need to dig a hole approximately 2 feet wider than you want your fire pit to be which is about 4 feet across. Make the area as level as possible. You will need about 4 inches of gravel and 4 more inches of sand to help make sure that this area is completely level.

Lay the Blocks

Now it is time to assemble the stone layers. You can use a steel ring that holds it into place to make sure that all of the layers are round and the exact same size.

If you do not have a steel ring, make sure the bottom layer is as perfectly round as possible. The next few layers will lay on top of the base. The middle of the pit will typically be about 32 inches around.

…Stack More Stone

Continue laying the blocks in a circle until the DIY fire pit reaches your desired height. Depending on the size of your fire pit, it should take approximately 10-15 stones for each layer all the way around.

If you plan on cooking over the fire pit, it probably will be a good idea to buy a metal grate to cover the fire pit. This way, if someone accidentally drops a hot dog or marshmallow over the fire, it can still be grabbed and eaten.

There are numerous other fire pit designs that are more complex and ornate that can be found for free online.