Get the Backyard of Your Dreams With These Affordable Ideas From HGTV's Desert Flippers

The front entry doesn't have to be reserved for company and deliveries. It's a perfect opportunity to bring the indoors outside. Create an inviting place to relax and unwind by hanging a bench with a side table. Potted plants bustling with color and life serve double duty to add ambience to the space and curb appeal around the front door. Add partial privacy if you'd like by hanging plants or planting a partial hedge. Add a reclaimed-brick walkway to keep the curb appeal focus on the front door.

We incorporated the bright-green front door color on this house into these hanging wicker chairs to add a pop of color and fun to the front yard. We further privatized the side and backyard with a slatted cedar wood fence panel. This added a warm modern touch to the curb appeal. We also mimicked the wood slats on the mailbox. The desert cactus and rock landscaping complete the look.

Dress the floor with more. It's not always in the budget to add a concrete patio to expand an outdoor living space, and grass is messy in high traffic areas. So we use artificial turf to define a new outdoor dining room instead. It provides color and function to an otherwise drab space and is drought tolerant and low maintenance. We love to take existing trees and shape them to create a natural canopy of shade with hanging lanterns and colorful plants to complete the ambience.

When your backyard is not big enough to entertain, create a front courtyard with a simple hedge that will eventually double as a wall. Here, flagstone and rock lay the groundwork for a front courtyard patio large enough for a conversation set. A newly planted hedge creates instant privacy and vibrancy and will eventually thicken to a full privacy wall. This affordable courtyard doubled the outdoor living space for this home and maximized the mountain view from the front yard. It would have cost three times as much to pour new concrete and build a block wall. This plant and rock alternative keeps the courtyard and curb appeal soft and inviting.

Don't let minimal concrete landings limit your outdoor living function. This home had only small concrete landings outside each slider . . . not enough patio to "live" on. We expanded the usable area by adding concrete pavers with decomposed granite rock in between. We created two expanded patios with a soft yet modern feel by incorporating feature plants and boulders to center the newly defined areas. Now both sliders open to expansive outdoor living areas. Lay out some rugs. Throw in some patio furniture. The only thing left to do is decorate it!

Make a place for furniture that compels you outdoors. Before, this backyard was all pool concrete and dirt. We blended flagstone pavers and turf to expand the usable outdoor living space. This allowed for a full set of furniture that couldn't fit before. The hedge was planted to diffuse the pool equipment, and bustling bougainvillea were planted to add color and vibrancy. The soft feel of turf underfoot makes the perfect poolside patio!

Make your driveway double as patio space for entertaining. We installed this "car-bana" shade sail to serve dual purposes: define and shade an outdoor living room for parties and shade carport parking day to day. It adds a whimsical curb-appeal element, too! To keep the front focused on the front door, we incorporated concrete pads directly to the front door and amped up the landscaping at the house. We also installed wood slats between the eaves of the house to add drama to the entryway.

Define inviting spaces with furniture. Create a cozy outdoor campfire area with recycled deck chairs and a fire pit. The materials can withstand daily wear without fading or cracking. Incorporating furniture out into the yard compels people to interact with the entire space and maximizes every inch of it.

If your outdoor space is roofed, you can do more to your outdoors. Create an outdoor living room with a television to boot! We created an indoor/outdoor dining room by adding an outdoor bar. We used leftover countertop to expand the fun and function of this outdoor patio space. The best part is it serves straight from the kitchen — poolside! We added wood-plank porcelain tile flooring and a stunning dining chandelier to complete the finished indoor feel and blur the lines further between inside and out. Don't forget the bar cart!

We paint concrete patios and pool decking . . . A LOT! Like indoors, nothing transforms an outdoor space like cohesive, clean flooring. We fill cracks, patch texture, and paint a fresh coat of porch and patio paint to give our patios a makeover. Not surprisingly, we use concrete paint to refresh garages, front walkways, and driveways, too. It never ceases to amaze us what a coat of paint will do to transform almost any surface inside or outside the home.