Last year I bought an inexpensive metal fire pit for our backyard. You see them all the time on Facebook Marketplace too.
Fast forward to this year, we purchased a new fire pit so I had the old rusty one to either sell or upcycle. 
You guessed it... I'm upcycling it! 
This old fire pit made the best backyard stand planter!! 
Take a look...

Here is how we built a DIY fire pit in a weekend.

Sometimes the job doesn't seem as enormous as it is until you're in the middle of it! 
This is our yard before...


The muddy corner where nothing grew because it was all shade and our two dogs ran through it all day.
Meet the culprits:    Kirby            &              Kody 
Here is what we did about it...
Step #1: Mark off the space and lay a border.


Step #2: Decide where you want to put the fire pit.  
We used Nicolock Pavers. 
A circle will require 15 stones.

We started with the first layer, working diligently to make it level.

We added the next 3 levels on top of the first. 
You can use cement or a non combustable adhesive if you wish. 
These blocks are heavy and don't move easily!

A beautiful fire pit area for the family takes yearly maintenance and here is what we do.

It all began several years ago with a weekend fire pit build, which turned into a gravel surround, and now a great fire pit cover! 

I love my deck and the outdoor space is ready for the spring and summer!
Today I was at Target with my daughter and she found the cutest tabletop fire bowl to roast marshmallows. 
I thought it was the cutest thing but I knew then and there that it was something I could make at home in no time! 
Keep reading to see this fun summer project! 

It is almost time again! Ready get set... garden! 
Yes, in the northeast US it is finally time to think about planting... yes "think" about it.
Along with "thinking about" gardening and planting comes a whole lot of Spring clean up and prepping. 
Take a look...

What do you do when you want to hang string lights in the yard but there is no place to hang them?  You make your own hangers of course! Today my daughter and I are making easy poles for hanging outdoor lights...

It is finally getting nice in our neck of the woods. 
The north east has been cooler than normal this Spring so when it hit 65 degrees today we were ready for a new outdoor project. 
A few years ago (ok it was 11) my husband and I built a fire pit area with pea gravel in our backyard. 
Today we are giving that area an upgrade and it was even easier than we thought...

While I'm all about rustic wood, when it comes to my fence  I need to explain...

When the warmer weather comes around I like to decorate my garden as much as I like to decorate my home. 

It's finally time on the East Coast... the weather is finally out of the 40's and with Memorial Day coming up I decided it was time to work in the yard.

This DIY log holder project is brought to you 
today by my husband Jim and a couple of friends we've made along the way. 
This DIY log holder is the perfect place to store the logs we need for our fire pit. We also use the logs on this rack for our indoor wood burning stove. Please read all the way to the bottom for the latest improvements to this design.

It's garden time... and that means grabbing every junky thing I can find and filling it with flowers. 

My husband retired! 🙌🏻
I've got his "honey do" list all ready for him.
I've kept him busy for days! After all, I'd hate for him to get bored! 
Today's project couldn't have been easier and looks like new! 

If you've been following along for a while you may remember the black candlesticks I thrifted and painted for my mantel. 
And then you may remember that I turned them back into brass for a rustic brass bell look. 
Well today they are getting one more makeover and this time I'm using them outdoors! 
Take a look ...

Oops I did it again! I repurposed another old piece of wall art. 
I had a long horned bull picture that used to belong to my daughter hanging in the basement. It had faded and now it was a pink long horned bull. 
I knew I should hang on to it because one of these days I was going to repurpose this pink bull and today is that day! 
Take a look...

Ughhhh is all I can say about this bathroom. It had some awesome storage solutions...

We put in another DIY fence yesterday and once again picked one of the hottest days of the year.




We recently had to have the 50 foot pine trees cut down that separated us from our neighbors. The houses are pretty close together in our neighborhood... so now in its place we need a fence.
This time we chose a post and rail fence... You can read all about the vinyl fence HERE.
We began by measuring for the post placement, they needed to be 10' apart. 
My husband Jim used a post hole digger to dig the hole for the posts.


Jim dropped in the post and used a string level to make sure they all ended up the same height.



Next came the rails, they easily slipped right into the holes.

Three more sections the same way and here's the finished fence. Yahoo! 

My …

We have been all about home improvements  this Spring. This time it was the deck.

Here is how I made a free bench for my garden.