Backyard Theme

[rainysparadigm]

Hi,

We tend to 'theme' each room in our house and kinda tie it together, but I recently decided to try out making the backyard have a sort of 'Alice in Wonderland' feel. Instead of just buying everything for it, I thought it would be more fun to be creative (and frugal)!

So, looking over the story, what things could be incorporated into a backyard and what are ways make it a DIY project?

Here's what I have so far:

Buying a used fold out table and place random second hand chairs around it.

Putting a canopy over it (want a canopy anyway - its hot here lol) and hanging clocks etc around the yard. I also want to make home made tin can lanterns, and windchimes but I'm not sure about the design to make it wonderland-ish.

Tea cups from the dollar store or thrift store placed around the table and weigh down with rocks.

I found a really cool large plant pot that looks like a teacup on a dish, but I'd like to make one myself by buying a round planter and then baking and gluing a clay handle onto it. I would put that in the middle of the table with a plant of some sort growing out of it.

I was thinking about writing the opening of the Jabberwocky poem on a stone or some such.

Other things that need incorporated would be the top hat (mad hatter), playing cards, checks, cheshire cat, hookah, the rabbit, etc. Will be renting so no painting walls or anything that cant be moved without a trace. Also need to consider that it will be outdoors so must be able to survive extreme heat, as well as rain and wind/sandstorms.

I wont be starting this project til we move into the new place in September - plenty of time to plan.

This forum seems to be full of ingenious people so I look forward to everyone's ideas - I'm sure they are better than what google has to offer!

[breadandbutter]

i have never thought anything like that. it was creative for you to come up with that! having concept to your yard is something not usual. most probably just want their yard to look clean.

[gt0163c]

This is a very cool idea.
I can't offer a lot of specific suggestions, since I've never been able to make it through any version of the Alice stories...not sure why, I generally enjoy fantasy and the like, I just get terribly bored and can't make it through it. That said, I have a general idea of the story.

Some thoughts:
An old coat tree, possibly painted in bright colors would be interesting and seems to me to fit the theme. If you cemented it into the ground, it could be used to attach things to. Maybe make a large rectangle out of plywood, paint it to look like a playing card and screw it to the coat tree. Another option for mounting big, plywood cards, would be drilling small holes in the corners and then using wire or zip ties to attach them to trees or fences. If you have really high winds, you might want to drill some extra holes through the cards, just to keep them from becoming giant weather vanes/sails.

The mad hatter's hat could be another planter...Not exactly sure how this would work, but I can see fashioning something vaguely hatlike out of a couple of plastic planters and either having the hat upside down or cutting out the top part for the plant to go into.

[kickchk]

I've never thought about a 'theme' for a yard, but it would be something nice to try.