Patio Project

The cement is poured, the patio is complete!!

Just a few more plants to be put in the ground then project: backyard is complete!! I can't wait to show you all pictures of the completed project!! For now here's the progression of the backyard work!

First to be done was to get rid of the deck that was falling apart. Dave, a good friend from church "volunteered" to help Jared pull it out and re-set the posts holding up the patio cover as pay back for Jared's help over at his house. They had it out in just a few hours! Alan, Dave's father-in-law and a family friend of ours, doesn't like to sit still when he here's there's a house project to be done, so he showed up at our door, tools in hand. They actually had a great time working on it... at least that's how it sounded!

Here are the guys with a trailer full here of decking!

The big ugly step that needed to go. It was very awkward to get in and out of our house with the step, especially when there was a screen door that opened over the step. Jared went to town on it. It took two different phases with the sledge hammer, but it was gone!

A picture from Thomas' and my seat from inside the house!

Our wonderful "workmen" as T called them. (the orange guy and the white guy, always talked about them in regards to their shirts) They're working on getting the concrete out with the jackhammer. It took several hours, but they got it all.

Here's how they left the backyard, huge, ominous pieces of cement. One guy had the daunting task of returning the next day to remove it. 4 trips to the dumps and it was all gone.

After cement removal, we were left with this for the week. Thomas thought it was great fun. He quickly found his "safe" path through the concrete.
The following Saturday, after rain and with more rain coming and a baby shower for Audra the next weekend, the workmen were back and prepped the yard for the cement to be poured.

Finally, cement. These guys were amazing!! They started just before 7am and worked hard all day. This guy doing the smoothing was so much fun to work. Later he helped Thomas put his hand print in the concrete!

Awww, completion!! We then spent the next week impatiently waiting for it to dry. It was a chilly, cloudy week with the cement left to dry over the patio cover. Not the best situation, especially when you need it dry for 24 folding chairs and the tables to be set on it the next weekend... but thankfully it did dry enough and without too many scratches.

We're enjoying all the fun already!!

Previous Backyard Projects

As you'll see in a future post, our backyard is not what it once was!! It's slightly less full of stuff and it's been fun going through old pictures and seeing just how different it was. The previous owners definitely had a "work-in-progress" mindset as they went to work on this place and I think their end result would have been really nice, just not what we were going for. So, here's a glimpse of what we've done!

Deconstruction!

This overhang, where the latice was, was mostly torn down. The entire area was closed in all around the patio area. Notice the back fence as well, that was gone and re-built with in weeks of moving in. It had fallen down on the right side of the fence. Also, notice the pool area full of rocks. It was borders, river rock and large rock taken from various places throughout the yard.

Check out the pile of tree branches. We removed several trees. The one to the right and the bush in the picture above as well as several others, that's just one of the piles.
About a year after moving in we tour up what was left of the rock river (see picture below) and the little bit of grass that was there. It was only about two feet wide. We also had a sprinkler system put in.

Here's the result of the grass. We had saved the rock border, seen on the fence side of the grass. That is a grapevine growing along the house. We've tried to remove it several times, but alas it lives. We keep it small and let it go to town in the fall when it grows with amazing vengeance and speed!

This was last summer. This area was always awkwardly higher than the rest of the yard. We wanted to visually and physically separated it and make it look higher. Made it easier to mow and keep it separated from the now play area.

It turned out great! We added a couple of plants that we had in pots in other areas from the backyard, most of which had come from our condo. Then you can see to the left T's play area and to the right, the fence area. We had two lavendars, and two bushes that also came from the condo.

The plants from my condo represent two of my favorite things about the backyard projects and just the backyard. First of all, our frugality. Up until this point we had spent very little on the backyard. Aside from the lawn project, we hadn't spent much. The wall was in-expensive and except for 2 or 3 plants, all the landscaping had been saved from what was there or brought from the condo. That's my second favorite part, we're establishing our family backyard. Where we'll spend all sorts of time as a family and with friends. I love that the plants have been with us for a long time. Part of our first home is with is in this home. Not sure what I'll do when we move. I'll have to pull up a few things to take with us!! I can't wait for you to all see what it looks like now!

Finally, the dreaded river rock!! Do you have any idea how hard these were to remove!!! We're still plagued by them! They were everywhere. The "river" spread across most of our backyard. They also lined other areas as well. It had potential, but seriously it was a nightmare to remove!