Savvy mother-of-two transforms neglected garden into dream play area and pergola using Lidl and Aldi bargains
- Martine Thompson, 41 from Bracknell, saved £3,000 by doing the work herself
- READ MORE: Mother-of-two reveals how she transformed her drab bedroom into a ‘tranquil masterpiece’ for less than £300
A woman has revealed how she saved an estimated £3,000 while transforming her neglected garden into a stylish play area and pergola, by doing the work herself and picking up bargains from a range of outlets including Lidl and Aldi.
Martine Thompson, 41 from Bracknell, says she wanted to make her garden more inviting, but as she had a tight budget, she knew she’d have to do the work herself.
The mother-of-two, who works as a project manager, had a vision of what she wanted the garden to be like once done.
She wanted to split the garden into an adult area and kids area, and among the features she was keen to create was a seating area in the sun, a nice lawn, and plants.
According to Martine: ‘I had seen people doing their own decking using pallets on some of the garden DIY Facebook groups, which is where I got that idea from.
BEFORE: Ahead of the makeover, the garden was a neglected space, that Martine said she wanted to make more ‘inviting’
Martine Thompson (pictured with her children) was able to save thousands on the stunning makeover by doing the work herself, and carefully finding bargains
‘When I was planning out the areas, I decided to place the decking in the spaces which generally get the best sunlight.
‘Once I had an idea of what I wanted to achieve, I began shopping for supplies. I got most of what I needed cheaply or second hand. For example, the decking was built with free pallets from the local trading estate.
‘I bought the boards second hand. They cost me £40 from Marketplace. I had to do two trips to get them all home in my car!’
Among her other bargains, Martine picked up wood chip for £40 from a local tree surgeon.
And most of the play equipment was secondhand, and bought from Marketplace, including the swingset which cost £25.
Martine said: ‘I painted it to spruce it up. I already had the other bits for my two children.
‘The turf had to be bought from the garden centre and cost £140. The other big spend was the pergola, which was new from Amazon. It was originally £225, but they took £30 off as some of the pieces were damaged.
‘I bought solar lights instead of wired post lights for the low wall. This saved me money as the wired ones were at least £26, but the solar ones were £13 each from Aldi.
AFTER: Martine’s hard work yielded incredible results. Her neglected garden was transformed into an impressive space
‘Finally, I picked up plants and flowers from Lidl and Aldi. They cost between £2 and £9 each.’
Martine believes that hiring professionals for the job would have cost her around £3,000 more than she spent by doing it herself.
She explained: ‘For example, I know decking can cost between £1000 and £2000.
‘I have also had new turf laid before, and it cost £2000 for a professional job. I had less than £1000 to play with, so I knew I had to do it myself. In the end I only spent about half of that.
‘The first job was to clear the area. This involved getting rid of a lot of weeds, plus ivy and leaves from the neighbouring trees. This was the hardest part.
DIY: Martine (pictured) created separate adult and children’s areas in the garden. Here, she lays decking in the adults’ area
One of the tricky parts of the job was that Martine (pictured) does not have direct access to the garden and so had to go a long way around to carry supplies in
‘The lawn wasn’t grass anymore and had instead become moss, which I had to pull out. Plus, as the tree roots ran through the garden, it was quite difficult turning the ground over.
‘The previous owners had a pond some time ago and hadn’t really filled it in properly, so I had to level the garden. I used the soil which I had dug up from the decking area and moved it to fill in where the pond had once been.’
Her next job was to separate the garden into different areas, which she then worked on one at a time.
‘First I tackled the bedding area, then the play space,’ said Martine.
‘After that I laid the turf. The decking came last, before I jet washed the patio areas.
‘To create the playspace, I measured out an area which would fit all of the equipment. I put down a weed membrane which was £25 from Home Bargains.
DIY: Martine laid the turf herself, which she believes saved her a huge amount of money as it is a costly undertaking when hiring professionals
‘Then I used a log border which came from the same place. They were £5 for a roll of 1.8 metres, and I needed 7 in total. I then laid the woodchip.
‘The decking was created with some old paving slabs that I found. These helped to level the pallets, which I had treated first. I connected them together, before putting the boards around the frame and on top.’
Doing the project was not without its challenges according to Martine, who says it took her around four weeks, juggling the work around looking after her two children.
Martine said she was ‘dealing with lots of thorn splinters, blisters and poor weather’ while doing the job.
In addition, as she doesn’t have direct garden access, she had to go a long way around to carry supplies in.
SAVINGS: Martine already owned some of the play equipment, and saved money on buying the rest secondhand, like the swing set which cost just £25
INVITING: After Martine’s hard work, the garden is impressive, boasting several features including the inviting seating area
‘However now that I am done I’m proud of the hard work I put in,’ said Martine.
‘I’m looking forward to many summer days and evenings spent out in this peaceful and pretty space!’
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘Martine has done really well to save £1000s on this makeover.
‘She has turned a garden which was looking neglected into a stylish space for both herself and her children to enjoy for many years to come.’
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