Outdoor Display Ideas

Beachy Respite

• Create a beach scene in a corner of your garden or lawn by setting up Adirondack chairs and a table in a shady area. Paint or buy brightly-colored ceramic pots, and fill them with sand and seashells. Layer sand around the chairs to signify the beach part of the garden. Throw several starfish and conch shells in the sand. Fill a plastic beach bucket with several pairs of flip-flops. Place a music player on the table that plays natural sounds of seagulls and waves crashing. Invite guests to take off their shoes, put their feet in the sand and relax.

Colorful Pumpkin Display

• Create a unique and colorful pumpkin display on your front stoop or porch using wooden newels, a little paint and pumpkins and gourds of different shapes and sizes. You will need to saw off the tops of the wooden newels so that they are flat, and paint the posts in bright colors. Glue a square cut of wood, about the size of standard dinner plate, on top of the newel using wood glue. Drill a few screws into the center of the square. Paint the squares. Steady the base of the newel by gluing and drilling a 7-inch circular wood plaque onto the bottom of the newel. Set up the newels on your front porch or stoop and place pumpkins and gourds of various sizes on the square pieces of wood.

Fairy Garden

• Create a "fairy garden" that is playful and whimsical in a patch of your garden. This is a great project to ask your children to help you with, as it plays on the themes of fun and fantasy. Place two bistro chairs and a table in the corner of your garden. Place a potted flower on top and poke a metal flower marker in the pot. Write a message on the flower marker that reads something like "Fairy Land" or "Welcome, Fairies!" Throughout the garden, nestle miniature doll furniture in various places. You will want the furniture to be wire or plastic so that it can endure weather. Some ideas include miniature hammocks, little birdhouses that you can name creative names such as "Fairy Hotel and Spa" and miniature patio furniture.