My DIY patio makeover cost me under £100 – how I added colour and energy into my space without breaking the bank

Screen printer Hannah Carvell is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design for a creative family to live in. See the rest of her articles here.

As the days get longer and dare I say sunnier, my mind always wanders to the garden and getting it back into shape after winter. At our home in Somerset, we have a terraced area we hadn’t touched in the two years since moving in.

It was paved, but completely overgrown with a large spiky bush, the basic concrete slabs themselves were in desperate need of a clean with lots of weeds sprouting between them. One rainy day in January, I set about 'trimming' the bush so I could simply get past it without being spiked getting to the post but I got carried away and ended up cutting it right back to the wall. Suddenly, without metres of overgrowth, I realised it could actually become a pretty little terrace come summer.

With budgets tight and the cost of living continuing to climb, I started thinking about how I could refresh the space without spending too much. In a dream scenario, I’d replace the large concrete slabs with something more colourful.

I love the patterned cement tiles from Bert and May or the dreamy Japanese-inspired designs from Ca’ Pietra. But in reality, not only are the tiles themselves expensive, there’s also the cost of removing what’s already there and paying for installation making them very much a moodboard dream rather than a practical option.

What I have done, though, is create a gorgeous new space for myself and my family from what was previously unused and the best part is it came in at under £100 (well the patio makeover part did, a few accessories may have fallen into my basket to take this slightly over).

After cutting back the bush, I’d already gained nearly double the space. I started by weeding thoroughly and power-washing the existing slabs, which made a huge difference. Without the overgrown greenery and with the slabs restored from black to grey, the area instantly felt lighter and more inviting.

Still, I wanted something with a bit more personality, so I started looking into patio stencils as a budget friendly way of transforming the slabs. I was slightly nervous would I mess it up, would it look as good as the Instagram inspiration I’d been saving? In the end, I decided to take the plunge.

I chose a stencil from Dizzy Duck Designs, who offer a brilliant range of patterns along with helpful guidance on how to tackle the project. They were incredibly helpful, you can buy standard sizes on the website or have any stencil pattern customised to your exact slab measurements.

They made me double check my measurements before I placed the order and also advised me to wait for slightly warmer weather before I started, as I hadn’t realised outdoor paint needs a certain temperature to cure properly.

I’ll admit, I did have a false start. I jumped straight in with a mustard yellow shade I picked up on a whim at B&Q, the paint shade name 'El Dorado' had me dreaming of a sun-drenched Spanish terrace and faced with all the swatches at the colour mixing counter I got carried away and chose without really thinking (or testing) first.

But as soon as I started stencilling, I knew I’d made a mistake. Against the grey slabs, the colour looked more like road markings than Mediterranean charm it was very much giving double yellow lines.

I did persevere for a while, hoping it might grow on me, but by the end of Saturday I knew I needed a rethink. So, back to B&Q I went, this time opting for a pale blue premixed outdoor paint, and on Sunday I started again.

Using the Dizzy Duck stencil was surprisingly easy. I applied the paint with a small sponge roller and followed their tip of using two stencils, while one dries, you can move on to the next slab. This sped things up considerably, and by the end of Sunday the patio was complete.

Up close, it’s perhaps not perfect (but I will also say I am a bit slap dash, someone with better attention to detail could certainly have a neater finish than me), but overall I think it looks really effective. I love having colour and pattern in my home, and this feels like a natural extension of that.

For a more polished finish, I saw lots of people online whitewashing their slabs first and then layering the pattern on top in a contrasting shade which does look more like 'real tiles'. But I prefer a slightly more relaxed, vintage feel, so I was happy to let some of the original patina show through.

Then came the fun part, styling the space. I used a few pots I already owned, along with a small table and chairs.

I did treat myself to a couple of large terracotta pots from B&Q at £22 each, they felt like great value and I added festoon lights along the wall to give that cool welcoming glow ready for summer evenings outside B&Q has them on offer right now under £10.

Perhaps getting a little ahead of myself, I couldn’t resist a macramé parasol from Dunelm.

They also have a great range of budget-friendly outdoor accessories, I particularly love their terracotta planters and galvanised milk churns, which add a lovely vintage, country feel.

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I bought a few cheap bedding plants on my food shop from Lidl and Asda to give the pots some colour and break up the space. Eventually I would like to add more plants, perhaps a palm tree one day to give the full Summer Holiday vibes.

Now, I love stepping outside in the morning it makes me so happy to see the transformation. It’s completely changed what was once a drab, unused area into somewhere we can genuinely enjoy spending time. And even better, I did it all myself.