5 Outdoor Projects You Can Start Now for a Stress-Free Summer

The sizzling summer season is almost here, and with it come all those wonderful moments spent under the clear blue sky. Whether you love to enjoy a nice glass of chilled wine all by yourself in your backyard or if you love nothing more than to enjoy the beautiful weather in good company, there’s no denying that your backyard is going to be the focal point of the season. So, better make it ready and rejuvenate it for maximum comfort and aesthetic appeal!

Rest assured, by sprucing up the backyard and making some impactful outdoor improvements, you can easily elevate the value of your home as well, which is always a nice perk to have if you one day decide to sell. If you’re unsure how to approach this project and how to prioritize your backyard improvements, here is a handy little guide you can use to build yourself the backyard oasis you always wanted.

Build the perfect summer deck

A backyard deck is not just a nice-to-have feature, nowadays it’s a prerequisite for a comfortable and functional outdoor living space. The deck can serve a myriad of purposes, as you can make it into a nice lounge area, an al-fresco dining space, or anything in between. The beautiful thing about having a quality deck in your backyard is that you can choose to add features to it over time.

Are you dreaming of having an outdoor kitchen or a bar? First you need a good, solid deck that can support all the elements with ease. You can choose to build a deck from a variety of great materials, and the most popular are definitely redwood, bamboo and mahogany, but also fiberglass and solid stone. When you finally build your deck, you can start decorating and tailoring the space to your liking.

Create a beautiful natural shade

Summers can be extremely hot nowadays, and the heat can make it impossible to enjoy the outdoors during the day. Without ample shade or an outdoor cooling system, you’ll only be able to enjoy your amazing backyard in the early morning or late in the evening, which is no way to bask in the joys of summer. Sure, you can cool off in the pool if you have one, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to sit back and relax with your favorite book in the lounge area.

With that in mind, it’s time to do some landscaping to turn your backyard into an outdoor oasis. First, consider building a pergola above the main lounge area where you can put up high-rise greenery, and thus create natural shade which will cool the space better than any shade sail. The more you surround yourself with greenery, the cooler the space will be, and if it still gets too hot, you can always add some outdoor fans.

Give the fence a deserved makeover

The right fence will serve a variety of functions in your backyard, but if nothing else, it will give you some much-needed peace and privacy as you’re enjoying your leisure time under the sun. That said, you can use the fence to improve the shade as well, add a beautiful aesthetic feature to the backyard, put up vertical greenery on it, and much more. Having this type of versatility is very important now that the summers are getting hotter and that privacy is becoming an issue.

In fact, the summers are getting longer and hotter, and a great way to create more shade would be to redo the fence. Homeowners can nowadays work with a reputable fencing supplier like Fencing Components to find the ideal aesthetic solution like a panel fence in a wooden finish to complement the design of the space and provide privacy. When you have a stable, tall fence, you can start putting up vertical greenery to add natural shade to the yard, further cooling the space during the sizzling summer months.

Create an al-fresco dining area

There is nothing quite like having dinner under the night sky during summer, especially if you go the extra mile to create a beautiful and functional outdoor dining area. If you want to truly transform your outdoor living space this summer, you can introduce a dining table and chairs with cozy pillows, you can hang overhead lighting and lanterns to create an intimate setting, and you can add a discrete sound system to elevate the ambiance and the mood for every occasion.

Build an outdoor playground for your kids

Lastly, you want to make sure that the backyard is appealing for your younger family members as well, not just the adults. Kids are spending too much time indoors as is, so if you want to get them outside during the summer, you have to make the perfect child-friendly backyard filled with fun activities.

There are many ways you can inspire them to play here, so consider building a little obstacle course, hang swings on the trees or the pergola, or you can even transform the tool shed into a little play space or a creative area. This will keep the kids out of the sun for a bit but still allow them to enjoy the outside.

Over to you

Transforming your backyard is a fun and rewarding project that will elevate the value of your home and allow the whole family to enjoy summer under the clear blue sky. Tend to these projects right now and you won’t have to rush anything when the summer heat finally arrives.

About The Author: Mike Johnston is an avid blogging enthusiast and experienced writer. He’s a regular contributor to the “Smooth Decorator” blog and numerous other online publications where he writes about construction, home improvement, interior design, and real estate.

Photo by Ralph (Ravi) Kayden on Unsplash