24 Cheap Backyard Ideas for Outdoor Spaces Large and Small (2024)

Make DIY Planters

Container gardening adds interesting color and layers to your backyard, but large outdoor planters can be expensive. Save a little cash and create DIY geometric planters. These easy-to-make containers are made from corrugated plastic, costing just a few dollars.

Cozy Backyard Ideas

Make your backyard more inviting by piling on pillows to give wood and metal patio furniture a cozy touch. Choose durable outdoor fabrics in bright colors and eye-catching patterns for style that will last throughout the season. To make this backyard idea more budget-friendly, consider stitching together pillow covers from outdoor fabric to recover old pillows.

DIY Backyard Fire Pit

Enjoy warm summer nights spent around a backyard fire pit. You'll need a few inexpensive materials to build your own, including angled pavers and gravel for the base. This easy DIY outdoor project can be completed over a weekend, and your family can enjoy bonfires for years to come.

Plant Inexpensive Perennials

Perennials come back year after year, which means you'll save money on landscaping in the long run. A cheap backyard idea for small yards is to fill your flower beds with colorful perennials and watch them bloom every spring. When planting, be sure to complete the proper prep work to keep perennials looking their best.

Invest Smartly

When looking for backyard ideas on a budget, identify one element to invest in to help you create a yard you'll love for years to come. Consider spending a little extra on a freestanding fire pit or one special piece of furniture you'll use regularly. Finish your backyard with more affordable accents, like pillows and string lights, to complete your space.

Living Fence Idea

Try this budget-friendly backyard idea: Espalier a tree to create a living fence for a low-cost, high-end look. The simple technique involves planting a tree and training it to grow in a pattern. The result is a custom look that adds visual interest and texture to a blank wall.

Backyard Furniture Ideas

Outdoor furniture, while made to withstand the elements, can take a beating over the years. Rather than splurge on new furniture, try a few DIY fixes to revive your existing pieces. This cheap backyard idea for small yards will work for larger spaces, too. A once-rusted patio table looks brand-new thanks to spray paint, new strapping, and minor cleanup.

Small Backyard Ideas

Here's one of the best efficient and cheap backyard ideas for small yards. Employ furniture pieces that work in two different ways. A two-in-one piece, like this bench with a lounger, maximizes space and can be more cost-effective than buying multiple seating options. Alternatively, select backyard furniture with built-in storage to provide additional seating while hiding away accessories that are used infrequently.

Backyard Patio Ideas

Try these backyard patio ideas on a budget to bring style and comfort to your space. For example, consider defining your outdoor living room with a retaining wall, or incorporate an outdoor kitchen for a patio prepped for entertaining. These easy backyard ideas will take your patio from basic to beautiful.

DIY Outdoor Seating

Furniture can be an expensive investment for backyards, but you have options for affordable backyard patio ideas that still look modern and trendy. To furnish your backyard for less, rely on DIY outdoor furniture, such as benches, chairs, and tables. One of our favorite budget backyard ideas uses low-cost concrete blocks, dry-stacked and covered with a foam pad. The DIY bench offers lots of seating in a high-traffic spot outside the home's back door.

Backyard Lighting Ideas

Outdoor lights remain a perennial favorite for porches and patios with good reason: They're celebratory and fun, with a warm glow that keeps the light from being distracting. For creative backyard ideas starring string lights, use them to wrap a tree or drape them down a table for a twinkling centerpiece.

Vintage or Handmade Backyard Decor

Utilize fabric and vintage finds for cheap backyard ideas for small yards or patios. Sweeping fabric curtains—made from yardage, sheets, or other suitable material—add elegance and beauty. Plus, they can shield family and friends from intense rays at key times of the day. Repurpose vintage elements into decorative backyard focal points instead of a more expensive light fixture. Here, nonworking chandeliers are outfitted with candles and trailing vines.

DIY Backyard Accents

For a fresh backyard idea on a budget, make your own accents. Enhance your backyard space by casting stepping stones using quick-mix concrete. This leaf-inspired stepping stone set is one of many backyard ideas that work particularly well in a cottage- or country-inspired garden.

Display a Collection

Collections are often considered high-end or expensive, but a simple gathering of plants in miniature containers can be a great focal point for a backyard. A plain outdoor shelf provides a display area for a low-cost stockpile of succulents and cactus plants. This easy cheap backyard idea for small yards adds a fun pop of color.

Backyard Hardscaping Ideas

Hardscaping is one of the most expensive elements in any landscape, including walkways, retaining walls, and edging. But the stone leftovers at your local landscaping, big box, or nursery supply store may be a less expensive option, especially if you're looking for cheap small backyard landscaping ideas and don't have much square footage to cover.

Placed together in a dry stack, stones offer a pretty backyard element that looks like a natural, always-been-there part of the yard. Choose low-growing groundcovers to soften the edges with charming blooms. Bonus: Those perennials can easily be divided to plant elsewhere and help you save even more.

Use Off-the-Shelf Materials

Custom elements quickly increase a budget for backyard landscaping, but creative recasting can get you the same function at a much lower cost. Ordinary concrete blocks elevate lengths of decking to create an easy outdoor bar. The same materials in a different configuration can also create an outdoor dining table, coffee table, or side table.

Vertical Gardening Tips

Outfit urban spaces or blank walls with vertical gardens for an easy and affordable backyard idea. This simple, budget-friendly garden project can be used for growing pretty succulents or even low-growing vegetables. Here, simple boxes made with found wood hang from hooks to serve as a focal point in a backyard.

Choose a Simple Plant Palette

For simple backyard landscaping ideas, rely on a tightly curated selection of plants. Choose a few favorite varieties and get creative with how and where you plant them. To expand your garden, consider dividing plants to cover more ground with growing material.

Choose an Inexpensive Paving Material

If you're looking for cheap backyard ideas for small yards or big areas with no grass, check out all your options for hardscaping, including less expensive crushed rock and gravel. Gravel provides a more casual surface underfoot for outdoor seating nooks and dining areas. If you use traditional pavers, consider unusual placement—large stones interspersed with vast swaths of grass, for example—to reduce the total material needed.

10-Minute Outdoor Decor

Refresh your outdoor room in a flash. These quick and easy backyard ideas make a significant impact on your space. Best of all, they can be done without straining your wallet. Use these tips to liven things up without committing to a complete remodeling project.

Low-Cost Backyard Seating Ideas

Use this simple backyard idea to instantly elevate your outdoor space: Create zones or separate areas with a few shifts in furniture to delineate eating, relaxing, cooking, and more. This doesn't require any new furniture purchases; use rugs to shift traffic or rocking chairs to guide people into nooks.

DIY Backyard Ideas

Get creative with backyard ideas that minimize costs and materials; you just need to be willing to invest time and effort. In this backyard, a slatted fence—with the boards spaced a bit wider than usual—helps to reduce wood costs. Oversized concrete pavers replace pricey stone for a patio, while building materials help create the containers and outdoor table base.

Add Vintage Hardscaping Elements

Hunt down affordable treasures and bring vintage style to your space with this inexpensive backyard idea. Many hardscaping elements, such as simple trellises or arbors, can be found at garage sales, resale shops, or flea markets. These outdoor items can add height, define traffic flow, or indicate movement from front to back.

Build Color with Containers

Annuals can be less expensive than perennials and shrubs, and they're a great way to add color and impact to a backyard, especially when arranged in containers. Matching vessels offer design cohesion, as does a similar color palette for the plants. Another cheap backyard patio idea: A stone slab on top of a lumber scrap makes for a casual outdoor side table.