DFW homeowners have taken outdoor living to new heights, so step up your game. Spruce up your backyard with a great DIY project or two. With a little creativity, you can take items you’d otherwise discard and upcycle them into a new fire pit, a stargazing area, or a decorative fence. You’ll be surprised how many items you thought about throwing out can be repurposed in DIY projects to make unique additions to your backyard.

DIY Project #1: Stargazing in Comfort

If you live away from city lights, set up a stargazing station to treat the entire family to a night of looking for shooting stars.

For something temporary, take last year’s kiddie pool and fill it up with old pillows. If you want to catch the annual meteor shower in December, just add a couple of blankets to keep you and your family warm. Now you’ll have a comfy spot to lie on your back to get a great view. You can create this in a pickup truck bed, too, for stargazing on a road trip or in your driveway.

Need to get rid of those old bunk beds the kids have outgrown? Take the mattress out of the top bunk and create a stargazing deck (which can dual as a tanning deck in the daytime). Add some pillows for your seating comfort. To make the most out of this DIY project, attach curtains below and create a private outdoor reading nook or snoozing space.

DIY Project #2: Fire Pit

Metroplex homeowners love fire pits. We live outdoors year round, but a fire pit can take the edge off the cold on late fall and winter nights, and they’re a great gathering place during holiday parties.

Your DIY fire pit project can take several different forms. Use concrete to create a beautiful bowl fire pit. All it requires is sand, a board, some plastic sheeting and some patience. For something a bit simpler, just pour a circle of gravel on the ground and stack pavers to create a design in any size or shape you want. For one of the easiest DIY projects of all, pour river rocks or fire-pit-grade glass stones into a fireproof planter or other container and hide two or three bio-fuel cans underneath the surface. Just make sure to keep fire pit safety rules in mind when you’re undertaking these DIY projects.

DIY Project #3: Rainbow Fence

If your wooden fence line faces east or west, consider adding some marbles for a pretty reflective rainbow effect as the sun rises or sets. All you need for this project is a hand drill, some marbles, and a rubber mallet. It’s a good idea to use a piece of scrap wood to determine what size drill bit you need to make the correctly sized holes for the marbles. Once you have that down, simply drill, insert a marble, and pound it into the hole.

Put your skills to work, or learn a new one, with easy DIY projects for your backyard.

Image Source: Flickr/Kent Landerholm

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