Backyard overhaul, in progress

I feel like this is a throwback post. Not because it's all old school, or what not, but because it's about a project Hubby and I started last year. Late last fall, Hubby and I started on a plan to redo our miserable, disjointed back yard. We had an old, rotting fence that cut right through very usable space, we had a deck that served zero purpose, and we had crappy grass.

Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we? I took this photo from our deck last October. Now "deck" is being generous, it's really just a 5-foot by 4-foot landing pad. It's not large enough to hold chairs or a grill. So it really didn't serve any purpose, except as a transition from the kitchen to the back yard. But when you went out this door, it really wasn't a view you'd want to stare at very long.

This photo below, I am standing next to the shed, looking toward the aforementioned "deck" and the crappy grass. Granted, this photo was probably taken just before winter hit, but the grass didn't look much better than this during the summer months. The trees provide a lot of shade, which makes grass growing (slightly) more challenging. Plus, we have a dog who doesn't like to roam very far when she needs to head outside...if you know what I mean. This side yard was looking like connect-the-Riley-dots.

Where else can I find fault? Oh yeah, how about the fence that was rotting away under our very eyes. Be careful, don't stare too long, lest you knock it over. In this picture, it was holding a nice 75-degree angle. Hurricane Irene even did some damage due to strategically falling debris. So needless to say, this fence was not worth saving.

But that rock wall just to the right of the fence in the photo below? That's our property line, which means we had a fair amount of usable space, that was currently not being used. So last fall, the project got underway. We would tear down this old fence, and install a new fence in order to enclose all our side yard. Then we planned to put in a paver-style patio, in order to create a nice outdoor dining area. 

The timing of the fence install didn't allow enough leeway to put in the patio at the same time, so we started with the fence. You saw the looks of it - we weren't confident it would make it through one more winter.

Fast forward to this spring...

And, if by magic, ta da! This newly defined side yard is the start of the new outdoor patio and eating area. The large privacy fence provides good shelter and lets us dine in peace from the neighbors - you know, just in case you have a large piece of spinach in your teeth. But notice how much larger the side yard feels? Who knew we had so much wasted space? (We did; apparently the previous owners, did not.)

The area is large enough that we actually planned to have multiple "zones" - an eating zone, a cooking zone, and a lounging zone.

Right in front of the shed, will be the new eating area. It's large enough for a table for six, plus a sizable umbrella. This will be the widest spot in the side yard, so it makes sense to put the dining area here, even though it's furthest from the kitchen door.

Near the bottom of the stairs, will be the "lounging zone", for a pair of Adirondack chairs. Hubby marked the edges of the patio using white spray paint. This outlines our planting beds.

At the bottom of our platform deck, against the house, will be the grilling zone. We will keep some of the current shrubs, and we will get rid of others. We planted those when we first moved in, and were all yard-gung-ho-but-didn't-really-know-what-we-were-doing. So needless to say, we weren't terribly distraught at the idea of losing a few.

This photo below actually highlights how crappy our grass really was. The stepping stones were a pain to mow around (as Hubby mentioned frequently, not that I would even know how to mow the lawn). Riley also did a good job of marking her territory, should another dog ever wander in to the yard and try to lay claim.

Well the patio construction got underway - the Monday before Caroline's birthday party. How's that for cutting it close? Nothing like throwing in a massive outdoor dining area, five days before 20-some odd people decide to show up for a house party, right? The area was a mess, the driveway was disgusting, but the patio...that was looking good.

Usually Hubby and I are avid DIY-ers. But this project was just too big, too large an impact, and we're just too busy. Neither Hubby nor I were prepared to take a week off of work, in order to complete back breaking labor, then help wrangle Caroline in the evenings. Maybe pre-baby, but not these days. So we hired "guys". I have to say, it was nice to arrive home each day and see progress.

Once our "guys" cleared the area of crappy grass, they laid the stone dust. Stone dust, water, tamp it down. Repeat. More stone dust, more water, more tamping.

As much planning as we did, as many pictures as Hubby and I looked at, as many outlines as we drew in spray paint around the yard - this was the first time I could actually envision what the space might look like. Before this stage - I just tried to believe that it was going to be great, but I wasn't totally convinced.

But at this stage, the patio area (finally) started to feel spacious. It was easy to see how the space might be large enough for multiple zones and be able to hold a number of guests.

And then...this happened. The patio started to take shape - officially. This photo below actually shows the planting beds quite nicely. We planned to put shrubs down the length of the fence, in order to soften the transition from hardscape to fence.

Likewise, we planned to have a few small shrubs next to the deck/platform, just to avoid having one stone surface directly abutting another, different, stone surface.

For the pavers, we chose Techo-Bloc, "Monticello" in Azzuro. We have a natural Blue Stone front walk (which you can see in this post), so we wanted the patio to be as similar as possible. The gray color also works really well with the parking pad that Hubby installed as Phase 1 of this outdoor project. The large slabs of block actually look pretty great up close. We considered going with smaller pavers, but some of the smaller-sized manufactured stone - looked well manufactured. Too even, too perfect. Not natural.

We went back and forth, several times, on what type of pavers to select, visiting stone yards, looking at samples, trying to envision the final product...it was exhausting. I thought our contractor was going to ditch us. But I am happy with how it ended up. The space looks like "a lot of gray", I told Hubby after the second day; but once everything was complete - I really liked our choice.

Okay, this is going to be mean, but I am going to make you visit here tomorrow, so you can see the final project - in action! Hubby had to finish planting a couple more shrubs, and I wanted to put everything together, nice and tidy, for photos. Stay tuned!

To read all about how we got to this point, you can visit the original posts here, here and here.