Our Backyard Beach Retreat!

As much as I would love to live on beach front property, at this point in our lives, I know it is not a possibility. So we created a beach retreat in our own backyard!

 

The inspiration for this was in a previous post, but we weren't quite finished with the project yet. We have been able to finish a couple of things up and I worked on a couple of decorative items, so now we have our backyard beach retreat to enjoy!

 I am going to love those red chairs during our cold and foggy winter mornings!

 

 I found quite a few ideas and pinned them on my Backyard and Garden board on Pinterest. Be sure to hope over there if you need some backyard inspiration!

 

Matthew spent quite a bit of time with the jigsaw cutting out this 'driftwood' sign for our beach.

 

As I mentioned in my previous post, a lot of the items we added to 'the beach' were already sitting around in the garage. With some paint and a few additions, we were able to creatively and somewhat frugally create a backyard retreat area that we will be able to enjoy for quite some time!

It all started with...

...a picture I saw in the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

Source: bhg.com via Yvonne on Pinterest

The article had a sub-heading which stated, "Enjoy summer afternoons in a dreamy garden escape built on a budget with repurposed materials." So I started adding some fun, creative ideas to my Backyard and Garden board on Pinterest to see if we could make this 'retreat' a reality.

We had quite a few things on our side already to get this project underway: 1. we already have an existing outside structure, 2. we had a couple of closet doors living in the garage taking up space, and 3. we had a couple of shutters, also in the garage taking up space.

So we purchased a few items to get started on this project: 1. paint for the structure and spray paint for a couple of other items, 2. small crates to be used as shelving, 3. a light fixture (from the Re-store Store) for candles, and 4. an outdoor rug.

Matthew was able to paint some of the items this week. Then this morning, Kev and Kelsey painted the structure.

 We added the doors to one corner

 I painted the doors while...

 ...Kev painted the shutters.

 Here is the light fixture we will be adding.

 Found this cute table for $10 at Hobby Lobby!

 Crates added to the doors for shelving

 One view of what we have put together so far

And another view

At this point, we need to put up the light fixture (which we will just be using with candles), purchase a couple of adirondack chairs, and lay down the carpet. Then just add a couple more decorative items and we will have a nice 'beachy' area in our backyard. Kev even said I should find some ocean tunes on iTunes to play while I am back here reading my Bible in the morning. Then I can pretend I am at the beach, definitely like this idea!

I will be sure to post pictures of the finished area once we have everything in place. So what project have you tackled at home this summer?