How to complete a front yard makeover on a budget.
Our front yard had been somewhat neglected over the past few years (on account of the inside of our house getting all my DIY time and focus). But it finally became enough of an embarrassment for me to take the bull by the horns and sort it out. As usual, I intended to be frugal and really eek the money out, so this was truly a front yard makeover on a budget.
How I completed a front yard makeover on a budget
I was really hoping to prove that rather than it being about how much money you can throw at a project, it’s creativity, careful sourcing of materials and hard work that counts. And that you can achieve a beautiful landscape that suits your style and enhances your home’s curb appeal—even on a tight budget. In this post, I’m going to outline the main changes I made in our budget front yard makeover and will share any tips and pointers that I can think of, then I’ll do a detailed step-by-step DIY tutorial for each of the projects that I completed. I’ve already shared one with my DIY resin path tutorial.
Define Focal Points
I was keen to start by creating focal points in our front garden. It’s a small area and is on a slope, which has proven tricky in the past, but I decided to try and turn this into a feature by adding some DIY gravel steps using upcycled decking boards, lots of gravel and a stone binder to hold it all together. I chose to add steps as the first front yard focal point, but you could add a rock garden, or even an inexpensive DIY water feature. I balanced the steps out by adding arches on the opposite side that I’m growing climbers over to create a feature in the form of a flower-covered tunnel. Adding large rocks or stepping stones can provide visual interest whilst at the same time dividing the space.
Use Inexpensive Plants and create new flowerbeds
I knew that plants were going to account for a large chunk of the budget and was keen not to spend a fortune on them, so I decided to employ a savvy-sourcing strategy! In essence, this meant trawling the garden centres’ reduced areas and buying plants that were past their best or needed a bit of TLC. I also saved money on the front yard makeover by buying plants that were on special offer and in bulk buys, e.g. 3 for 2s. Native plants and evergreen shrubs were on my hitlist because they are low maintenance and thrive in the local environment but I also wanted some pops of colour and was quite keen to get some statement plants like foxgloves and roses. I created some new flowerbeds at the edge of the newly assigned lawn area and made them in flowing and curvaceous shapes for visual interest and so things didn’t feel to clinical or contrived. Flower beds and garden beds are classic and affordable options to add color and texture. Planting perennial plants is a budget-friendly option that reduces the need for frequent replanting. If space is limited, window boxes and small garden setups work well for front yard beds or the front of the house.
Add Outdoor Lighting
I was determined to add some outdoor lighting as it is an inexpensive way to create ambience and extend the use of your outdoor space into the evening. I didnt’t want the hassle of adding outdoor power points so I sourced solar-powered lights in the form of string lights, spotlights and garden stake lights. I was so impressed at how strong the beam of lights were considering they were all solar-powered and I loved placing them strategically around the garden and in flower beds to highlight statement plants into the night. I tried a large selection of solar powered lights as part of this project, from £1 stake lights from ASDA to more expensive heavy-duty ones and found the best quality whilst maintaining affordability came from B&Q.
Repurpose and Reimagine for Unique Features
Regular readers will know how much I enjoy upcycling and repurposing materials – it’s such a good way to save on costs and reduce waste. I recently shared some posts about how to repurpose wooden pallets which went down a storm and in this front yard makeover on a budget I upcycled some old decking boards to create the frames for some DIY gravel steps.
Focus on the Front Yard Landscape
I was keen not to overlook the front of the house itself (so I also improved the curb appeal) while completing a front garden makeover. We have a small front porch which I gave some TLC to. I painted the front door, added some trellis with potted jasmine at each side of the door and painted the pillars from the porch. These sort of small porch makeover ideas made a big difference to the space.
Invest in Small Changes That Go a Long Way
I knew I wanted lots of garden mulch for the flowerbeds and quickly realised how expensive decorative bark is. We therefore decided to invest in a heavy-duty garden shredder to create lots of lovely mulch and dispose of our garden waste at the same time. I bought this brilliant model from Amazon and have been really happy with it. If you’re a complete beginner to landscaping, small projects like laying stepping stones or adding ground cover can make a big impact. Look for affordable options at big-box stores or garden centers. Over time, incorporating low-maintenance plants and shade trees will lower long-term maintenance costs.
Add fresh new turf
I was really keen to add some grass to the front yard and didn’t want to have to wait for grass seed to grow so plumped for buying rolls of turf from the local garden centre. Happily this turned out to be an achievable garden DIY project and quickly transformed the area into fresh green loveliness!
Build some DIY planters
I loved adding some interest to dull areas of our front yard by building some DIY planters and filling with bargain plants! I wrote this guide on how to build a DIY garden planter if you’re keen to have a go.
Install a DIY resin path
I’ve installed a couple of DIY resin paths as part of our budget garden makeover. You can read about them here. They made such a huge difference to the overall aesthetics and were very affordable.
Embrace Your Personal Style
I knew that I wanted the front yard to feel like an extension of the house and reflect our style and taste. I feel strongly that your home (interior or exterior) should spark joy when you look at it and there’s no point designing and implementing schemes to suit others so have a good think about what you love and do plenty of research. I love Pinterest as it’s a great way of researching home projects as there’s such a wealth of info and inspo available to scroll through and create personal mood boards to help form your ideas. Save searches like ‘simple front yard landscaping ideas’ or ‘landscape design’ or ‘small front yard, year-round interest’ and pin the ideas that really speak to you. This can then form the starting point for your front yard makeover on a budget.
If you fancy seeing behind the scenes from any of the above projects then be sure to pop over to my Instagram where I share all the highs and lows and projects and tools that I use in my DIY projects.
