I transformed my council house ‘junkyard’ garden into a stunning space for my family using bargain buys from B&Q & eBay
IT'S all too easy to let junk pile up in the garden until your outdoor space becomes unrecognisable.
But one man has proved that if you just take the time to clear everything out and give it a makeover, the improvements can be striking.
Nick Richards, 24, recently transformed his "junkyard" garden which was filled with rubbish, dead plants and scrap wood, into the perfect family haven for his family and three dogs.
And what's more - he did so using bargain buys from the likes of B&Q, eBay and Wickes.
The first thing for Nick and his mum to tackle was to clear out the garden and divide everything into sections.
"This gave us a nice blank canvas to work from ahead of the actual makeover process," he said, speaking to .
"We put all the plants we wanted to keep in one place and got rid of all the scrap wood we weren’t going to use."
Next, they were ready for step two - cleaning.
"We were lucky enough to pick up a pressure washer from B&Q for just £20 on clearance two years ago so we got it out to clean up the patio, walls, some of the fencing and the shed," he explained.
"I also picked up a path, patio and decking cleaner from Spear & Jackson on eBay which was £13.99.
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"It was really nice and simple to clean up the patio using this formula, and we also wanted to create two new patio areas so it will come in very handy in the future too. Then we had a nice clean garden, ready to start all the painting."
The painting was a big job, with the shed, fending and back of the house needing to be done.
"We got all the paint from B&Q," Nick said.
"To paint the shed, we used GoodHome Classic Masonry Paint in the shade Pure Brilliant White, which we got for £19.
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"We painted the back gate and shed door black using Cuprinol Ducksback Shed and Fence Paint, priced at £15.
"For the fences we used the Cuprinol brand again, this time in the shade Silver Copse - we got two tubs for £36. We reused some paint brushes to avoid spending more money."
But it wasn't long before the pair encountered a problem due to the difficulty of getting good coverage with pebbledash, so they invested in a £54 paint sprayer.
After spray painting the pebbledash on the shed and the fences, it was time to move on to the middle section of the garden.
We’re so pleased with this makeover - the garden is unrecognisable now and we can spend time in there without being surrounded by rubbish
Nick
"This is where our three dogs do their business, so we wanted a space which was less high-maintenance, easy to clean and would act as a multi-functional space so that both us and the dogs could use it," Nick explained.
"We picked up 90 charcoal bricks from Wickes, which were £40.50 in total, and 20 bags of Tarmac sharp sand for £50.40.
"In B&Q, we got 18 600 x 600 grey paving slabs for £136.80 and weed control fabric for £6.
"I also dropped into Poundland, where I got two packs of 10 tent pegs for £1 each.
"We reused the stones from the back and front gardens, but we also picked up four bags of white stones which were on clearance from B&Q for £20.
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"We laid out the fabric and secured it with the tent pegs as one of the sections has a load of mud underneath it.
"We put this weed control down to protect the sand and paving slabs when it rains and the mud gets a little bit sloshy! We then laid down the sharp sand on top....
"We then laid down the paving slabs and placed the bricks around the outside as a trim.
"I removed the sand from in between the slabs and put the stones in the gaps."
The final stage was for Nick to pick up some new flowers from Homebase to brighten up the area.
"We spent £66 in total on a lovely selection...a lot of them were on clearance for half price!" he said.
While out, Nick and his mum also picked up some compost - 3 bags for £10 - a trellis gate from Argos for £25 and some Hammerite Black Metal Spray Paint for £12.39 from eBay.
"I love a good black accessory so we decided to upcycle our metal table and it was so simple - it just took a good spray and now it looks brand new," he explained.
Also on the list were a 50-metre set of mains powered fairy lights from eBay for £19.99 and a greyhound garden weather vane for £19.95.
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Nick managed to transform the space on a £500 budget and was delighted with the results.
He concluded: "We’re so pleased with this makeover - the garden is unrecognisable now and we can spend time in there without being surrounded by rubbish!"
