GARDEN MAKEOVER
‘We brought summer getaways to our garden’ Learning DIY skills from online tutorials, Monika and Konrad Nowak saved a fortune by building everything in their holiday-inspired garden themselves
M
onika and Konrad finally finished renovating their Merseyside house at the end of 2019, after months of work squeezed into weekends and in between work and school runs. All that was left for them to do was the garden, but, ‘as we’d spent all of our budget on renovating the house, we decided the garden would have to wait until summer 2020,’ recalls Monika. ‘But then, as we prepared to start work on it, Covid-19 happened. My husband was put on furlough for a month, and we decided we may not have an opportunity again for him to have the time to do it, so the bulk of the garden work had to
BEFORE
Green scredeenn
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DIY ideas
STEP INto my garden… WHO LIVES HERE? I’m Monika Nowak, 35. I’m a Support Worker and I also work with adults with autism. I live in the Wirral, Merseyside, with my husband Konrad, 36, a Line Manager at a furniture factory, our son, Anthony, nine, and our daughter, Mia, five. WHAT WAS UPDATED? We’d spent all our budget on the house (see my Instagram @interiorsbymn), so the garden had been left behind. WHY THE CHANGE? Konrad was furloughed during the first lockdown, so we took the plunge and started while he was at home. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE? Konrad was only at home for a month, so we had exactly four weeks. We did most of it but finished off the bar the following summer. TOTAL COST
28
£701
yourhomestyle.uk
Create a laid-back holiday vibe in your garden with Monika’s budget-savvy hacks
1.
Use stencils and paint to revitalise an old patio and get the look of patterned tiles, rather than spending on new slabs.
2.
You’d be surprised at what you can make yourself – we built our garden bar with the help of online tutorials. Start small with a planter to develop your skills.
3.
Add a roof to a pergola to create a sheltered patio or decking area for lounging and socialising. It’s a fairly simple DIY job using polycarbonate roofing sheets.
Using reclaimed wood and bricks for the majority of the project meant Monika could create her dream garden without going over budget
