It’s been really challenging trying to get work done in the garden lately simply because the spring and summer weather hasn’t really been all that great. I like working on the garden on warm dry days which you would think would be plentiful this time of year but unfortunately, they aren’t! If it’s been dry, it’s either blowing a gale or really cold and if it’s been warm, it’s also pissing down with rain orrrr it’s cold and raining. Oh North West England, how you taunt me! So it seemed that every time we had a bit of time to try and tackle a few more bits in the garden, the weather had other plans that day.

Even as I write, the heavens have opened and it’s absolutely chucking it down with rain (and did so similarly yesterday) so trying to do things like paint and plant are just not happening as quickly as I was hoping!

Regardless, I did want to share a few updates with you that we were able to get done and hopefully you can see that things are moving, just a lot slower than I’d hoped by now – and it’s a very similar story for our front patio as well! Gardening in Manchester is just challenging what can I say ;)

So as you know, I am working with the lovely peeps from Homebase on our garden and they were generous enough to provide some furniture for our deck and patio and also gave me some vouchers to allow me to choose a few other things that we needed.

Here’s where we started as a little reminder… a little LOT uninspiring I think you’ll agree!

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Well all last week it was finally gloriously sunny and HOT (like properly 30 degree C heat!) so we decided that was it – on Saturday, we were going to get stuff done in the garden. So first thing in the morning, I headed off to Homebase to get some paint and paint brushes as well as have look at some of their garden decor and plants.

I picked up these cute bamboo solar lights (on sale for less than £6 each – bargain) and now I wish I’d picked up a third strand of them! They’ve got that tiki bar look to them which to me just screams ‘summer’. I haven’t yet decided where I’m hanging them but I will be soon enough.

Swoon Worthy - bamboo string lights

I also picked up Cuprinol’s Garden Shades paint in Ash Black (they have a huge selection at Homebase both online and in store) and finally painted our luminous orange shed! Two coats and it just totally transformed it into something a bit more chic.

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So this is what it looked like when we’d first put it up in April…

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And this is currently how it’s looking now… (Also, amazing what the trees filling in with all their leaves really does to a shot doesn’t it?!) (Oh and yes that awful scaffolding is STILL UP! Council said it may be a while, it’s all political red tape to get them to remove it.)

Swoon Worthy - Black Shed and brick patio

You can see I have my new patio set – the Amalfi Mosaic Bistro Set (on sale for £99!) which is perfect for an early morning coffee because the sun shines back here first thing in the morning. Obviously I still need to dress the table and this picture was taken just after we had a massive downpour (!) so that’s why everything is so damp! Ahhh yes, Manchester living at it’s finest.

Back patio refresh so far - Swoon Worthy

I also spray painted my planter in Montana Gold Gold Chrome spray paint. I still need to plant something in it but I quite like how shiny it is against the roughness of that brick wall.

Swoon Worthy - gold planter and brick garden wall

So things have moved on for the patio but it’s not totally done – I’m going to be trimming the shed in white (which is why the top part is still orange) and getting some hanging planters for it as well as adding a curtain to the little window. I also need to clean up the patio itself, get some nice fresh white rocks for the path and get some new planters for the patio itself and of course dress up the table and chairs with some outdoor cushions – once it’s dry enough for me to do so! ;)

On the other side of the garden, Wayne finally added facia to the bottom of the patio (I’ve been desperate for him to do this for ages!) out of old pallets we had lying around.

Swoon Worthy - adding deck facia from old palettes

We’ve only done one coat of stain and then we’ll do a second coat of stain over the entire deck just to freshen it up. Wayne also needs to put a proper step on there as well.

Swoon Worthy garden refresh progress

He thought he was going to get away with leaving it like this and just staining it. HAHAHAHAHA!! Silly man. We also want to add some paving stones or tiles or rocks of some sort to create a path from the steps to the side path.

Oh yes, I also picked up those gorgeous deep blue summer planters at Homebase (on sale for a mere £5 each in store!) that I didn’t have to do a thing to – they come all planted up with a nice variety of blooms. Let’s hope I can keep them alive! I’m not sure where any of those planters are going just yet – at the moment everything is a bit of a mess so again, still work to do here… plus of course, I need some cushions and something to dress the fence.

Swoon Worthy garden refresh progress

I’m debating what to do with that fence because obviously it’s shared with the neighbours so I can’t stain or paint it or else the stain/paint will run through to the other side – which means I need to leave it looking a bit weathered and tired (sob). I may get some bamboo screening to cover it – I’m not sure yet! Decisions decisions.

Oh and as you can see we got the Rimini 4 seaterpatio set as well (half price right now!!) – obviously completely unstyled but I do really love it and when we have had nice warm evenings, we’ve loved sitting out here for dinner despite the fact the rest of the space still needs a little love and attention!

Swoon Worthy - Garden Refresh progress

And finally, as you can see, I decided on an outdoor rug!! I figured as I’m going a little boho glam, I needed a colourful rug to pull my palette from. I came across Mad Mats doing a bit of a search online for outdoor rugs but noticed they were only available in the US (story of my life that one) but happily someone was selling them on eBay that shipped to the UK. The bad news is that they didn’t have the larger size I needed so I decided to buy 2 smaller rugs and just double them up. I mean, boho style is all about layering right? So why not layer the rugs? It’s not ideal but the rugs are so much prettier than anything I was able to find in this country so they’ll do!

I did just want to share this picture because it has both Meisha and Quito in it and it shows how well our side garden is doing with the Garden on a Roll product that I got from Homebase two years ago. I’m so happy with it (and no, they haven’t asked me to tell you that, I just think it’s an amazing product). I can’t believe how big some of the plants are getting!

Garden on a Roll 2 years on

 

So as you can see, there’s plenty more left to do but at least things are STARTING to come together even if it looks a little disjointed at the moment. Just pray for some more nice weather so I can get it all done and share the final reveal okay?

Disclaimer: Homebase have provided the garden furniture and will be supplying plants and planters for our makeover free of charge for my review but of course, as always, all words and opinions are my very own. I only work with companies I really like and think you’ll like too! Thanks for supporting the businesses that support Swoon Worthy.

 

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