5 Small Backyard Details That Get Really Annoying Really Fast

You spent a ton of time designing the perfect backyard, and it’s finally done. It looks like a photo from a social media post, and you’re ecstatic over it. Then you actually try to use it, and you realize it’s not as great as it looks. Yep… That’ll happen when the only thing you’re focused on is how something looks. I’m not saying you did anything wrong on purpose, but you’ve got to admit that you should have planned this thing a bit better, right? But if this is not you and you’re still in that planning phase, take a moment to read through some of the things you might regret later.

(This is a contributed post, for more information about my compensation please read my disclosure policy)

The Little Things That Start to Bother You

I have a contractor friend who works with luxury pool builders in Rising Sun MD, and when he told me that the most annoying things are the smallest ones, I truly didn’t believe them. It didn’t make sense to me because if the mistakes are small, then they’re easy to fix, right?

As it turns out, that’s not the case.

Not all tiny mishaps are easy fixes, so you’re left with putting up with them every single time you want to use your backyard. Plus (I guess) if you’re a perfectionist, then it’s those small things that bother you the most. Makes sense.

Water Keeps Showing Up Where It Shouldn’t

It rained yesterday, but now, most of your yard has dried out. I say most because there’s always this one spot near the seating area that stays wet for DAYS. And you didn’t notice it on time, because it was summer when you were installing everything, but now it’s all you can see.

The real problem here is grading.

In other words, the ground is sloped in a way that sends water right where you don’t want it. It’s not really a flood, just this constant damp patch that makes everything feel messy.

The Sun Is Always in Your Face

This is something you don’t really think about (or at least I didn’t), that’s so incredibly annoying and distracting, not to mention how unhealthy it is for your skin.

So, you set up your chairs to face the garden because that’s what you want to look at. And it works for about an hour or two. After that, though, you’re squinting, holding a hand over your eyes, looking for your sunglasses, and just generally not enjoying yourself one bit. You might have shade in other parts of your yard, but it’s not where you actually sit.

Plus, the position of the sun changes during the year, so what’s okay in April might be absolutely unbearable in July.

You’re Always Stepping Around Something

Walking back from the grill shouldn’t even be something you need to think about, but there’s a planter here and a table there that you need to squeeze between on the way. If you need a cushion, you need to get it from the storage, and to reach it, you need to walk all the way around the fire pit instead of in a straight line.

I know, I know, this isn’t the end of the world.

But it’s something that bothers you in your backyard all the time, so you try to rearrange the furniture every few weeks in hopes of the layout being better. Unfortunately, stuff like this usually doesn’t go away until you actually remove something to make more space.

The Ground Isn’t Comfortable

You saw samples for the patio material, and you LOVED the one you picked out. Now it’s in, it’s summer, and it scalds your feet because it gets unbearably hot.

And if it rains, it gets so slippery you’re scared to walk on it.

Again, this is what happens when all you care about is looks, and you don’t think of functionality. Outdoor rugs can help here, though, if you don’t mind the extra maintenance.

Of course, you can tear out the material and put in another one, but most people don’t want that because it’s expensive and it takes time.

Wind Ruins Everything

There’s this one corner where the light hits just perfectly, so that’s where your seating area is.

It works fine until there’s wind because it funnels straight through that gap between the house and the fence. It’s like your own little personal hurricane whose greatest nemeses are napkins and cushions. You can’t entertain outside, you can’t relax… As soon as the breeze picks up, you panic and drag everything you can carry somewhere else.

You can work around this if you add a hedge or a privacy screen, but that might not go with the aesthetic of your backyard.

Conclusion

None of these issues will ruin your backyard, but they’ll annoy you.

You won’t get the experience you hoped for when you were planning it, and that’s a real shame. If you were looking forward to hosting brunches and dinners, it’s really sad that you need to be cooped up inside every time because the wind gets crazy or the sun decides to bake you and everything else you see.

Until you can build a time machine, try a few tweaks to make things better.

And if you’re still designing and planning, take the stuff I mentioned into consideration.

(This is a contributed post, for more information about my compensation please read my disclosure policy)