9 Christmas Decoration Ideas: How to Dress Up Your Backyard for Xmas

If you have to say so yourself, your living room is looking super festive, with that fabulously bedecked Christmas tree standing in the corner.    But there is one area you have likely left to the last minute to decorate. It’s your yard.    Save for a colorfully decorated wreath on the front door, your yard is looking anything but festive.    Your deck looks rather plain, and so does your pergola, and your whole backyard, if truth be told.   Santa won’t be too impressed. But not to panic, there is still time. Here are cheap but tasteful yard Christmas decorations to bring festive cheer to your home, starting with the mailbox:   Letterbox Christmas Decorations   As far as holidays go, you wouldn’t immediately think of your mailbox, but that’s exactly where you should start.    Not only is your letterbox the first thing your visitors see, but a cheerfully decorated letterbox is an enduring Christmas tradition and something that will be sure to melt even Santa’s heart.   Not sure where to start decorating your letterbox? We have got a few ideas:   1. Give Your ‘Letters to Santa’ Mailbox a Fresh Coat of Paint   If you have a dedicated ‘letters to Santa’ letterbox sitting somewhere in your garage, it’s time to dust it up for a fresh makeover.    After a quick dust-down, give the old mailbox a fresh coat of paint. You could paint it a color you prefer, but brilliant white and the traditional Christmas red always work a treat.    With the mailbox painted all white, give it a cheerful contrast by inscribing ‘letters to Santa’ in red across the front.   2. Add Colorful Swag to Your Mailbox   Christmas mailbox swags are an old holiday decor idea that never disappoints. You could buy the swag ready-made, or you could make your own.    For your DIY Christmas mailbox decoration, you will need fresh pine swag, which is nothing more than fresh pine cuttings joined by some craft floral wire and made to drape either side of the mailbox.   You will also need:   Shatterproof Christmas balls Ribbon and a couple of pre-made bows Artificial white and red mums flowers Some glue   For the tools, you will need wire cutters, a glue gun, and scissors. Here’s a nice video tutorial on how to bring everything together.   Driveway Gate Christmas Decorations   With your mailbox looking festive, you should make sure your driveway gate looks bang on-theme, too.    3. Double Wreaths for your Bi-parting Swing Driveway Gate     Evergreen wreaths, with a touch of red, are a familiar sight on driveways during the festive period. That’s because they always add tasteful decor cred to your home.   Wreaths work best on bi-parting swing gates. And instead of one wreath, make one for each gate leaf placed centrally and towards the top of the gate.    If yours is a sliding gate, hanging the wreaths directly on the gate will be impractical. Instead, fix them to the pillars on either side of the gate. They will look just as festive.    And for something off-beat:   4. Repurpose Old, Empty Picture Frames Into Colourful Wreaths   You have likely spent a lot of money already on Christmas gifts and decorations. This holiday display trick could save you a few bucks.   Look around your garage for empty picture frames you no longer use and repurpose them into wreaths to hang on your driveway gate.    To fashion the disused picture frames into real show-stoppers, select a few good ones and paint them into different colors.    Paint a couple in white, some in red, and a few others in bright colors of your choosing.    Decorate them as you would your standard wreaths, with red ribbon, and fresh pine cuttings and cones. Then hang them on your gate in any configuration you desire.   Gazebo and pergola Christmas decorations   Weather permitting, you should take your Christmas celebrations outside this year, if only for some time.    As there is likely to be above normal snowfall in Southern Ontario this Christmas, you should still want to be protected from the elements.    We suggest fastening a canvas cloth over your pergola and using the ideas below to turn it into a winter wonderland.      If you own a gazebo, the covered roof will give you better protection from the weather.   5. Light Up the Pergola/Gazebo With Christmas Lights     With some weather protection, your pergola is the perfect outdoor space to enjoy your Christmas dinner. We bet you would also relish the experience of opening your Christmas gifts under the stars.   A fun idea is to arrange some cozy seating, with plenty of plush cushions around the Christmas tree placed in the center of the pergola or gazebo. You will also want to make sure the space is as bright as day, with plenty of lighting.    Hang strings of icicle lights right around the pergola, making sure the light strings hang down to the floor. For even more pop-out cheer, wrap light strings around the pergola’s corner posts.   6. Glowing Wreaths and Garland for a Pop of Colour     Wreaths and garlands really are the utility Christmas decor items. Wherever you hang them, they always look the part.    For something understated, opt for a glowing garland wrapped around the pergola’s posts and under the beams.    As you should also do with the garland, wrap stretches of light strings right around your wreaths. The lights make sure the fresh green color of the greenery and the red decorations come alive in spite of the dark. Deck Christmas Decorations If you have invested in a deck, this is another perfect outdoor place to decorate for the holidays. Here are a few ideas:   7. Take the Christmas Tree Out to the Deck Have you likely always celebrated Christmas indoors? If

7 Ideas For A Festive-Looking Fence

Of all your Christmas holidays, this year’s is one you will happily stay home to celebrate. Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising in Ontario, and the Waterloo Region will be going into a hard lockdown.   With Covid-19 spread indicators worsening, it’s best for everyone to stay home this Christmas. So why not prepare your home and make this Christmas less forgettable than it might be under these difficult circumstances, starting with your wood fence?   So, how do you dress up your wood picket or board-on-board fence to capture the Christmas spirit?    In this article, we will discuss 7 Christmas fence decoration tips for a festive-looking wood fence.   Let’s go.   Christmas fence decorations to consider this festive season   If you have a white picket fence, then decorating it for Christmas will be a dream. For other wooden fence types, the job will be just as rewarding.   Beyond the strings of LED mini lights, scrap wire, decorating materials left over from other DIY jobs, and wire cutters and pliers you likely already have in your toolbox, you won’t have to spend much on these Christmas fence decorations.   1. Drape your fence with a garland of fresh greens   What’s a Christmas fence decoration without a garland of fresh greens?   If you have some plain wire about 1.5 times the length of your fence, some soft tying wire, and access to fresh cypress cuttings, you have all you need to make a garland.    It’s important to make the garland longer than the fence, preferably 1.5 to two times longer because you want it to hang on the fence posts in a ‘smiley’ pattern.    To add that wow factor, decorate some wreaths in a contrasting colour (red works a treat) and hang them on each of the fence posts. Instead of wreaths, you can use red cloths tied around the top of posts in a bow-tie fashion.   If you are not sure how to make one, here’s a short video that shows you how to make a garland:   2. Wish passersby a ‘Merry Christmas’ in lights   A fun idea is to spell ‘Merry Christmas’ in light strings along the length of your wood fence. A board-on-board fence is perfect for this decoration. All you need for this are strings of mini LED lights.    Be careful how you fix the light strings to the fence. Because this is a seasonal decoration that you will soon take down, you don’t want to use big nails that will leave holes that will let in water and cause rot.   You can use tape to affix the mini lights to the fence. If the lights are too heavy, get some plastic hooks and use double-sided tape to fix them to the fence. Done right, this decoration is sure to catch the attention of passersby and help spread that Christmas cheer.   3. Use barbed wire wreaths to decorate country style post-and-rail fences A winter Christmas out in the country, or some large estate whose border is marked by those post and rail fences you see on paddocks, is the stuff of fairytales.   But what’s also true is decorating a long fence lacking in charm can be a bit overwhelming. But a few strategically-hanged, colourfully-decorated barbed wire wreaths can make a big statement.    Making the wreaths is fairly easy, but be sure to wear protective gloves. Use whatever you have on hand to decorate the wreaths, which could be fresh or artificial flowers, green pine/cypress cuttings, and anything leftover from your Christmas tree decorations.   4. Drape your fence with a mesh of icicle lights     An easy and yet eminently fun wood fence Christmas decoration trick is to dress your fence in a drape of white icicle lights.    Right on theme with a winter Christmas celebration, the icicle lights give the appearance of falling snow. This decoration truly comes alive at night and is fairly inexpensive to execute.   Still on the lights theme:   5. Hang candle lamps along the length of your fence     After a year of sorrows and the dark cloud of uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Christmas represents an opportunity for renewal.    And there is no better spiritual symbol of ‘light in the darkness’ than candlelight. Instead of the standard LED light strings, choose the therapeutic and calming energy of lighted candles.   For the lamps, buy a set of glass storage jars and a corresponding number of thick, slowing burning candles. The jars must have a rimmed top so you can tie a hanging wire around them. Also, make sure the jars are taller than the candles so they don’t blow out.   Hang these lamps on the top of your fence’s anchor posts. Light the candles when daylight starts to fade so they can burn through or well into the night.   And now for the driveway gate:   6. Hang snowflake motifs on driveway gate   You were not going to forget about decorating the driveway, were you?   The driveway gate is where your Christmas guests should get an idea of what the evening will be like. It should set the mood for the rest of the night’s festivities. You want to decorate it well, and you have many options.   We like the idea of placing strings of shining stars and glittering snowflakes around your gate’s frame. This is an excellent way to draw attention to your main gate. Even first-time visitors to your home will not miss your gate.   Why not light your visitors’ way right up to your doorstep?   7. Outline your driveway with pathway lights   This one is an easy fix, but it makes such a big difference.    Pathway lights are available in different designs. But what’s more important, especially if your area receives a lot of snowfall, is how high you set your light stakes. If your

Good Fences Start With The Right Contractor

When choosing a fence for your suburban property, between looks and security, what do you consider to be most important? At Jay Fencing, we believe you don’t have to sacrifice curb appeal for security, or vice versa. The right fence will offer the exact level of security, aesthetic appeal, privacy, or whatever attribute matters to you. In this regard, the right fence for a given property is a function of many factors. As you will see later, merely selecting a type of fence over another does not mean you will get the right quality fence. The fencing contractor you choose from the many that call Waterloo home is the foundation a good fence is built on.   Prioritize the fence qualities that matter to you     Your property is not quite complete without a fence. You may have a feeling of being too exposed. The property itself may look plain, devoid of a wow factor. Or, you may be concerned with the lack of privacy.   So, considering the above concerns, a fence will look like the perfect solution. And it will be. But you can easily get a fence that, though secure, is as plain as the house and offers little privacy. Chain-link fences fit that description.    If privacy and aesthetics aren’t that important to you, perhaps because yours is a commercial property, a chain-link fence will work just fine. As security will likely be important, these fences deliver on that, too.   Some fences look as good and last as long as they are well-maintained As a property owner, you may be more concerned with security, looks, and privacy, but as an experienced fence installer, we have learned to appreciate that the durability and maintenance of the fence are just as important.    On the projects where we have been contracted to replace broken, corroded, and collapsed fences, a common thread we have picked is the frustration that property owners have with fences that flattered to deceive.    We have learned that a fence may not return the expected long use-life, not because of poor quality materials, but because of a lack of maintenance. This is true for wood fences that have to be resealed and vanished regularly. Of course, there are fencing materials, like vinyl that require very little if any maintenance.   The right fence does not have to cost a fortune Despite all we know about secure, good-looking fences that offer enough privacy, why do homeowners end up with fences that barely deliver on these qualities?   The answer supposedly has to do with the budget. But the budget isn’t entirely the challenge. A chain-link fence can offer acceptable privacy and score just as high on the aesthetic scale. All it takes is some imagination and creativity.   For example, you can easily dress up your plain-looking, see-through chain-link fence by planting some flowering vines through it. With keen maintenance, the vines can transform the fence into a head-turner that offers complete privacy.   The appearance of wood can work as well as the real thing Wood fences are popular for a reason. They have a natural charm and warmth that is hard to beat. Sustainable and natural, wood is an opaque fencing material that guarantees privacy and security.    While wood fences are good-looking, they come with a huge maintenance burden. Without regular maintenance, they will not look as good for long and will rot and fall apart in no time. Hardwoods produce stronger fences, but they come with a suitably prohibitive price tag.   If you like the look and privacy quality of wood, perhaps you don’t necessarily have to install a wooden fence. A vinyl fence can give you the look you are after, without the burden of heavy maintenance. It will last many times longer, too.   Vinyl manufacturing technology has advanced so much that you can get realistic-looking wood-like vinyl fences in any shade you like. It is indestructible by wood’s archnemeses, termites and rot. Remarkably fire-resistant, vinyl is an install-and-forget fencing material every busy homeowner will love.   Admittedly, vinyl costs more than wood. But that’s when you only consider the cost of materials without lifetime care and maintenance costs. When you factor in all the costs and its remarkable durability, vinyl is likely much cheaper than wood and other fencing materials.   Why choosing the right fence installer matters in Waterloo A fence is as secure and durable as the quality of its installation. All the hard work of choosing the right fence type and material for your type of property and security needs can be undone by choosing an inexperienced fence installer.   Beyond qualifications and professional memberships, choosing a local contractor is acutely important. An experienced local contractor will know Waterloo’s codes and fencing regulations and isn’t going to install a fence that is taller than what is allowed for your area.   The City of Waterloo regulates fence installation based on the yard or property type. The fence bylaw places restrictions on fence height depending on whether it is a corner or interior lot. It also lays out specific guidelines for Driveway Visibility Triangle (DVT) and Daylight Visibility Triangle (DLVT).   Failure to meet fence bylaw regulations may attract a fine on top of being asked to take the fence down. So choosing an experienced local fencing contractor who is well-versed with local bylaws will help you avoid unnecessary headaches and costs. Choose Jay Fencing for the best fence installation services in Waterloo, ON.   It is not enough to look up a fencing contractor online and reading reviews left on their website. To be sure they are as good as they claim to be, it is best to check out, in person, the projects they have done.    Looking at a prospective contractor’s work up close helps you decide if the quality of their work fits well with your expectations. Do their fences hold up? What do their former clients have

Pergolas Make The Perfect Father’s Day Gift For The Outdoorsy Dad

Pergolas Make The Perfect Father’s Day Gift For The Outdoorsy Dad It’s father’s day, the one day of the year specially marked to celebrate the relationship between fathers and their children. And the best way to honor and toast this special day is with a gift.    As always, we want our gifts to important people in our lives to be thoughtful and special. Often, we overthink it and wait until the last minute to buy the gift. But if your father is the outdoorsy type (all the fathers we know are), we have the perfect gift to save father’s day for you.   A pergola will make the perfect father’s day gift.   Pergolas Are The Perfect Excuse To Spend Time Outdoors   As we get older, we naturally get contemplative and frequently prefer the peace and serenity of the outdoors. Fathers in particular often escape to the quiet seclusion of their backyards. This makes a pergola the ideal gift for an outdoorsy father.   Help him entertain like a boss   A pergola will give your dad some outdoor living space and the perfect opportunity to show off cherished tools. Think of that grill he loves to bring out when he invites his mates over. Add a few chairs and cushions for comfortable seating, and he has something akin to an outdoor man cave.   With an investment in a few more braai tools and furniture, your dad’s pergola will be his own kitchen, where he can call the shots.    A sheltered space from which to enjoy his garden   On the days he just wants to sit and enjoy his drink without company, your pergola gift will be the place your father thinks to escape to.    Does your father have a green thumb?   We will assume the answer is yes. Of which you will know he enjoys nothing more than tending his green patch. If he is retired, you bet he spends most of his time out there nursing seedlings, planting, pulling weeds, pruning, trellising his plants, and fighting pests.    In between all the grunt work, which we are sure is anything but that for him, your father is seating somewhere comfortable enjoying the fruit of his sweat. Why not give him a space he can enjoy sitting in?    As far as gift ideas for one who enjoys the outdoors go, pergolas are the bees’ knees.   A pergola is a relatively affordable gift to spoil your dad with. If you choose Jay’s Fencing as your contractor, it is very quick to build, too. We can have it up in a few hours.    To surprise him, create a distraction by taking your dad out for a meal at his favorite restaurant. If he assumes it, let him believe the meal treat is his father’s day gift. He will want to appear grateful and take his time enjoying the meal. All the while we are finessing his real gift.    But, what if he already has a pergola at his home? What To Gift A Father Who Already Owns A Pergola? Thankfully, there are many things you can do to dress up and furnish the pergola to suit your dad’s tastes and improve its functionality. You can dress it up to add more shade and make it more livable.    If it’s looking dated, sanding, staining, and resealing it will give it a new lease of life. Basically, though,  you want to update it to make it more inviting and feel like home. Cool the pergola with latticed wooden curtains Adding timber lattice curtains will bring a bit more privacy and add shade to the pergola without blocking the view of the garden. It isn’t too pretty to make the space less manly than your father may prefer.    If your dad chooses to, the latticed sides will also provide a perfect trellis on which to train climbing plants he may want to grow to add even more shade to the pergola. Fastening a removable awning is another cool idea that adds shade and cools down the pergola in the hot summer heat. Add more seating space with a swing bench Help your dad reminisce about his childhood days, perhaps with his grandkids for company, by outfitting his pergola with a swing wooden bench. A good woodshop can fashion one with chains.    A swing bench provides comfortable seating for him to enjoy some company, or to lose himself in a good book if he prefers that. It is a playful yet thoughtful gift that your old man will appreciate.  Light it up for night use   If he likes to entertain, adding some lighting (a rustic chandelier is a fun idea) and a dining table will turn your outdoorsy dad’s pergola into an alfresco sanctuary. It will allow him to host intimate dinners outside.   We can think of many other ways to add shade, function, and style and make your father’s pergola the perfect nook for lounging and entertaining. Plants, for example, add life to any space, so hanging a few planters around the pergola is always a thoughtful idea. Gift Your Dad Something He Will Actually Use  Your father will likely receive a lot of gifts from all the loved ones in his life. Some of these gifts will inevitably not be used that much. But yours will be because he can’t ignore it. It is right there in his face every time he steps out of the house.   Pergolas are bang on trend as well. They are an easy way to accent your backyard and expand your father’s living space and a great way to add value and beauty to any property.    For a dad who loves to cozy up in his backyard, especially in this age of social distancing, a pergola makes a fabulous present to gift and celebrate your dad this father’s day.   Now that you have the perfect father’s day gift

Do I Need My Neighbour’s Permission Before Fencing My Property?

Fencing in Kitchener: Do I Need My Neighbour’s Permission Before Fencing My Property? When you erect a fence around your residential property in Kitchener, not too often do you envisage a conflict with your neighbors. Your intentions with the fence are often to improve privacy, protect your children and pets, and to keep out unwanted guests. But, as you may discover, fences are a fertile area for disputes between neighbors. Whether it’s you or your neighbor building a fence along an abutting property line, there is a need for some level of cooperation and, to some extent, consultation. There are matters of cost, repair, and maintenance of the fence to consider. In that regard, one of the most frequently asked questions we get is: Do I Need My Neighbor’s Permission Before Erecting a Fence? You do not need your neighbor’s permission to build a fence around your property. But you do need to know where the property line (the line dividing your property from the neighbours) is as if your fence strays into your neighbor’s property, they will have a valid case for encroachment against you.   Where the fence sits on the property line, you will need to talk to them first. Moreso if you intend to ask the neighbor to absorb half the cost of the fence. You will need to agree on the cost and type of fence. If the type of fence you desire costs more than a standard, secure fence, above whose cost your neighbor is unwilling to pay, you will have to pay the remainder on your own.   In cases where the adjoining landowner refuses to foot their part of the fence’s cost, repair, or reconstruction, the Line Fences Act gives you room to refer the matter to arbitration. The arbitration will determine “what portion of the fence each owner shall construct, reconstruct or repair, and maintain …”   If arbitration and lengthy discussions with neighbors are too draining, you could just choose to erect the fence within your side of the property line. You would not need to share costs with your neighbor. Neither will you need their consent. Fence wars can get very ugly and will leave lasting damage on your relations with neighbors. Where you can, avoid them.   Are you thinking of erecting a fence around your property in Kitchener?   Consider the highly experienced team at Jay Fencing. From chain-link fences to PVC fences and everything in between, we have the expertise to erect fences that will last, while looking as good as a fence can. Talk to us today.