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Ideas wanted for backyard makeover

I’ve recently purchased a property and I’m wondering what to do with the outdoor space. The existing deck pictured needs to be replaced because it’s rotted and snapping (it’s just a panel of wood sitting on the soil). Previously the old fold down clothes was above the old deck pictured but I will be looking to install a wall to wall clothesline so it’s out of the way. The two exit doors to the outdoor area comes from the kitchen (the end were the seating is) and the laundry.

it would be nice to have some waterless / hardy plants along the fence line and I was thinking of putting a deck again at the other end where the seating is and using the same style wood to make a raised planter box along the fence that is angled to provide the back for a bench seat? I would be hoping to have a small bbq outside here also.

Pictures are attached - any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I don’t like the pebbles covering the entire backyard space either but would be happy if I just had the deck space ☺️

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Decking and Paving

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Gardening

Planting and Growing

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Comments

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Naya94. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about creating a deck.

Congratulations on purchasing the property! What a truly exciting time this must be for you, as I'm sure you have plenty of plans and ideas on how you can transform the property and create your home.

It sounds like you have a fairly good idea of what you'd like to achieve. The deck space and seats backed by a raised garden bed sound like great ideas. For planning out the area, I suggest you check out the myGarden planner. Its purpose is to design watering systems, but I find it a neat tool for designing gardens in general. I've included an image below of a possible layout of your yard.

For your bench seating with garden bed, take a look at how @raymond265 created their Fire pit entertaining area with seating and planter boxes. They've created a solid structure that could be clad with the same type of timber as the deck.

You might like to check out these posts for inspiration: Top 10 most popular outdoor projects, Top 10 most popular deck projects, Top 10 most popular screening projects and Top 10 most popular planter box projects. We also have some excellent How To articles: How to plan a garden makeover and How to give your garden a makeover. If you were planning on constructing the deck yourself this guide on How to build a deck will come in handy.

To kick your project off, I'd recommend you concentrate on the major element which is the deck and bench seating. Plan out how you like to create it and possibly draw up a sketch. If you can provide me with dimensions I'll be able to put a rendering of it together for you to help you better understand the construction process.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

Dave-1

Good Afternoon @Naya94

Welcome to the club 🙂 and also welcome to owning a plce of your own! So much fun!

Looking at @MitchellMc's sketch he has beat me to the punch with a water feature (that blue pool thing)

I was going to suggest to use that lower area where your deck is for a rectangular pond, As long as the water is moving you really shouldnt have to worry about mosquitos or just add soem hardy fish and they will eat them like crazy. You could then have an area with the sound of running water.

I dislike white pebbles, so much of a pain to remove (Tho a lot of people will pick them up for free 🙂 ) I was thinking pavers more so then a deck as it would be easier to lay them. How much sun does your fence recieve? Just thinking what type of plants you could grow. If you put pavers down or decking just factor in where any water will drain to.

Looking at the top of your fence line with another fence beyond that maybe some sort of tall shrub that you can sculpt over the years? A leafy type plant. That would break the fenceline up as well as giving the eye smore space to roam.

Dave

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