One Room Challenge: backyard oasis, week 4

Wow, who would have thought that week 4 of One Room Challenge is when it would dawn on me how much work a backyard overhaul can be?? I got back from my travels late Thursday night and dove into yardwork the very next day and haven’t taken a day off since. We’ve been going HAM on the yard… so much digging, raking, hauling, stacking, and leveling. It’s been truly backbreaking, but I feel like it’s starting to really come together. Or at least, I have to keep reminding myself of that as I stain yet another fence board!

One Room Challenge, my backyard oasis makeover week 4. makeover progress, Sherwin Williams Black Alder opaque stain, DIY new fence, garden rock wall. @mycraftyhmelife #oneroomchallengeOne Room Challenge, my backyard oasis makeover week 4. makeover progress, Sherwin Williams Black Alder opaque stain, DIY new fence, garden rock wall. @mycraftyhmelife #oneroomchallenge

That is what 200 fence boards looks like! Most of the work we’ve done this week has involved planning and constructing the new fence by using our pre-existing 4x4s. They were in good enough shape that we were able to salvage them, thankfully. And here’s some even better news: Dunn Lumber, a local Seattle business, was kind enough to provide boards and hardware for our new fence! They’ve been in business since 1907, which is even longer than my house has existed. Dunn Lumber also has a great home improvement blog, which was a fantastic resource for us as we planned out the project. The customer service was superb (Hi, Frank!) and we left the store knowing that we had everything we needed to complete our new fence.

One Room Challenge, my backyard oasis makeover week 4. makeover progress, Sherwin Williams Black Alder opaque stain, DIY new fence, garden rock wall. @mycraftyhmelife #oneroomchallenge

How beautiful is the stain?? I am so obsessed. In case you’re curious, we’re using the SuperDeck IR Reflective Exterior Waterborne Solid Color Stain in Black Alder from Sherwin-Williams. My favorite part about it? Each coat dries in a little over an hour, so this aspect of the project has been going really quickly!

One Room Challenge, my backyard oasis makeover week 4. makeover progress, garden pot design plan. @mycraftyhmelife #oneroomchallenge

While staining so many fence boards, I’ve spent a lot of time further planning the vision of our space — and the pieces that will help to make it come to life. Overstock is one of the incredibly generous sponsors for One Room Challenge and has supplied some really amazing pieces for our space (in case you missed it, you can catch the unboxing on my Instagram Story highlights). One big area of focus for me has been our garden pot situation. I wanted to have a mix that feels curated and collected. I’ve looked at an array of materials, but always end up gravitating towards concrete and concrete-looking planters, so I’ve assembled these so far:

  1. set of 3 eco-concrete planters
  2. taupe & ivory outdoor garden pot
  3. victorian black garden border fencing set
  4. white fiber clay rectangular modern planters
  5. large grey urn

I might add a few vintage ones into the mix, but I am totally loving the overall vibe.

One Room Challenge, my backyard oasis makeover week 4. makeover progress, outdoor pillows, rug, and textiles design plan. @mycraftyhmelife #oneroomchallenge

Equally important to me is our mix of textiles! Our Stori Modern pieces arrive tomorrow (yay), so I’ve paired these textiles with them for an eclectic mix in our palette of white, black, and blue.

  1. indigo square pillow
  2. Sunbrella Cabana Classic Indoor/ Outdoor Striped Pillows
  3. Pom Pom At Home Newport throw
  4. Stori Modern Graphic loveseat
  5. Pom Pom At Home Laguna throw
  6. charcoal rectangular pillow
  7. grey outdoor rug
  8. Blue Moon Pattern Indoor- Outdoor Decorative Pillow
  9. Pom Pom At Home Montauk throws

The chickens would also like to show you the new garden bed walls we built with stones! Clearly, we still need to work on this section of the fence, but the stones are looking goooood.

One Room Challenge, my backyard oasis makeover week 4. makeover progress, Sherwin Williams Black Alder opaque stain, DIY new fence, garden rock wall. @mycraftyhmelife #oneroomchallenge

I can almost see the vision coming to life! Can you?? In case you missed it, here are Week 1Week 2, and Week 3.

Be sure to follow along with the other designers participating, too:

Apartment 34 | Beginning in the Middle | Coco & Jack | The English Room | The Gold Hive

Gray Malin | Jenna Sue Design | Jojotastic | Kelly Rogers Int. | Linda Holt | Marcus Design

Michelle Gage | Natasha Habermann | The Painted House | Rambling Renovators

Sacramento Street | Shannon Claire | Sketch 42 | Stephanie Kraus | Bisou Style

Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by ORC

photography by Jojotastic.

Behind The Blog

Joanna Hawley-McBride is a Pacific Northwest-based social media strategist, content creator, and former textile designer. Joanna is the founder and editor-in-chief of Jojotastic, a lifestyle blog focused on Joanna’s work-in-progress cabin, finding the best pair of underwear through #UnderwearThesis, and empowering women to explore nature — all in her signature unfiltered style. Her work has been featured in Domino, CNBC, and Eating Well.

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