Homeowners upcycle materials to build brilliant garden cocktail bar for £60

last updated 14 June 2022

Homeowner Jilly Noble shared her incredible garden cocktail bar with us in the Ideal Home room Clinic. Saying, ‘Hey everyone! Hope it's okay to share a garden transformation.'

'The first pic is what this unused corner of our garden looked like on Friday. Now it's a colourful wee cocktail bar!'Jilly exclaims.

'We managed to do this makeover in a weekend, for around £60 including the patio' she continues. 'My husband is a landscape gardener so that's a bit of cheating, but the materials were all repurposed'. A job very well done, and on such a smart budget.

More ideas: Inspirational DIY garden bars – all competing to be crowned 'Britain's Best Home Bar’

Garden before

This is the unused, and quite frankly unloved corner of Jilly's garden. The before just makes the after even more impressive.

After: garden cocktail bar

Now the space is a vibrant garden cocktail bar! We love the attention to detail, from the stylish iridescent lights to the brightly coloured barstools – it's a big yes from team Ideal Home. And it seems, a big yes from fellow members of the Facebook group too...

'This is amazing' writes one, 'I love it' exclaims another.

‘Well it looks terrific and I'll have a mojito please!’ says another, and we second that!

garden with garden cocktail bar barstools garden lights and chalkboard frames

'The accessories were mostly just things we already had - the chalkboard frames are repurposed' says Jilly. 'I did buy the floral garland on eBay though.'

garden with wooden bar bar stools and floral garland

The floral garland adds a decorative touch, that's perfect for a garden theme. It helps to soften the wooden bar structure.

Painting the barstools

Jilly explains on her blog, 'The stools were £12 because of a lucky voucher situation, and I already had foam to use for the tops leftover from another project. I covered the tops with this tropical leaf tablecloth (£6.99) which inspired the colour scheme.

The stools are painted in the vibrant shade of Paradise Petals by Johnstone's.

Buy now: Johnstone's Garden Colours in Paradise Petals, £18.99 for 1L, Amazon

Building the bar

'In the end we used a bunch of stuff from our garage junk collection'. This included three pallets from material deliveries, a trellis for the roof (from a bin store David made). And the countertop was brilliantly made using leftovers from a garage repair.

With the the roof posts and monoblocks 'salvaged from a skip trip'. Jilly and David demonstrate how anything can be made on a budget if you're willing to give it a go.

More on a budget: Savvy gardener creates amazing DIY greenhouse for £60

To paint the bar Jilly used the serene shade of Seagrass by Cuprinol.

Buy now: Cuprinol Garden Shades Exterior Paint in Seagrass, £22 for 2.5L, Wilko

David's job proved invaluable on this project, 'Of course, with David being a landscape gardener he was able to magic up a lovely patio base.' But that's not to say you couldn't do it yourself if you wanted to – it just might take longer than a weekend.

Feeling inspire to build a bar in your own garden for cocktail hour?

Tamara was Ideal Home's Digital Editor before joining the Woman & Home team in 2022. She has spent the last 15 years working with the style teams at Country Homes & Interiors and Ideal Home, both now at Future PLC. It’s with these award wining interiors teams that she's honed her skills and passion for shopping, styling and writing. Tamara is always ahead of the curve when it comes to interiors trends – and is great at seeking out designer dupes on the high street.