A MUM has revealed how she transformed her “disappointing” garden into an outdoor paradise – and saved £1,000 in the process.
Jacqui Clements, 45, a stroke nurse specialist practitioner from Hull, was determined to make the most of the space in her new home, but knew it needed a little TLC.
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She told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: “I have recently ended a long-term marriage and I downsized so I could afford to buy a house for myself and my 12-year-old son.
“When I viewed this house the estate agent said the garden was letting it down and that’s why it had no offers at the time. My response was that I didn’t like gardening anyway!
“However, when my son viewed the house, he was disappointed by the garden as he had nowhere nice to play.
“I wanted to brighten up the area for him so that he would feel comfortable in it.”
Rather than forking out to get a landscaper in, Jacqui set about transforming the space herself on the cheap.
She said: “I didn’t have to spend too much on the transformation overall.
“The centrepiece is the boat arbour, which came from the old house, so no additional cost was involved. I originally bought it off Amazon from a company called The Rustic Log Store Co for £225.
“The loungers came from Dunelm for £50, which is around £20 cheaper than some other brands I saw when I was browsing.
“I also managed to pick up an outdoor rug from ASDA for £60, which is a great bargain as I saw others in similar sizes for £80 and even £200!
“My biggest investment was the artificial grass, which I got from Carpet Shop Online – however, this was also where I made the biggest saving.
“I bought 20 metres squared of it, and it cost me £180 as I got a 10% discount. I heard that it could cost over £1000 to get it professionally done!
“I ordered several samples at the different price ranges to assess the quality before I chose the grass I liked and ended up getting the mid-range priced one.
“I then sourced pots and plants locally from various garden centres, and these came to around £100 in total. Finally, the navy paint is from the Frenchic range in the shade After Midnight for £17.99.
“The first step I took was to paint the walls white, which brightened up the garden a lot. From there, I decided to go with a Mediterranean theme as I already had navy blue chairs and paint to match. I then used the Frenchic paint on the outhouse door and the back gate.
“There was already some artificial grass out there, but I replaced it with the navy and white outdoor rug as it fitted the space perfectly. After that, I decided to use the artificial grass to cover up the cracked concrete.
“It was very easy to lay and cut to size – I’ve never been keen on it but I think it looks great.
I took my time with this project and did it over a few weeks. The only challenge was fitting it in around my working hours and the English weather!
“I am very pleased with how it’s turned out, and my son now has a place where he can play outside and not be ashamed of the space. I’m very much into doing things myself if I can, so I can keep the costs down and get a sense of achievement.”
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: “Jacqui has managed to transform her garden into a bright and relaxing space.
“For 20 metres squared of grass, a professional job would cost around £1280 on average according to My Builder, with the bulk of the cost going on the installation labour, so Jacqui has saved around £1100 by doing it herself.
“What’s more, artificial grass won’t require as much maintenance as the real thing – ideal considering Jacqui has said she doesn’t like gardening!
“It’s easy for garden seating to cost hundreds of pounds, so Jacqui has done well to keep costs down by purchasing two loungers at this price.
“Overall, the minimalist Mediterranean look proves that you don’t need to fill your garden with too many decorations for it to look great!”
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