The Great (New) Outdoors

We moved into this home in June 2008, and redesigning the exterior of the home has been our first BIG project that we have completed. I do not have any before pics, so you will have to use your imagination on how BAD the landscaping and basic set up was before the improvements. All landscaping was dead, the border around the landscaping was raised and would not allow water to properly drain out of it which then caused a pond to form, and it was not interesting to be outside in general.

Now, we have done new landscaping on all 4 sides of our home, plus 2 beds along the fence. We put in a wood fence around the backyard, added a swingset, took out our cement slab patio and installed a much larger stone patio, bought outdoor furniture, installed landscape irrigation and lighting, buried our downspouts, and put in a home security system. Whew! Just don't ask me the names of the plants put in...I do not know unless I refer to the blueprint! As far as I can tell, all we need now are some hanging baskets and a new bench for the front porch and I can then mark this project complete!

Here is an extended view of our backyard. In reality, we do not have a large yard. We were concerned that the fence would make us feel even more boxed in, but instead it did the opposite. Our yard feels so much larger to us! The new swingset is behind me in the picture. Keep reading in the earlier blog posts to see pics of that!

Ah, my beloved colonial stone patio. I cannot begin to tell you how much I LOVE this patio. It is beautiful! This patio was suggested by our landscaper, and it almost didn't make the final cut as we were not sure it was necessary. Joe and I are thrilled that we took the leap to have it installed as it is really a centerpiece to the backyard. The space is at least twice as large as what the cement slab was, and makes it a much better area for entertaining. I plan to add planters to the patio in the future for more color.

This has become our bird area in the landscaping. Olivia and Ethan love to watch them eat and drink, and Enid (our cat) will sit and stare at the 2 birdfeeders for hours.

This back corner was to be my lilac area. However, we are having unexpected flooding issues with this corner, and 3 of the bushes have not survived this. Unfortunately one of the bushes was my lilac. :( We are working on a solution to stop the flooding before replanting.

You may be wondering about the seemingly random black iron fences we have installed. They are protection for the extremely large recessed window openings from the basement. Each one measures about 10 feet across and 4 feet in width. Needless to say, we could not find a covering for them unless it was custom made (don't even ask the cost of that!). These fences are to keep the little ones from falling into the holes. Joe and I breathe much easier knowing that that danger is now taken care of!

Next home improvement project...the study. We are still living out of boxes in that room. Stay tuned!