Sometimes, a little imagination is all you need to spruce up your home and make it look like a mansion.
That’s what Lora Burrowes did when she moved into her home three years ago and saw her outside space was a bland plot of land with an overflowing skip in the distance.
The mum of two set to work transforming her backyard into a beautiful flowery oasis with a hot tub and water features, and after painting her fence a few weeks ago, she decided to place the finishing touch on her garden.
Lora, who lives in Watford, snapped up an £8.99 shower curtain on Amazon which featured a picture of a stone wall, a window, and wooden shutters – exactly like a rustic French chateau.
And after hanging the curtain on part of her fence and posting shots of the end result online, Lora has managed to fool online DIY enthusiasts into thinking the curtain actually depicts part of her own home.
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She said: “A lot of people thought it was a real stone wall, [but] it's an optical illusion.
"Obviously if you're standing in the garden, with everything around it, you'll know it's not a stone wall because it's out of context.
"I don't know what the theme was. To me, it looks like a Welsh cottage or it could be somewhere in Brittany.
"There are a lot of English flowers in the forefront, it just adds a bit of something else to look at.
"It's like an escape from real life, in a way."
On social media, users commented on Lora's garden makeover - with some failing to spot that the image was not her real home.
One wrote: "I'm struggling to see the fence."
While another said: "I thought it was your gorgeous garden with a lovely window view."
And a third posted: "Took me too long to realise this was even a shower curtain. Looks pretty realistic to be fair."
Lora also revealed she got her idea on a gardening group, which she joined on Facebook after spending years dedicating herself to creating a beautiful garden for her family, including her autistic son.
The 51-year-old mum explained: "When I moved here, it was like a wilderness. I put a lot of my efforts into making the garden autism friendly.
"I did see it in a different group - a gardening group - and I thought 'Oh that's interesting, I'll have a look on Amazon'.
“It'll probably fade after a few years but for £10 you can just get another one.
“My son doesn't like going out and doing things, so I've got a nice big garden so it just means he's got somewhere and I've got somewhere.
"I sit in the hot tub in the evenings and it's something else to look at other than a panel fence."
What do you think of the hack? Let us know in the comments.
