Sneaky Backyard Improvements Guaranteed to Make You the Jones’s

You’ve heard of keeping up with the Jones’s. You probably know who the Jones’s are in your neighborhood. Secretly, sometimes, you probably wish it were you. Although not many people admit it, most neighbors enjoy a healthy rivalry when it comes to your home and yard. Is it bad when taken to extremes?

Yes, clearly.

Is it ok when it’s friendly and not sending the whole neighborhood to debtor’s prison?

Yes, have fun with your home and yard. It’s your domain.

It’s not a bad thing to have the coolest, most useful, most enjoyable yard in the neighborhood, but only one backyard in each hood can hold that title. It’s time to make that house and backyard yours. These four clever backyard additions are guaranteed to be awesome and to make your neighbors just a little bit jealous.

A Pond or Water Feature

Almost nothing is more impressive and relaxing in a backyard than than a beautifully designed and maintained Koi pond. There are so many styles and options when it comes to installing a pond, and the best part is that ponds don’t have to cost that much. If you have the budget to make a little creek through your yard, complete with bridges, plant life and fish, you can guarantee that all of the neighbors will want to come over and take a look for themselves.

A Hot tub

There’s nothing like indulgently relaxing with a daily soak in your own hot tub. It’s simply the perfect way to enjoy a cool evening in peaceful warmth and comfort. In fact, once you pour yourself a glass of wine and get the jets going, it’s hard to argue that there’s a more ideal way to spend time winding down after a long work week. And, if you have a few friends over, you can guarantee that your sounds of joy will make your neighbor start to think about making some upgrades to their own yards.

A Gazebo

A lovely gazebo gives you a place to sit and relax in the shade on a hot summer day. Adding, a sitting area, hammock or swing in the gazebo once again gives you another place to wind down and relax while your neighbor gets to sit on his or her boring old lawn chairs on the back porch. The more personalized you can make your gazebo, the better. And, you can even build it yourself!

A Bounce House or Inflatable Slide

If your neighbor is the type who always likes to have the kids over to show off their cool stuff, turn things in your favor once again by buying a bounce house in the backyard. Yes, a bounce house! If you have kids, you know. You win.

Since bounce houses can be an eyesore for adults, you’ll be pleased to know that you can easily deflate the toy and put it in the closet whenever the kids aren’t playing- but whenever the bounce house is blown up, you can guarantee that every kid in the neighborhood will be in your backyard!

And there you have it, four different ways to make your neighbors totally jealous of your awesome backyard. By installing a pond, hot tub, gazebo, or bounce house (or all four!), you will most definitely be the envy of the neighborhood. Just remember don’t be totally rude about your awesome backyard. Invite the neighbors over and let them enjoy it as well.