Backyard Staycation: Turn Your Home Into the Resort

Every summer, I hear the same thing from friends and clients across the North Shore: "We meant to get away this year, but life got busy."

Here's my gentle pushback — you don't need a resort reservation to have a resort experience. With a little intention (and honestly, not much money), your own backyard can deliver the thing vacations are really about: slowing down, being together, and remembering why you love where you live.

So this one's for everyone staying put this summer. Here's how to turn your home into the getaway.

Start With a "Check-In Day"

Every good resort stay begins with arrival — so give yourself one. Pick a Friday afternoon, put an out-of-office on your email (yes, really), and spend an hour setting the scene: sweep the patio, wipe down the outdoor furniture, string up some lights if you have them. That one hour of prep is what separates "sitting in the yard" from "being on vacation." The mental shift is the whole trick.

Outdoor Movie Night

This is the crowd-pleaser, and it's easier than you think. A white sheet clipped to a fence or clothesline, an inexpensive projector (or one borrowed from a neighbor — this is the North Shore, someone on your street has one), a phone or laptop, and a big bowl of popcorn. Suddenly you're at the drive-in, minus the drive.

Resort touch: Set out blankets and pillows before guests arrive, and serve boxes of movie candy. Kids and grandkids will talk about it for years.

Fire Pit Evenings

If I had to pick one backyard upgrade that delivers the most joy per dollar, it's a fire pit. A simple portable one costs less than a nice dinner out, and it transforms an ordinary Tuesday night into s'mores, storytelling, and stargazing. There's something about a fire that makes people put their phones down and actually talk.

Resort touch: Build a "s'mores board" — graham crackers, a few kinds of chocolate, marshmallows, maybe some peanut butter cups. It takes five minutes and feels wildly luxurious.

One practical note: Check your town's regulations on outdoor fires before you light up — rules vary across our North Shore communities, and some require permits or restrict fire pit types. A quick call to your local fire department settles it.

The Farmers Market Picnic

Here's a full vacation morning: stroll a local farmers market, gather whatever looks beautiful — bread, cheese, berries, flowers for the table — then come home and picnic in your own shade. The Beverly and Salem markets are lovely in summer, and half the fun is chatting with the growers and makers. It's the "explore the local village" day of your resort stay, except the village is actually yours.

Resort touch: Use the good dishes. Cloth napkins. A real tablecloth on the picnic blanket. Nobody's saving the nice things for a special occasion — this is the occasion.

DIY Spa Morning

Resorts charge a fortune for what your backyard gives you free: quiet. Take your coffee outside before the day starts. Bare feet in the grass. Phone left inside on the counter. Add a cold pitcher of cucumber water and a comfortable chair in the shade, and you've recreated about 80% of a spa experience for the cost of a cucumber.

Resort touch: If you want to go all in, an outdoor shower or even a simple foot-soak basin on the patio feels absurdly indulgent. Highly recommend.

Game Day, Resort Edition

Cornhole, bocce, croquet, cards at the patio table — pick your tournament and commit to it. Make a silly trophy. Invite the neighbors. Some of the best summer memories on any street start with someone setting up a lawn game and leaving the gate open.

The Real Estate Secret Hiding in All of This

I'll let you in on something I see constantly in my work: when buyers walk through a home, the backyard moments are what they fall in love with. Not the square footage — the story. A well-loved fire pit corner, a patio clearly set up for long dinners, string lights that suggest a hundred good evenings — these tell buyers "life is good here" in a way no fresh coat of paint can.

So every bit of enjoyment you put into your outdoor space this summer is doing double duty. You're making memories now, and you're quietly building the emotional appeal that matters if you ever decide to sell. (If you're curious which outdoor improvements actually add value versus which are just for fun, I wrote about the renovations that pay off — or just ask me, I love this stuff.)

Enjoy Your Stay

The best part of a backyard staycation? No packing, no traffic on 128, no wondering if you left the stove on. Just summer, savored slowly, at the one resort where you always get the best room in the house.

If your summer plans ever grow bigger than your backyard — more space for the grandkids, or maybe less yard to maintain and more time to enjoy — you know where to find me. Until then, pass the s'mores.

Michelle Gaudette is a REALTOR® with Keller Williams Evolution Realty, helping neighbors across Beverly, Salem, Danvers, Peabody, and the North Shore love where they live — and navigate their next move when the time is right. Learn more at homeswithmichelleg.com.