My garden was a dump but I transformed it into a tropical paradise using DIY fixes, it’s like being on holiday

A GREEN-fingered woman has revealed how she transformed her dilapidated garden into a tropical paradise on a budget.

Vicki Collis started her huge home renovation back in 2020, focusing on one area at a time to spread out costs and take time with each space that needed renovating.

Vicki Collins was desperate to transform her garden that was in desperate need of some TLCCredit: Supplied

She and husband Matt carried out all the work on their own to cut costsCredit: Supplied

They created a sunken space for their pre-existing hot tubCredit: Supplied

Due to her love of the outdoors, tackling the garden was a priority of hers, and with help from her husband Matt, transformed their deprived garden into a tropical oasis.

As Vicki’s whole house needed renovating, she had to prioritise money for the bigger projects, so to keep costs low, Vicki and her partner used offcuts where possible and did all the work themselves.

Speaking exclusively to Gardeners Dream, Vicki shared the ins and outs of how she transformed her garden from start to finish on a budget.

Spending a lot of time abroad, Vicki, also known as @our_little_doer_upper on social media, was inspired by her travels, taking inspiration from the country’s style and vibe to create a tropical paradise of her own.

“Me and my husband both spent a lot of time in Australia and New Zealand and loved the tropical vibes, so we wanted to create a tropical paradise in our own garden,” she explains.

“As well as this, we also love watching home and garden TV programmes, reading magazines, and looking at home and interior social media accounts for inspiration, so we coupled this with our own creative flair to create a space we love.”

After mapping out exactly what they wanted to achieve with their space, Vicki and her husband then started to turn their ideas into a reality, taking one step at a time to create their dream space.

“Starting our garden project in lockdown 2020, we first decided to tidy up our garden shed and change it into a bar so we had ‘somewhere different to go’,” she says.

“This then escalated to building a decking area to make the most of the sunshine, adding in seating areas and a dining table.

“We then didn’t touch the rest of the garden for a good year so we could see where the sunny areas were during all seasons so we could take this into consideration within our plans.

Garages are out but home pubs are very much in – the dos and don’ts of gardens in 2024

“In 2021 we then built a second decking area at the bottom of the garden. This was where our hot tub originally sat on a patio, but we wanted to make this into more of a feature so we designed a sunken hot tub area, outdoor dining & cinema area with a tropical border.”

“We allocated most of our budget to our hot tub area, as we had done a few larger projects in the house by this time and our holiday was cancelled due to Covid so we put the spending towards this instead.”

Due to Vicki’s research, and savvy shopping, she was able to cut down costs, supporting local businesses in the process.

“During the planning process, there was a lot of negotiation involved during lockdown, but budget was always our focus as we wanted luxury on a budget,” she says.

“When building the tropical border, using offcuts of wood helped keep the cost down as buying wooden borders can be very costly. We also sourced our decking from a local company and shopped around to get the best deals.

“We also did all of the work ourselves, which saved us a fortune in labour costs, researching the best ways to do things on YouTube and other social media apps to guide us through the whole process.

“Another thing we did was, when we were doing up our shed, we used frenchic paint as it’s durable and hard-wearing. It’s been on now for four years and we haven’t had to repaint yet, so it definitely worked out in the long run.”

However, with all renovations come challenges, but with this, Vicki has learnt new skills she can apply to future projects.

“One of the challenges we faced was getting everything we exactly wanted,” she says.

“We really wanted more Musas and palms plants for our tropical border but we had to compromise with more ferns as they work better in shady areas.

Garden features that add the most value to a house

A well-kept garden can add anywhere between 5-20% to the value of a property.

Sellhousefast.uk carried out a study and consulted 36 estate agents, garden designers and property professionals from across the UK.

And the experts revealed the garden feature which adds the most value to a property is a shed.

Shed – 82%
Patio or paving – 76%
Secure fencing, walls or gates – 72%
Outdoor lighting – 66%
Sturdy decking – 62%
Water features eg. fountain or pond – 58%
Modern garden furniture – 54%
Artificial lawn/grass – 40%

“Our main challenge of course though was starting this project during lockdown as trying to get anything delivered was a struggle, which was another reason we turned to our local resources and businesses during this time.”

“Because we have undergone this huge project, we don’t have the budget for a holiday, so our garden is our holiday space! With all our projects we love seeing our designs come to life and knowing we created it is what makes it really special.”

Vicki’s biggest piece of advice to anyone wanting to transform their garden is not to rush into it.

“Spend some time in your garden first, at least a year,” she advises.

“See where the sun hits at different times of the year and build your garden around this.

“Renovating your garden can be costly, especially nowadays with prices continuing to increase, but my advice would be to shop around and save more than you preempt to cover yourself if any additional costs arise.”