What’s the use of balmy weather and long summer days if you can’t hang out in your yard and have some fun? If there’s nowhere good to sit and nothing fun to do at your house, don’t fret. Summer is the perfect time to tackle some easy DIY projects that can transform your outdoor space.
These fun summer projects–culled from the TOH archives of great weekend upgrades–will enhance your yard, beautify your exterior, and give everyone in the family something exciting to do. Pick and choose from our DIY weekend projects that are right for your home, and soon you’ll have the most attractive and entertaining yard on the block.
1. Make a Herb Planter From a Wagon
Required materials:
- Wagon
- Clean, washed gravel
- High-quality potting soil
- Landscape fabric (optional)
- Rust-resistant treatment (optional)
Looking to spice up your container garden? Dig out Junior’s rusty old Radio Flyer and turn it into a mobile planter that can go from a sun-steeped corner right to your kitchen door. Here’s how to get rolling: How to Make an Herb Planter From a Wagon.
2. Build a Tree Bench
Required materials:
- Western red cedar lumber (2x4s, 2x6s, 1x4s, 1x2s)
- Post anchors
- Construction adhesive
- Exterior wood screws
This comfy, stay-cool spot has room for the entire family and practically looks like it’s a part of the tree itself. Put your bench together, and you’ll enjoy lounging on it with a favorite book all summer long. Check out How to Build a Tree Bench.
3. Design a Lemonade Stand
Required materials:
- ½-inch birch veneer plywood (4×8-foot sheet)
- Cardstock or poster board for signage
- Clothespins
- Exterior latex primer
- Exterior paint in your chosen colors
- Markers for creating the sign
When the sun is hot and kids are bored, there’s nothing better to get them motivated than a project that comes with a built-in reward. Building this old-fashioned lemonade stand is sure to spark some creative interest, along with a bit of entrepreneurial spirit. See How to Build a Lemonade Stand.
4. Create a Backyard for Playing Games
If you build it, they will come. But to effect this kind of leisure-time loyalty, you need some sophisticated games, games of skill and strategy, games once played by warriors and kings–games like bocce, horseshoes, and croquet. Read how to set up your lawn for backyard sports. The materials required depend on your lawn and which games you’re hoping to build.
5. Grow Fruits and Vegetables
You don’t need a backyard farm to enjoy the tangy flavor of just-picked blueberries or the juicy sweetness of vine-ripened tomatoes still warm from the sun. Strategize right, and you can grow a lot of food in a tiny space, even in full view of your neighbors. See these 10 tips to get started.
6. Build a Potting Bench
Required materials:
- 2×2 lumber for support cleats
- 2×4 lumber for the frame and legs
- 5/4×6 or 2×6 boards for the work surface and shelves
- Exterior wood screws
- Weather-resistant wood finish or paint
- Wire mesh for the backing
Even if you love gardening, repotting plants or dividing flats can feel like a real chore if you have to scavenge for supplies in the dark corners of the garage. Park your supplies on a dedicated workstation, and you’ll never waste time hunting them down again. Construct our simple, three-tier potting bench and keep your favorite hand tools right at your fingertips.
7. Install Landscape Lighting
Enhance the nighttime curb appeal of your home and add a measure of safety and security with low-voltage landscape lighting. Install these exterior-grade fixtures along walkways and driveways, or illuminate steps, trees, stonewalls, fences and other prominent landscape features.
8. Build a Simple Deck
Have you always dreamed of building your own deck but were hesitant to tackle such a large, complicated construction project? We’ve got some good news: All you need are some basic carpentry tools and the desire to invest a little sweat equity. See a demonstration of the proper techniques for building a small, simple on-grade deck.
The materials you will need depend on your space and the size of your deck, but the simple deck in the article linked above requires lumber, concrete, metal post bases, and metal rim joists.
9. Custom Grilling Station
Required materials:
- High-quality types of plywood
- Galvanized sheet metal
- Galvanized hinges
- Galvanized door pulls.
If your grilling skills are in high demand all summer, you need a proper cart that will store all the necessary tools and platters. See how to assemble this master grill station, from wood planters and metal-wrapped plywood.
10. Take the Bar Al Fresco
Required materials:
- 1×4 lumber
- 1×3 lumber
- 1×2 lumber
- 1” hardwood dowels
- Wheel kit
- Nails
- Hex-head bolts
If your usual method of serving beverages at a barbecue involves a Styrofoam cooler and a bag of ice, it’s time to think about an upgrade. This mobile cart is tough enough to withstand sun, rain, and spills of your libation of choice.
11. Add a Sitting Wall
Required materials:
- Paver base
- Brick or cement blocks
- Stone dust
- Mortar
Add a little taste of New England to your landscape by marking off your patios and flower beds with a border that doubles as a place to sit down and relax. Using cast concrete blocks made to look like stone makes this landscape feature much easier to build. See How to Build a Sitting Wall.
12. Hang Exterior Shutters
Required materials:
- Shutters and associated hardware
- Caulk gun and exterior caulk
Studded with hammered-iron hardware and a bright coat of paint, shutters will dress up the front of your house and add to its curb appeal. You’ll get relief from the summer heat as well as a barrier against strong storm winds. It is easier than you think: see how to put up several pairs of shutters in just one weekend.
13. Give the Garden a Pretty Arbor
Required materials:
- Lumber
- Concrete
- 4 42-inch galvanized metal pipes
- Screws and nails
A well-placed arbor is your garden’s ultimate multitasker: It can serve as an entryway to an outdoor spot, frame a focal point like a flowering shrub, and take your beloved climbers to new heights. Whether left unfinished or given a coat of paint, you’ll love how this piece adds personality to your outdoor space. Check out How to Build a Garden Arbor.
14. Get Comfy in an Adirondack Chair
Required materials:
- 5/4-inch by 6-foot pressure-treated decking lumber
- 1 5/8-inch number 8 stainless-steel deck screws
- 2 1/2-inch number 8 stainless-steel deck screws
- Adirondack chair template
- One sheet 3/4-inch MDF (for creating reusable templates)
Anyone who’s ever sat in the low-slung seat of an Adirondack chair and sunk into the curve of the fanned back knows there’s no cushion-free seat like it. The beauty of the Adirondack chair is its simplicity, as some of the parts do double duty. See our easy how-to guide to build one.
15. Gather Around a Fire Pit
Required materials:
- 3/4-inch drainage gravel
- Capstones
- Concrete blocks (enough for 3–4 courses plus extras)
- Masonry adhesive
- Patio base material (for leveling)
- Steel fire ring (36–44 inches in diameter)
Outdoor fires are so hot right now. These days people are going ultra-retro and getting their heat from stone-walled pits set into the earth. If you really want to light upright, do it in style. Take a few days to build your very own ring of fire.
16. Build a Branch Trellis
Required materials:
- Planter
- Branches
- Twine
Get your climbers to climb in a more organic setting by entwining them around branches in big containers. You can grow sweet peas, morning glories, black-eyed susans, and other colorful vines. See how to make this charming addition to your garden.
17. Grow Vegetables in a Raised Garden Bed
Here’s a great project for the budding gardener in your family: a raised vegetable garden. This simple frame of rot-resistant lumber will hold soil in place and raise the garden to a height that’s easy for everyone to reach without stepping onto precious plants—plus no more dirty knees (or at least fewer dirty knees). See how to get started step-by-step.
The materials you’ll need depend on the type of garden bed you want to create, but wood, bring, plastic, and metal are all workable options.
18. Self-Watering Planter
Required materials:
- Eight 2×6 cedar boards, 8 feet long
- 3 1/2-inch exterior grade screws
- Exterior-grade wood glue (or construction adhesive)
- Two 1×2 cedar boards, 8 feet long
- 1 3/4-inch exterior grade screws
- Four 1×4 cedar boards, 8 feet long
- 18-gauge stainless steel nails, 2 inches long
- 1/2-inch plywood cut from a 2×2 project panel
- 3/4-inch exterior grade screws
- Metal handle
- Clear epoxy
- 2 7/8-inch exterior grade structural screws
- Raised bed soil
- Plants
Whether big or small, used in pairs or on their own, planter boxes are a cheery way to flank an entry, break up an expansive patio, or simply add a splash of color to a small yard. Learn how to make this roomy rectangular version from rot-resistant cellular PVC.
19. Incorporate Landscape Furniture
Required materials:
- Grow bags or landscape fabric
- Milk crates
- Sandpaper (various grits)
- Stainless steel pocket screws
- Western red cedar boards, following the cut list below
- Wood finish suitable for outdoor use
- Wood screws
There is lawn furniture, and then there is what you might call landscape furniture—custom seating built right into the terrain. Done right, it can create a little oasis in your yard or even on your deck. This bench with planters for piers is a great piece to add to your yard. See how to build the planters.
20. Make a Pebble Mosaic
Required materials:
- Material for forms (lumber, bender board, or sturdy plastic edging)
- Crushed gravel
- Premixed dry mortar
- Sorted drain-rock pebbles
If you’re looking for an outdoor project that’s a bit off the beaten path, a pebble mosaic will give your yard, garden, or walkway a unique and unexpected focal point. Though the materials to build it are pretty basic—flat pebbles or cobbles, concrete mix, gravel, and stone dust—your design can be anything but. Check out these pattern ideas for constructing a pebble mosaic.
21. Lay a Bluestone Patio
Required materials:
- Cement
- Stone dust
- Stone bluestone slabs
For a rustic landscape, nothing looks more natural than “snapped” or “broken” bluestone, terms used to denote an irregular edge on the slabs. With a little digging endurance and the patience to piece together a rock puzzle, you, too, can create this gathering spot in your own yard.
22. Install a Beadboard Porch Ceiling
Required materials:
- Beadboard
- Finishing nails
Paneling the underside of your porch roof with wood is strictly an aesthetic endeavor. But with a little know-how and a lot of patience, it’s a way to add a touch of tradition and charm to a covered entryway. Learn the 2-day step-by-step method.
23. Screen-In the Porch
The traditional method of installing screens is labor-intensive and does not hold up well. There is a much better and easier way to install screens–Screen Tight–and it doesn’t require a lot of experience. This project will show you how to rescreen an existing porch. You can use the same techniques detailed here for new and remodeled porches, deck enclosures, breezeways, and gazebos.
24. Start Composting
Required materials:
- Cedar lumber (2x6s, 4x4s, and 1x6s)
- Exterior-grade brad nails
- Exterior-grade plywood
- Nailing cleat
- Piano hinge
- Stainless steel screws
If you love to garden, nothing feeds your plants better than compost from your very own backyard. Though you can buy a compost bin made from budget-friendly plastic or even chicken wire, assembling a cedar bin is easy. It will conceal those yard clippings and kitchen leftovers without sticking out like a sore thumb on your landscape. Check out How to Build a Compost Bin.
25. Give Your Garden Tools a Shed
All the rust-resistant coating in the world won’t save your garden tools if you leave them outside all the time. To create a clean, dry, and accessible locale for your pruners and shovels, plant a handsome wood lean-to shed against the house near the patio or garden. You can make one in a weekend out of off-the-shelf lumber or buy a panelized kit that screws together in under an hour.
26. Dine at Your Own Picnic Table
Required materials:
- 2×8 lumber
- 2×6 lumber
- 2×4 lumber
Building a classic picnic table with attached benches is the perfect solution to crowded family barbecues on the deck or patio. This staple of backyards and parks—with its elbow-to-elbow dining and climb-over seating—works in all terrains, so you can move off the deck and onto the grass.
27. Hang a Tree Swing
Required materials:
- 1-inch-by-8-inch hardwood board (at least 4 feet long)
- 3/8-inch thick rope (approximately 20 feet)
- 1/2-inch eye bolt (6 inches long)
- 1/2-inch washers and nuts
- 1 1/4-inch wood screws
- Carabiner
- Exterior latex paint
- Rope thimble
- Wood glue
All kids want to fly, and every time they ride on a swing, they get closer to that Peter Pan moment. But you don’t need a whole playground to feel the spring breezes swoosh by. All you need is a seat, a rope, and a sturdy tree. Making this tree swing requires a few tools, and all the hardware needed to hang it can be found at your local home center.