Two Easy Upgrades for Your Patio

Summer/Outdoor Living

Two Easy Upgrades for Your Patio

Summertime and the living is easy. However, it can be expensive. When thinking about what I could do to make my patio a more comfortable place without overspending, my mind naturally turned to the dollar store. It really is wonderful what can be done with some inexpensive finds and a bit of imagination.

Try these two easy upgrades for your patio, front porch, deck or balcony.

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Items similar to the ones used in this post available on Amazon:

Tabletop Fire Pit

Everyone is DIY-ing their own fire pits this year, so I thought I’d give it a shot, too.

Supplies Used: 

  • 1 low terra cotta planter (Dollarama)
  • 1 metal bowl (Dollarama)
  • decorative sand (dollar store)
  • 1-2 bags black river rocks (Dollar Tree)
  • gel fuel (Dollar Tree)

 

The planter is 8 1/2 inches round and approximately 4 inches deep. The metal bowl is 7 inches round. You will also need some decorative sand.

 

 

The first thing I did was to fill the hole in the bottom of the terra cotta planter with hot glue, so sand wouldn’t leak out the bottom.

 

 

Next, I filled the pot with the sand. I should have probably used more, but I used what I had on hand. Then I pressed the metal bowl down into the centre of the sand so it was sitting level.

 

I placed the fuel can into the centre of the metal bowl and added a bag of black river rocks around it.

 

 

I found some more black river rocks in my stash and added them, as well.

 

 

This gel fuel has no wick, but when it’s lit it gives off quite a bit of heat. If you wanted a flame, you’d have to add a wick.

 

 

As this fire pit will be sitting outside, I wanted to be able to protect it from getting wet, so I placed a large salad bowl from the Dollar Tree over top of it. As it happened, it rained in the night and my plan to keep the rain from wetting the sand and otherwise filling the fire pit up with water, worked admirably. 

Naturally, you only want to use this type of cover after the fire pit has cooled down. A metal bowl would work better for this purpose, but the cover was an afterthought, so I used what I had on hand.

Solar Lights and Window Clings

Solar lights and window clings may seem an unlikely combination, but I thought I’d give it a try.

Supplies Used:

  • 2 solar light stakes of your choice (Dollarama)
  • small floral window clings (Dollarama)
  • outdoor Mod Podge (Michaels)

 

 

I had bought a sheet of butterfly window clings to put on my patio doors to help prevent the birds from flying into them. There were some small floral pieces left over that were just the right size for the two solar light stakes I had.

 

 

I coated each of the clear plastic pieces with outdoor Mod Podge…

 

 

and applied the window clings to each of the two solar lights.

 

 

One of the window clings didn’t cover all the way around, so I added a couples of the leaves from the sheet, as well. However, this isn’t really important. When the first coat of Mod Podge dried, I applied a second coat over top of the entire surface of the plastic pieces.

 

 

I decided to stick these two solar lights into one of my flower pots on the patio.

 

 

Here’s a closeup of one of the solar lights at night. I think they look very pretty. It’s been very hot and humid where I live for the past couple of days and, so far the Mod Podge has held up beautifully. These lights are out in the open, so we’ll have to see how my little experiment holds up over the summer.

Solar Flowers in a Vase

 

Solar lights don’t always have to be stuck into the ground. I found these cute flower-shaped solar light stakes at Dollar Tree. Two of them work well, while the other doesn’t always light up. Nevertheless, I think they make a pretty display in a mason jar.

By the way, that’s a water bottle sticker on the mason jar. I didn’t use any additional adhesive to attach it. It’s been sitting out in the heat and rain for about a month now and shows no sign of coming off.

Items similar to the ones used in this post available on Amazon:

 

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