Add Color to Your Landscape by Thinking Outside the Box

 Sometimes you find yourself wondering how you can brighten up your landscape in different ways besides just flowers and flowering bushes.

Take a look in your backyard. What structures do you have? A gazebo? A shed. I have both and they needed painting. My shed was a barn red and the gazebo was the same old drab white you see everywhere.

I started thinking of ways to make them look better and make the gazebo a focus in the year. Well, since I have a couple ponds in the back and a dropped in pond on my deck, they are the focal point. But I wanted the gazebo to stand out. It was a gift to my wife from my dad. Both have passed away but I wanted the gazebo be kind of a remembrance to them.

Blue! I decided to go blue. Obviously. Then I painted the floor a dark green. It was totally a coincidence that an old zoo sign I picked up when working had colors that matched the gazebo. Even the red blended in.

Originally there was lattice around the bottom part as well as covering the top. But it was hard to blow leaves and dirt off through the lattice and there were clumps of stuff on the top. So I pulled the lattice.

Now I can easily take a leaf blower and clean all the debris off the floor..

Next was the shed. The red was not going to work. So I decided to use the color scheme of the gazebo and switch it. A green wall with blue trim. The nice thing is when the shadows are out back, sometimes you can't even see the shed as it blends into the background.

It's an old shed so I patched it up and then painted. Funny story. Now it is but not so much at the time. This is a water based paint. Weatherman said 0% chance of rain. He lied. I got 3 sides done and the rain came. Went back after it passed and pretty much repainted the sides. Then I painted the front and the rain came again. I look out my sliding glass door and watch the front of the shed turn red again.

Yeah. I was not a happy camper. I was ready to give up but went out in the evening and touched up the other 3 walls and completely redid the front. SMH. It didn't rain until the next evening.

Look out in your backyard. Can you do something similar?