Filed under: Beautiful Home
With summer finally here, spend your quality time out in the sun as opposed to cramped up indoors. Our sister site DIY Life embraces the trend of creating an outdoor living space that rivals any old family room.
Tables, chairs and even a couch make any backyard seem homey. Throw in the same colorful pillows and accessories that would compliment your living room furniture.
By locating your outside living area close to your back door, you can bring guests food and drinks from the kitchen with ease.
Looking for something slightly more extreme? You can always emulate lessons learned on HGTV's new show called 'My Backyard Goes Disney,' premiering Monday, June 6 at 8PM ET/PT. Tea pot playhouses, handpowered trains, Mickey shaped pools... the possibilities are endless.
The most replicable feature of the Disney makeover would be the garden feature. Plant color blocks bold flowers - DIY Life suggests petunias and mums - to create a surprising design on bare patches of grass.
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has an online program that teaches how to turn outdoor spaces into certified wildlife habitats. Provide food, water, cover and a place for animals to raise babies -- while using green gardening practices, of course -- and you're good to go.
Two birdhouses with feeders, a hummingbird feeder and a birdbath made from a teacup and saucer literally brought Helmer's yard to life - welcoming families of bluejays and butterflies to a once forlorn patio.
Watch this DIY Life video on how to make your own birdhouse.