I had planned a post on my garden and some of the new accessories I had bought to make it a bit more homely, but with the rubbish weather I'm not sure it's relevant at the moment! I had thought I would have been in the garden lots this month, but unfortunately the weather hasn't been great and we've not been able to make as much use of the space as I would have liked.
Anyway... I'll go ahead and post the details and hopefully it will prompt the good weather to come to Glasgow
*crosses fingers*
I have two garden spaces. An area to the front of the house which has a paved circle and some pebbles, and a larger space to the back of the house with some decking, bit of grass and some more paving. Both are relatively child-friendly. The back garden in particular is enclosed and safe (although the steps are a tad steep, but toddler has gotten used to these fairly quickly!).
The garden has been very bare i.e. no plants except from the hedges and a couple of bushes. One of the bushes had thorns and wasn't child-friendly at all, so I had it removed.
Over the last few years we have added a wooden playhouse, which I painted sage green, a swing and the most recent addition has been a trampoline. The garden is now definitely a fun place to be for the kiddies.
In addition to the garden toys, I wanted to start thinking about adding some more plants. So off to B&Q I went... absolutely clueless about gardening and not knowing where to start! The staff were brilliant and couldn't have been more helpful (one of them even helped me pack my car with all my new bits and pieces - was very impressed with their customer service) and I very quickly managed to pick out some plants that would be low maintenance. We also chose some herbs that the toddler and I could put into a trough.
New pots and plants for the front garden.
Plants all from B&Q. Grey pot from B&Q. White pots from Ikea.
New pots & plants from B&Q in the back garden with the fence before it was painted.
The playhouse, plus trough full of herbs that toddler and I planted (from B&Q again!). I used Ronseal Wood Sage paint for the playhouse and love it. Would highly recommend... unlike the Sadolin paint I used for the panels below...
The back garden fence.... I have had major issues with the Sadolin paint I selected. Each tin was a slightly different colour despite being the same batch. Very annoyed and I'm going to have to paint it all again. It was supposed to be a grey colour, but some panels are blue/grey and others are green!?! (you may or may not be able to see the difference in the panels in this photograph, but in real life it's very obvious and it basically looks a bit of a mess)
So the kids are sorted, the plants are well underway, but what have I got in terms of furniture for the grown ups? I do have a table and benches from Next on the deck area, but they have seen better days and they haven't been cared for properly. I'm hoping to tart them up a bit and give them a lick of paint. In the meantime, I've also bought a set of table and chairs (yes, from B&Q!) for the paved area near the playhouse. I purchased wisely (I hope!) and made the most of the 20% off promotion at the holiday weekend.
I'd ideally like to get a parasol too as our garden gets the sun all day (when it's shining, which isn't often!) and when it is sunny, it's far too sunny for the little people. Once that's in place, I'll nearly be sorted (well, the decking needs treated, the fence panels need re-painted, I've got a border of soil down the length of the garden with no plants... but I'm getting there!!).
I just need some sunny weather now, and perhaps a wee glass of wine :-)
This post has been for the Making It Home linky with Cat from Making It As Mum.
