*BUDGET FRIENDLY* Exterior DIY Entryway Makeover | Curb Appeal Updates

this video is sponsored by trawell more about them later de my friends welcome back to my channel I got to admit something my Entry Way blows I just don't know how else to say it it sucks there's no curb appeal to it it's just a sad situation and I genuinely cannot stare at it for one more day I cannot walk past it for one more day without doing something about it I don't have a lot of money to put into this entryway but I do have a lot of DIY willpower so we're going to put those things together lack of money and willpower I guess and uh we're going to make some magic happen we are doing what Justin Timberlake does best and brings sexy back to this entryway that makes no sense but we're going with it so editor roll the [Applause] [Music] tape okay friends so let me walk you through kind of where this entryway is at and why things need to change first of all let's just take a little wide shot shall we I mean this whole entryway it's not bad especially in the summertime we have this beautiful tree here I think it creates a nice little moment but there's nothing going for this entryway we don't have like a front stoop or a beautiful porch or a little Step Up all it is is just some uh unlevel patio stones that just walk up to here and then there's a lot of weeds like what is this that's not a weed anymore that's this is like a fullblown thistle tree that's crazy I'm very dangerous on top of that the door itself I'm not in love with it's fine it's a good door it's a nice window it's just not my vibe honestly guys look at this this was the old mat I put this one on top just to look at it and then with the intention to like move that out of the way and then just never did it I never did it and I have another mat underneath that so we got one mat two mat three mats why I did add this little sh here which to be honest has been a really great thing we use that shelf all the time especially you know for working outside it's a great place to put drinks so I kind of want to keep the Shelf we have this lovely mirror here hello mirror and we have this display here which I'm not even sure why this is here so we should probably move it we'll deal with that after and then we kind of have this general area which is kind of hard to explain but it looks like there was patio stone and now it's like a mish mosh of patio stone ground gravel dirt and all things so I got thinking the perfect way to update this entryway for little to no cost would be to just redefine the walking space right now there's like it's a long line of patio stones when maybe we could shorten it and actually create just like a little rectangular area to define the entryway and to do that I thought let's do it with bricks and I was like okay I don't have a lot of money how can can I afford to buy multiple bricks um for a low low cost so I went on Facebook Marketplace and I found 300 bricks for drum roll please free I know somebody was Landscaping they wanted them gone I said I will take them so I did another job well done okay so this is kind of like an awkward entry way because it's so tucked away I've never seen something you know just like in a corner before like this so it's been kind of hard to redesign or rethink and do it in a way that you know is cost effective I think what I need to do right now is just get everything out of the entryway we need to lift up all of these patio stones and just get them out and see what we're dealing with so while I'm doing that and shown off my guns of Steel I figured it's a great time to thank the sponsor of today's episode train well I've actually talked about train well a few times on this channel who are formerly known as co-pilot they recently changed their name to train well to help differentiate them El with the growing number of AI chatbot co-pilot Services which is completely the opposite of what they are which is solely about human Le personal training so what is train well it's a personal fitness trainer on your phone no seriously I have my own personal trainer a real person that I talk to through my train well app on my phone now when I first started my train well Journey Back in the fall of 2023 I did a full one-on-one call with my personal trainer Heidi who I just love we met face to face and we talked talked about my past workout Journey my fitness goals the equipment I had in my home a certain ailments I could and couldn't do and from that she tailor custom workout plans that are adapted just for me when I started with train well I was on a personal mission to reboot my body and mind with the amount of diying that I do I just wanted to be strong mentally and physically I mean did you see me hauling all that mulch a few weeks ago I don't think I would have survived without that weight training I feel the strongest I have ever been and that is an amazing feeling and the best part it's on your phone so you can take it anywhere with you I was traveling in February so I just told Heidi I don't have access to my usual gear can you give me a workout I can do anywhere and that was it I was good to go I mean Beyond how much I enjoy the flexibility that this app provides me being that I work out from home I think the element that has been the most game-changing for me is the human connection and accountability that I feel you know working out at home it's really easy to just not work out and it's kind of crazy that it is an app but there is a real person behind it talking to you rooting you on making sure you stay on track tweaking and checking in almost every time I finish a workout okay only slightly dying and that's because of train well so if you're like me and you're looking for a workout solution that can keep you accountable then maybe train will is right for you I have a link in my description box it's also on screen here or there's a QR code you can scan that's going to give you 14 days free with an expert trainer so check it out well this was something something I wasn't expecting to find so once I pulled up the stones there was like this wood underneath here or like a little piece that was holding it up because they just I don't know the person who put the stone here didn't want to properly level it but all this wood is now Rotten so it's a miracle that it was holding up anything but I think I'm going to have to pull this up I'm going to foam underneath here just to create a barrier maybe I think I might have to I also might need to put a new uh kick plate here because it looks like or some kind of like fascia board because this is all rotten on this side woof I'm like afraid to move this I feel like my whole house is going to fall down if I move this K found a quartz rock interesting huh another quartz rock please don't be animals please don't be animals this always ends up being more work than I bargain for all right so now that I've assessed this a little bit better um what I'm going to do is go to the hardware store I need to go get some spray foam and I need to get some kind of board that's going to act as a new fascia piece I might even have to get some pressure treated just to build out some blocking in the back so that I have something to attach the fascia board to um this should be good enough it feels pretty solid but this corner I'm a little worried about so looks like we have some restructuring to do before we can even get to the good part which I don't even know if this is the good part it's all the hard part oh [Music] God getting that stupid facial board put there was like the longest process I I think I wasted all day doing this the Gap in the back corner was much deeper than I was expecting it literally took me like three cans to get it all filled up it's done it's replaced we can move on either way now I need to just focus on cleaning this area up I mean I still got a lot of weeds to pull out on this side I still have to map out where all of the bricks are going to go I basically got to just start digging out all this section I hate this so much at least it's a beautiful day though let's look on the bright side it's a beautiful day it's sunny let's keep going let's deweed let's move some dirt around and let's see how far we can get yeeha [Music] [Music] watch out boo boo [Music] well friends name of the game today is moving a lot of dirt and moving a lot of stone all of this Limestone needs to get moved into this area um obviously as you can see there's like a big gap here so I want to make sure that I can raise it up and then bring the brick so at least that it's like somewhat aligned with this element uh with the with the door step here so we got a lot of work ahead of us already worked out and now I'm going to do the second workout of the day feeling strong [Music] h [Music] I'm having some challenges navigating where my rectangle should be so I'm going to start putting my stakes in and then I can draw a line and this will give me a better idea of like where I need to be in wrap this around I'm going to get a laser level to see if my Line's actually right here but looks somewhat right what I feared I will not be able to see this during the day woof I think we're going to have to go the old school way I can't see my laser level 59 and a half oh wow that was way off well that was pretty good 87 and2 all right friends got myself a proper Tamp here here we [Music] go this is the spot I want to make sure it's the most tamped [Music] oh it's much better I mean I'm not aiming for absolute perfection but something in the middle of that I think we did it we did it [Music] [Music] [Music] so I'm thinking we need to create some kind of border and I want to do as kind of a straight border here and then after the straight border is done do that too high so I'm going to have to like cut down and then kind of build these in now that I kind of know where my base is and then once these these are here then I think I want to do like a herring bone pattern you know like do it basically so it goes on angles I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be I have a brick cutter it's a little manual one that I can bash hopefully that'll work out well but I think we kind of need to build the Border first and then once the border is done then we can actually do something cuz I feel like it needs something to like hold it all in place you know what I mean and I've realized you're probably thinking well why didn't I do that first and then fill this in well that's a really good question maybe I should have done that it might have been easier I don't know I don't know and then if I do two high two brick High I think that is going to make up the height that I need anyways actually I might even need to go three High cuz then once I'm three yeah then I'm actually aligned with that okay or I do it less and I do a border like this and I do that three high and then on the inside I do a border and that means that I can actually go on the outside of this line and that won't interfere with O and then that's going to line up with this piece okay we're getting somewhere this is way better this is way better okay this is this is what we're doing this is what we're doing all right so vood Danny popping in here I wanted to give some context on what I'm clearly struggling to do here if I could go back in time I maybe would have done this process first before building up my base but I'm a newbie here so bear with me friends what I'm making is the retaining wall that's going to hold my entire brick step together These Bricks will need to be held together with either a mortar or a good heavy duty construction glue which I had neither at this moment so what I focused on was just building the general wall and leveling the bricks I was stacking them three high but when I'm ready to glue them they will need to be staggered for more strength which you will see me do in a few steps I mean just getting the ground level where the bricks sat was the hardest part I also struggled because to the eye these didn't look straight because my house is so cockeyed which leads to that question should you go by what looks good to the eye so that it looks nice or level it properly and let it have some imperfections to the eye I don't know I chose to level it properly but it's hard to say sometimes now the second wall gave me a lot of stress and I actually had to adjust the placement which meant my front wall that I just spent all that time doing needed to be moved leading to the next learning of the day always start in the corner and work your way outward from that I definitely made more work for myself but hey let my mistakes be your game this was a lot of work and uh I know two things one I have a lot of respect for landscapers and two I definitely need to invest in some knee pads because that's really hurt I'm pretty sure I just have like rock indents into my knees now so now that I have this barrier this wall which is beautiful and it's all level it's lovely I love it but now my inside is all kind of wonky so I'm going to take the surrounding area and I'm going to fill all of this in I do think though that I might want to create some kind of Step that or I can landscape a slope up to this point but I think it might look good if it has like a little step in the front you know what I mean I just don't know but I think I'm going to have to make that decision after one thing at a time you know what I'm saying so I'm going to get my shovel we're going to fill this little area in we're going to level this inside to basically the second brick so that everything that I have now is aligned with the brick the top brick that's the goal it's all uphill from here at this point because once this is filled in tamped down and level we just lay Bricks Like that's it that's all we do I mean I say that I say that like it's not going to be challenging to figure out this ha Herring bone pattern but we're going to figure it out friends we still got days ahead of us all right so I'm going to start shoveling and uh let's just keep on bricking [Music] well after a long day my husband brought me construction glue and was kind enough to help me stagger the bricks on my wall which I happily accepted because all of this work was no joke my friends it takes so much out of you and I had nothing left in me but I had no regrets building the wall ahead of time it made the entire process go super quick and seamless and you know what I don't think it looked too bad at the end of it all well I'll be we got a front stoop she's pretty sturdy friends not too shabby so here's the plan for today become Brick Layers what's up yes let's go I feel like that was like my Sailor Moon moment DIY Diddy power wo so today here is my plan I'm going to push all the dirt get it Rel leveled we got to Tamp it once we get it there we're going to start making some noise we're going to start laying down some bricks we're going to become Pro Brick Layers and then we're going to start this Herring bone pattern I decided I want to do a hering bone pattern is it the most complicated yes have I set myself for a challenge yes am I looking fear in the eye and saying not today Satan yes because I want a hering bone pattern and I will stop at nothing to get what I want that's what I'm talking about a big DIY energy you know got to beef myself up in the morning cuz it's going to be a lot of work I want to bump you up yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] we have a border isn't that nice but I'm kind of getting worried because look how teeny tiny my pile is now I'm kind of worried I'm not going to have enough but I might just have enough I mean this is not a big square at this point so I think I might be okay now we need to start on the Herring bone pattern I'm a little nervous I'm not going to lie but I think we're going to be okay now my house is not Square which is kind of problematic for this side here it's not very straight along this house line I mean I'm going to fill that in with sand but it's not uh it's not a great line but I'm hoping that if I at least start on this side and work my way across that these can kind of um you know just be adjusted as we see fit to make sure that everything fits nicely and you're probably wondering well Danny how are you going to break some brick with my hands friends with my hands no I'm kidding so this is a brick cutter and what you can do is just basically you make like a score line on it and then you put this where you want to break it and then boom it break breaks easy peasy I say that and it's probably going to be really hard but we're going to give it a go today I hope this goes well I mean friends wish me luck because I feel like I need all the luck in the world I've never done anything like this in my life so I a feel accomplished but be feel terrified at the exact same time but we're going to like use that fear to fuel creativity today I'm fear and I'm optimism I'm having fun I hope you you're having fun I'm having [Music] fun well that didn't work out very well all right who knew that brick cutter wasn't going to work and didn't tell me huh who knew because if I continue with that brick cutter we're going to be here for days so after that cutter was another failure I just decided to take a new approach but I also decided it would be smarter to start my hering bone potn from the middle and work my way outward so I just measured for my middle and just started placing my bricks in that Herring bone formation leveling the bricks as best as I could as I went and I also just wanted to mention that there are a lot of different bases you can use for underneath your pavers a lot of people use sand or just like different types of aggregate um I'm using Limestone but there are just so many different ways to do this so you know just find the best way that works for you okay so now that I got the Herring bone laid which I'm very happy with I got to start cutting the brick so I just ran to the hardware store and I got myself a metal carbide blade so this one let me see this is cut it cuts wet and dry it's oh it's a turbo diamond saw blade but it uh it says it cuts bricks so that's great I just have it on my angle grinder here so I'm going to soak the brick figure out where my cut line is and then basically just go in and give her a cut I'm wearing safety glasses of course I'm going to put gloves on and uh I'm just just going to try to make this as safe as possible I've never really tried to cut through brick before but I mean how hard could it be I did do a little test piece and over there and it went it went okay so I think we can proceed and um I think I think we're going to be good yay let's go cut some brick yes [Music] a [Music] good morning friends I had to quit yesterday I was so tired and I only had one row left to do and I was like I just I just don't got it in me I just couldn't do it but you know what I got it done so fast this morning cuz I had new Energy new life in me and uh I got this done pretty quick so we're we're done we're done we're done bricking and now all I need to do is just add the sand in but it's pretty good guys I mean it's not perfect you can tell an expert didn't make this but also it's not terrible I don't think and look how many brick we had left over that's not bad I didn't think we were going to have enough but I did I actually have more than enough okay but now that we're done the brick in we need to add the sand so let me show you what I'm going to be putting in the cracks of this to kind of bring it all together so this my friends is polymeric sand it's a sand that's commonly used to fill in between you know pavers or bricks or stone whatever you're using now this stuff is special though because it has an additive called silica in the sand that becomes a binding agent and locks sand particles together when the water is added so you basically pour it on top of your paper Stones spread it out with the broom the best that you can this will need to be done more than once and then you kind of Tamp in between to help the sand fall down into the cracks and then you just repeat this until the sand stops moving around so once I was ready I hosed my brick down with water and use my vacuum with the hose pushing air and I just kind of blew all the excess water out to ensure none of that poly sand was sticking on the top of the bricks it just kind of makes it icky and leaves a residue behind so you want to make sure sure that the bricks are nice and clean I mean I got to say as a newbie of first time brick layer I don't think that looks so bad at this point it was time to start pulling the space together starting with using Dab's premium wood filler to fill in all the holes dings and scratches around the door casing I left that alone and once it was fully dry I sanded it nice and smooth and using my tried andrue outdoor porch and Patio paint I repainted the casing in a bright white and I was clearly feeling sassy that day going into this painting without taping off my edges but uh reality soon came back to me and there we go yes there's the tape mhm I also started ripping out the weeds from the garden honestly there is nothing more exhausting than ripping out weeds my friends like woof but also what a difference such a simple task can make I also removed all the old stepping stones that were in the garden and then just went and dyed in the grass but I did get back to it the next day having bought a beautiful lilac bush for the garden and I bought this rose bush cuz I just feel like no Garden is truly complete without a rose bush in my humble opinion then Jeff and I laid down some fresh brown mulch everywhere in the garden it just makes such a difference it gives it such a clean look that I love and then we decided to reuse our old paper stones to redefine the area in the front of the barn doors which I thought was a great use for those stones now remember when I talked about adding a second step because I love complicating my life well waste not I say and with the leftover bricks Jeff and I built the Second Step which honestly did not take that much time especially with two people and I think it was worth the extra step cuz it made the step gradual versus one big step up which is kind of what I liked it feels very natural now when you walk up to the doorstep then as a final step to this exhausting entryway revamp I got my power washer out and just started cleaning the dirt and algae on the side of the Hat house on the windows on the window sills and it kind of just felt like the last cleansing bit to a big DIY project now just in case we needed the reminder of what this space looked like beforehand ah yes overgrown unle unruly well I give you my updated entryway [Music] well DIY friends I set out to bring the sexy back to the front entryway and I got to say I think we did that I mean is she perfect no I don't think so I mean I'm not a pro landscaper I'm not a pro brick layer but I sure did try and I don't think I did half bad of a job I mean considered these weren't brand new bricks these were used bricks that I've already lived a lifetime and I'm just giving them New Life instead of seeing them go to a landfill I wanted to do this for a low cost I didn't want to invest a lot of money and so I think I was able to do this for I want to say a range of between 250 and 300 so I saved a lot of money so I hope that seeing me do this motivated all of you at home to maybe want to give your own home a little curb appeal reuse what you have just think outside the box and think of what you can do to just give it that little extraa was it a lot of work yes but it was definitely worth it because it just feels so nice out here now what a difference like literally night and day but oh man friends if you thought that this makeover was finished then you are wrong because next week we are going to really transform this space yes we have the basics in place now but let's really bring this entryway to a unique one-of-a-kind place I think we could DIY some projects and make it look so cute so quaint and you do not want to miss it so if you aren't subscribed yet make sure you hit that subscribe button and of course sending a big thank you again to the sponsor of today's episode train well a reminder I have a link in my description box that will get you 14 days free with your own expert trainer and of course a big shout out to my patreon family my DIY friends if you are looking for a community of diyers to hang out with get advice from or just share your progress on projects then my patreon is definitely the place for you come hang out with us we do so many fun things and hey maybe you just like watching my content but you want to do it brand free commercial free well then head on over to my patreon and you can do it there but of course my friends as always stay positive stay creative and keep on diying bye-bye [Music]

Channel: DIY Danie

Views: 106,039

Keywords: DIY Danie, DIY Videos, budget friendly makeover, DIY Danny, how to, danie DIY, room makeover, DIY hacks, renter friendly makeover, diy dani, curb appeal, landscaping, entryway landscaping ideas, entryway makeover, exterior entry doors, exterior entrance design ideas, Exterior patio makeover, budget friendly entryway, how to lay bricks for beginners, how to lay brick pavers, how to lay bricks, herringbone brick pattern, curb appeal ideas, curb appeal ideas on a budget

Id: QA0paAs3epw

Length: 31min 52sec (1912 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 15 2024