The backyard project

We're making a lot of headway overhauling the backyard from the landfill it doubled as for the previous owners to a relaxing space we'll enjoy hanging out in this summer and beyond.

We don't have any digital pictures of what it was like when we moved in, but it was bad. Really, everything about the place was bad on the surface. But that was the beauty of it. It was ours to save.

In the back pasture, as we called the itty-bitty space, you couldn't put a foot down without stepping in dog crap. Beyond that, there was trash everywhere, particularly broken glass. Weeds had overrun the lawn, and what landscaping there was had overtaken its spaces.

There was a medium-size, well-worn, partially rotted deck. It was covered in grease stains from a couple of grills. And the entire structure was topped with a flimsy plastic sheeting that had moss growing on the top side, leaving it really grungy looking.

Luckily, a month after moving in a massive ice storm hit. Someone built a particularly top-heavy snow ho at a bus stop down the street. Much like that creation, some of the uglier bushes buckled under the weight. With that, we were on the path to demolition. I have to say, I'm good -- really good -- at the demolition side of things.

Fast forward through lots of litter pickup, landscaping and stump removal, lawn rehab and repair, and digging out a couple hundred square feet of new flowerbeds. Then we sat back and said, "OK, what next?"

That big old deck hulked over the space, making it feel smaller than it was. Amy, the vision part of our home-remodeling team, said, "What if we tore down the deck, blew out the driveway, extended the yard and built a new fence?" Sure, it'd be a lot of work, but it'd solve our needs:

1. Make the space feel bigger with that deck/covering out of the way.
2. Add about 200 square feet to the yard by taking out a section of the driveway. The circa 1907 garage is really too small to park a car in anyway.
3. Define the larger new space with a fence that was actually secure and nice looking.

So we started. First, we got the property surveyed, the driveway jackhammered out and a fence put in. Then I tore down the deck -- again, I love doing demo work. Me and a crowbar make for a happy afternoon.

We started sketching out what we wanted instead of the old deck. Because the house doesn't have a fireplace, I really wanted some area in the new backyard where I could enjoy a small fire. Finally, we came up with plans for a roughly 10'x22' patio area, with a 5' diameter fire pit extending from the leading edge. We'd run parking strips through the old driveway area to meet city code. And we'd get started, finally, on the herb and vegetable garden we'd been waiting to put in.

So we called in help where needed and did the initial excavation.

That left us with this in April. It was a swamp when it rained. Got a patio contractor lined up, hashed out the nitty-gritty on the specifcs of the plan. Waited.


And now the patio is in. Put a little chimenea in the fire pit. Got a new picnic table. Wheeled the trusty grill back out of the garage. Cracked open a couple of beers and started up a fire.


Of course, the first two nights we burned fires were the two hottest days of the year so far. And there's still some more leveling work and cleanup to do. But we don't care, we'll get those wrapped up soon. We love it. That's the garden in the background. We've got rosemary, lavender, strawberries, sage, thyme, mint, tomatoes, squash, cabbage and some other stuff.

Now if we can just get that grass seed to take hold.

C'mon over. We'll throw another burger on the grill, another log on the fire and another beer or two on ice.