Does anyone have some decorative ideas for an empty concrete slab?

Interestingly enough, I live in a house that I inherited and my parents never did anything with the concrete slab in their front yard. The people who originally owned this house had opened a very little store for local farmers and farm hands… we’re in the country. It is in our front yard and we discovered the cost of having it busted up and moved was more than we wanted to deal with. Plus, there is a way to really utilize it. My husband loves landscaping (bear with me…you know I am long-winded). He was a History Professor prior to retiring but had a deep love of yard work. This is a couple of ideas he has come up with for our concrete eyesore. And we have not decided which yet, but you may be able to use 1 of these as well.
1) Put dirt over the slab. There are numerous inexpensive ways to get the dirt, or you can pay for a load. The cost would depend on how much you need. You will need enough so that what you plant there can take root and live. We were thinking about a small rose garden with maybe a bench and a fountain. But the thought was a nice area to sit and relax that would also be attractive. YOurs will be far easier since it is in your back yard. Also, remember since it is concrete, you can go with what is called a rock garden and actually use the dirt to make very little hills and such and plant anything you like there. I am not sure I explained that well. If not let me know and I will try and do better.
2) We have thought about getting a dog kennel to put there, 1 that will extend past the concrete (I have a huge yard and this is actually to the side of the front), and by dog kennel I mean the fence that is called a dog kennel. Then we would plant some shrubbery on the area that is not concrete … and plant only those things that are not harmful to dogs, and make this a very little play area for our pups where they can see the world around them … something a very little different than their play yard in the back and a change of scenery.
3) We have also considered setting this up as sort of a miniature bird sanctuary, as we have trees in the front already … and a nice Magnolia… to the side … so set up numerous bird feeders in the area and bird baths, using lawn ornaments, etc … just sort of having fun with it and making it look like a bird village. Of course we would also have some of the free standing bird houses in there and put a few posts around it for bluebird houses. This 1 will actually involve a very little more work but since we enjoy birds, it would be fun.
4) This idea still involves hauling some dirt in. But it would take less dirt than the first idea. Cover half of it with some dirt or the entire thing could be covered … and use it for wild flowers. You can then put a bench or whatever in an area so it would be a nice very little haven to just sit and think.
5) same as in #4 except instead of wildflowers, box off areas and build the dirt uup into mounds to plant tomatoes, asparagus, etc. Asparagus actually comes back year after year and you don’t need a lot of dirt for this. You need to make sure the boxed in area are high enough to make mounds so the roots do well, though with Asparagus that is not necessary. Youc an also have a mixture… when you box areas off … plant wild flowers in 1 area, asparagus in another, Queen Anne’s Lace, etc… anything you like. What you’d be doing here essentially is just putting larger versions of window boxes equally spaced apart. And you could’ve it divided so the box does nto go all the way across…example…instead of 1 long box as the first row… hae two… the concrete would serve as a very little walkway between the rows. Again, I am not sure I explained that well. Hope I did. We’re personally leaning toward the roses and the fountain because of the location.

Hope this was helpful and gave you some ideas.

4 Comments on “Does anyone have some decorative ideas for an empty concrete slab?”

AngelWolf_13
November 5, 2009

Hi! I have wanted to do this for my kids, but never got around to it: If you have lots of parties, you can appeal to the chess set…Prime, paint and draw a chess board or checker board, etc, and make game pieces out of rocks, statues, potted plants, lawn ornaments, (Dog statues, of course),or other creative items. You need a walkway around it and you can flank it with cute wooden benches to sit on….Or, you can put up a rescue holding pen for the strays that you pick up! Let us know what you have done, ,my former career was interior design….Angel Wolf 13
MIchelle
November 5, 2009

How about painting the concrete and putting in a fountain and plants. Maybe a bench and a few chairs.
maddie
November 5, 2009

i think painting it would be really cool.

have something be the in the center of the slab and then use it to make thinks spread around it.
BethJ
November 5, 2009

Interestingly enough, I live in a house that I inherited and my parents never did anything with the concrete slab in their front yard. The people who originally owned this house had opened a very little store for local farmers and farm hands… we’re in the country. It is in our front yard and we discovered the cost of having it busted up and moved was more than we wanted to deal with. Plus, there is a way to really utilize it. My husband loves landscaping (bear with me…you know I am long-winded). He was a History Professor prior to retiring but had a deep love of yard work. This is a couple of ideas he has come up with for our concrete eyesore. And we have not decided which yet, but you may be able to use 1 of these as well.
1) Put dirt over the slab. There are numerous inexpensive ways to get the dirt, or you can pay for a load. The cost would depend on how much you need. You will need enough so that what you plant there can take root and live. We were thinking about a small rose garden with maybe a bench and a fountain. But the thought was a nice area to sit and relax that would also be attractive. YOurs will be far easier since it is in your back yard. Also, remember since it is concrete, you can go with what is called a rock garden and actually use the dirt to make very little hills and such and plant anything you like there. I am not sure I explained that well. If not let me know and I will try and do better.
2) We have thought about getting a dog kennel to put there, 1 that will extend past the concrete (I have a huge yard and this is actually to the side of the front), and by dog kennel I mean the fence that is called a dog kennel. Then we would plant some shrubbery on the area that is not concrete … and plant only those things that are not harmful to dogs, and make this a very little play area for our pups where they can see the world around them … something a very little different than their play yard in the back and a change of scenery.
3) We have also considered setting this up as sort of a miniature bird sanctuary, as we have trees in the front already … and a nice Magnolia… to the side … so set up numerous bird feeders in the area and bird baths, using lawn ornaments, etc … just sort of having fun with it and making it look like a bird village. Of course we would also have some of the free standing bird houses in there and put a few posts around it for bluebird houses. This 1 will actually involve a very little more work but since we enjoy birds, it would be fun.
4) This idea still involves hauling some dirt in. But it would take less dirt than the first idea. Cover half of it with some dirt or the entire thing could be covered … and use it for wild flowers. You can then put a bench or whatever in an area so it would be a nice very little haven to just sit and think.
5) same as in #4 except instead of wildflowers, box off areas and build the dirt uup into mounds to plant tomatoes, asparagus, etc. Asparagus actually comes back year after year and you don’t need a lot of dirt for this. You need to make sure the boxed in area are high enough to make mounds so the roots do well, though with Asparagus that is not necessary. Youc an also have a mixture… when you box areas off … plant wild flowers in 1 area, asparagus in another, Queen Anne’s Lace, etc… anything you like. What you’d be doing here essentially is just putting larger versions of window boxes equally spaced apart. And you could’ve it divided so the box does nto go all the way across…example…instead of 1 long box as the first row… hae two… the concrete would serve as a very little walkway between the rows. Again, I am not sure I explained that well. Hope I did. We’re personally leaning toward the roses and the fountain because of the location.

Hope this was helpful and gave you some ideas.

Click For A Zero Pressure Quote!

4 Comments on “Does anyone have some decorative ideas for an empty concrete slab?”

Request a Zero-Pressure Quote!

Check out our work!