I'm bringing out my crafty side today and showing you how I made my new umbrella stand. We live in a rental house that is just a few houses down from my parents (and my sister) That means my kids are growing up in the same wonderful neighborhood that I did. That just makes my heart happy!
We don't have a deck or a patio and the house is very small compared to most. The lady that used to live here before us had to have a handicap ramp put in. So that is the closest to a deck that I have. A couple of years ago we squared off a section next to the ramp and made a little patio area. I was never really happy with it but we made it work.
My husband had shoulder surgery in April for a torn rotator cuff so we have been spending some time outside here and there to get a little break from looking at the same four walls. So I knew this year I needed to make a few changes so I would be happy with that area and enjoy it better. I had a market umbrella that we bought a few years ago and the umbrella stand that I had just wasn't tall enough to keep it from falling over and the tables that we had were no help either. So with the new changes I knew a new umbrella stand was a must.

