Creating Outside Living Space on a Budget

(Written in April 2014)

Two things you need to know:
1) Currently, we live in a rented house outside of a military base
2) My husband is away for 12 days of military training

Why are those things important?   While we have a place we call home which is our "retirement" house where we do not mind speeding money on improvements, I do not want to spend a fortune to "improve" someone else's investment or a rental house.  Also, I am officially admitting that I cope with short term change/stress in my life by taking on projects for the purpose of self-distraction by keeping myself busy and very tired.

One of my projects in my husband's absence is to work on our side yard that now contains a hot tub and some retro lawn furniture that I purchased last September, when we first arrived, at a local estate sale.  I paid $60 for the cute little set on our front porch and the retro group--plus, the broker threw in covers for the furniture for the winter months.

All Wood Shelf which was
obviously used outside
previously!

So how can I create a comfortable outdoor living space for my two furry babies and myself during the days that it does not rain in the Seattle area and give myself a pop of color outside of my windows on wet days without investing a month's retirement check?  YES, I CAN!  My newest "go to" place for miserliness is one of our base thrift shops.  I only bring home things that I  a)have a need for  b)don't mind leaving them when we PCS or c) simply have fallen in love with.  So, I chose a few items to create hardscape and mainly hold my flowers.

Plant Holder?

Tabletop Fruit Holder?

$9 Investment from Walmart

Throwaway from a Neighbor

I went to Lowe's (because Lowe's and Home Depot are awesome at giving a military discount) and purchased a bit of paint and other small screws, etc. needed to change the purpose and look of these items.  Huck and Finn and I worked a couple of days on putting it together, and. . .here it is, for under $100 (including the furniture but not the grill)!