Summer Ideas for Home and Garden

One of the best ways to make your home and garden feel like a summer paradise without spending a lot of money is to use natural elements. One of my favorite ideas is to make the yard or garden attractive to friendly creatures like birds. Not only are they beautiful and interesting to watch, but it can also be very soothing having them fluttering around, chirping and singing.

There are some very affordable bird feeders and birdbaths available or you can make your own. A base from a heavy planter can instantly be turned into a birdbath. Set it on a large rock or simply stack up a few stepping stones. You can often find smooth stepping stones (about 1’square) for a dollar each, or less at super-centers and home improvement centers. Even chipped ones will work for such a project and you can pick up damaged ones for very little money.

Pick up a wire mesh candle holder at any dollar store, and use it for storing suet. Cover the top and use light wire to hang it from a tree where you can see it. Look for bird feeders, birdhouses, and birdbaths at garage sales or make your own. Place them in a prominent location where you can see them both from a window while indoors and from your favorite seating area while relaxing in the yard or garden.

Another idea is to use natural elements to decorate your yard, garden, deck, or patio. Interesting rocks can be placed around deck posts, along walkways, or around the edge of the garden or a flowerbed. Pretty stones can be placed inside a shallow ceramic dish or base from a planter and you can add candles. One large pillar candle in the center is nice, or scatter some tea candles in amongst the stones.

You can often find flat shallow dishes or bases from planters in the clearance section of yard and garden centers or sections. Sometimes, they are sold separately and there are extra pieces or sometimes a planter gets damaged leaving only the base. You can pick these up for very little money and they come in different shapes, sizes, and colors from plain to fancy, large to small. If you can’t find Terracotta or ceramic, you can use the plastic ones, simply give them a coat of spray adhesive, and then dip them in clean sand for a more natural look.

For more ways to use candles, save baby food jars or ask someone you know to save some for you. Clean them, remove the labels, and use them for votive or tea candles. You can add some wire around the rim and then form a handle from wire to hang them up, if desired.

If you prefer not to use glass outdoors, save tin cans from vegetables and soups. Clean them, remove the labels, and carefully use a hammer and a punch to make holes in the sides. Make a pattern, design, or just make random holes all over. Place candles inside and light them in the evening. Line them up along the walkway, deck rail, or down the center of your table.

~Sherry Holetzky

Sherry Holetzky is a published freelance writer who loves do-it-yourself projects and home decorating. Having a large family has taught Sherry to decorate within a budget, and Sherry's hope is that she can show people how decor can be inexpensive yet still be tasteful and beautiful. Budget decor does not have to mean "cheap."