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Outside Space |Pad Patter 6.5

bestcee

bestcee

In love with places I've never been to
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
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19,337
Do you have outside Space? Do you use it?

We have a little patio at our apartment that leads out to the duck pond. This year we bought a little patio set so we can sit outside. I'm loving sitting out in the morning and listening to the birds {and air conditioners}.
 
In our apartment complex, there is this lovely, good-sized run of grass and a couple of playgrounds, loads of trees, etc. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of dogs. And a lot of inconsiderate pet owners. We don't utilize that outdoor space as often as I would like, which makes me sad. The manager recently sent out notices to keep dogs on leashes while outdoors and to pick up after them as well, and I've seen some improvement, so hopefully we'll get out there more this summer.

I love that you have a duck pond right off of your patio! How wonderful! We have a great park/walking trail about a mile up the road from us, right along the Umatilla river, so it doesn't hurt my feelings toooooooo badly that we can't use what's right here in front of us.
 
We have a balcony that we mostly use for drying clothes, and the complex has a courtyard that the girls play in often. DH and I are not outdoorsy at all but we will go out with the girls ask us to. There are also several parks and playgrounds within easy walking distance if we want more.
 
We have a small backyard which I have been (unsuccessfully) trying to get into "liveable" order for years. Something always comes up that keeps me from getting it done, kinda like my sprained foot a few months ago and the almost month solid of rain we received in May. I have the plans all drawn up to put in two square foot vegetable garden beds, which I'm very excited about! Hopefully I'll get them in, as well as a cold frame and small toolshed by the Winter. Here's to hoping!

The biggest drawback for our backyard is a few years ago the school behind our house put in portable units right up to the property line, thereby flooding the easement for days every time it rains. And that means lots of mosquitos, who love to eat me up. I'm still having to deal with the school district on it.
 
I have a nice sized patio, and I have quite a few planters out there. We have a little table and 2 chairs. However, I don't spend much time out there. But with triple wide sliding glass door/window, I love the view and appreciate it every single day.
 
We have 1/2 acre lot in a cul-de-sac and I love it. I spend as much time as I can out there as the weather allows. I have 3 really big flower beds that I love to play in and a fire pit area with a swing. We also have a big deck on the front of the house with a patio set, rockers, and a bistro set. I plan on spending lots of time there very soon!!! And we have a small deck on the back of the house with benches that I made from pallets, another fire pit, and the grill. Outdoor space is my favorite space :)
 
We have a nice sized yard, front and back. We have a fire pit, a small deck and a grill. We have huge trees so I want a hammock... and I'd love to put in a zip line (small one, like 70 feet or so, between our trees).

We are out often... I don't want the boys cooped up when it's nice out, so I force them out and myself sometimes! We play games, basketball, soccer, corn hole, scooters, bicycles, and we have a super long single swing (the type that have the rope through the middle, just a round one).

My kids also think it's funny to make obstacle courses and then watch me try to complete them. :attention Circle this 3 times, hop over this cone, run in place for 10 seconds, ride the swing, jump over the bush, etc. Y'know... jumping over cones is hard work!

Down the street is one of the schools, and another park so we head there for the playground, to play a bigger game of soccer, or wall ball.

You could drive by my house and even find my kids hanging from the trees! :giggle
 
We have a pretty decent sized back & side yards- and a small front yard. We have chairs/side table on our front porch- which is super nice in the evenings to sit & watch the kids ride their bikes in the driveway or just playing around. We also have a rock waterfall fountain thing that we put in last summer out there so it's a nice sound! We have a daylight basement style of home- so our back deck is the 2nd story- which we have a patio set/ bbq /etc there. The backyard is mostly just grass with flower beds I've worked really hard to get stuff going in! We had our home built just over 3 years ago so we're pretty happy with how the landscaping & such as grown in. We have grand plans for firepit & raised gardening beds in the back- maybe next year ;)
 
amien1 said:
Lol- my daughter loves to climb & hang out in our trees :) As long as she takes a shower when she comes in I see no harm in it! ;)
Click to expand...

We really only have one great tree to climb, but man, they can get up to the top. Plus... it's in our front yard, so really, everyone who drives by might find my or a friends kid in that tree.
The other trees are HUGE.... 50-75 feet tall trees, maybe 100 feet - with no real low climbing branches. I can't even hug all the way around the trees in my backyard! The swing rope goes up pry 75 feet in the air to a strong branch.
 
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We recently moved into a new house and we had no landscaping done....and there's a LOT to do. Right now we are just working in it all the time. Clearing out sticks, rocks, poison ivy, dead trees and getting it playable and livable. We do have a really big nice front porch. We have a few chairs right now. My dream is to have my husband build me a big farmhouse table for our patio.
 
We have a normal city size lot, more room in the front than the back, but a fabulous view. So we spend a fair amount of time on the back patio.
 
We have pretty standard HOA space for the area... tiny side space, little bit out front, and then some back yard space. We do nothing with any of it. Our goal for the back yard is to extend the patio, and cover it, as well as adding a designated grilling space. Yards here are good for about 2 months of the year :(
We've pulled out the kids' pool twice so far, but set that up in the garage... pull the van out of the garage, fill up the pool with the hose, and let them play. The ground is too hot for them to play on it outside of the garage.
 
We have a huge backyard backing on forest and ceders on both sides for lots of privacy. A covered stone patio too. Unfortunately my husband keeps stacking equipment from his HVAC company all over the patio. Grrrrrr. The is barely room to stand at the barbecue.
 
We have a steeply sloped lot which is terraced, so we use our upper deck a lot in the summer. We eat out there some mornings and most evenings, although its often to hot to sit out there in the daytime.
 
We have a smallish deck with no stairs to the lawn level, so we only use the deck for grilling. Our backyard space is small but nice, terraced and the low spot in the lawn is where we've trained the dog to do his business. We have a trampoline in the back for the boys to play on and a play center that is nearing time to be taken down since the boys don't use it anymore (they are 10 and 13). We back onto a lovely green space with a pond that has geese and ducks every summer, and walking trails. I don't get out as much as I'd like to, since I'm usually working.
 
I live in a single family home that has been converted to two apartments, so there is a nice side yard on one side and a smaller area on the street side. I have been doing a lot of work in the larger area last year and again this year. Just got myself a nice patio set which I will really enjoy. I have a two seat swing out there and one chaise lounge.
 
We have a big backyard with a garden. We have a table and chair set out there, but it doesn't get all that much use. Kennedy has his "crab corner" with a crab sandbox and swing. Then there is a tetherball, his soccer area, and the garden. Kennedy spends a lot of time out in the back, so if it isn't too hot, that is where we hang. The unfortunate thing is that the backyard is where we get all of the heat from about noon on. This weekend, it was so hot (95) it was impossible to be in the back yard because there really isn't any shade to speak of (other than in right in Kennedy's crab corner). We do have an umbrella over the table, but it is still too hot in the direct sun. Now we're thinking that since we've been working so hard on the front yard, that we might put a little set of chairs out on the front porch-ish area because that is the shady side of the house. I just don't like sitting out in the front a lot because our street is fairly busy.

I'm envious of people who have their outside as an extra living area.

Does anyone have one of these??? :giggle My daughter found it on Pinterest.

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My house is centered on ⅓ acre with woods at the back and a huge sunset maple tree in the front. We have a wide front porch and a back deck. Thanks to lots of rain in Virginia we have a nice green lawn without any effort. And we let the wildflowers grow! That's about it. We're not good gardeners, unfortunately, and when we want to spend time outdoors we go on a walk around the neighborhood or go somewhere else.

That backyard bowling thing looks awesome @scrapsandsass !
 
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