We love our house dearly—not to mention our location and neighborhood—but the backyard was almost a deal breaker for my husband when we were deciding whether to put in an offer several years ago.
We could see the potential in the front yard, which we had to reclaim from overgrown trees and bushes.
Google Street View from when we purchased the home on the left and more recent images middle and right.
But the shape of our lot meant prospects for drastically improving the backyard were grim. Our house sits on a curve at the top of a hill. Take a look at our plat, which shows our broad front yard and cramped backyard.
For the record, I have very rarely turned down a slice of pizza. So, while the shape of our lot is delicious in theory, it's pretty unappetizing when you see what that actually means for usable space.
Beyond the challenge of working within a small triangle, the awkward space had a few more issues:
A massive, 40-foot tall Holly tree which blocked all light and prevented grass from growing,
A steady grade, which made it difficult to pass a soccer ball or play catch,
An unattractive concrete and stone pad,
An impractical, narrow deck that surrounded the kitchen addition on two sides, and
A large, landscaped bed with tall bushes that extended from the deck and cut into usable space.
This spring, we began debating what our next large investment in the home should be. There are so many things we’d like to do but prioritizing can be tough. In the end, new windows (ours are original to our 1958 home) were edged out in favor of a backyard overhaul.
Our reasoning was pretty simple: Our kids are young and despite some activities, we still spend a good portion of weekends and evenings at home and not shuttling to sports or friends' houses. Now feels like the time to create a space for family relaxation and play.
In addition, my husband desperately needs a shed as part of the plan. His new mountain bike has been in our dining room on and off for months. This has gotten old...and, yet, I'm also grateful he hasn't lobbied for it to come to bed with us. He loves his bike that much.
What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been (and We JUST Broke Ground)
I don’t know if it’s a “rule,” but it seems to me exterior projects can often be expensive and time consuming. When we bought our first home, we made the most of our limited budget and boundless energy (#prekidslife). It took us about six months to renovate our backyard. We built a patio using reclaimed brick, made a stacked stone retaining wall, landscaped and constructed a privacy fence.
Fast forward to the present state of creakier knees, two little boys who need to be corralled and most importantly…winter is coming. We’re contracting out the majority of this project to speed things up before the weather turns and also ensure better quality on what is shaping up to be a much more complicated project than what we faced in our first home. As soon as we saw the bobcat come out on day 1, we had reassurance that we made the right call by not attempting to DIY this one.
So, if we decided we were going to take on this project in the spring you may be wondering why we’re just getting things underway in November. Fair question.
The scope of our project includes a patio and pathways, but because of the slope in our backyard we need a lot of re-grading, as well as a retaining wall that is more structural than decorative. When all of these elements come together, it makes for a pricey operation.
The reason it’s taken us so long to get going is because we got three quotes and took our time recovering from sticker shock and reaching a decision we can be happy with. We did not want to go into this project feeling like we weren’t getting a fair price for such a significant job. In the end, we’re feeling really good about the investment and believe we've selected a team that understands our vision. *Fingers crossed*
Meanwhile, as we crunched numbers this summer we also picked off some smaller projects that would complement the backyard work—like demoing the deck on our own. After we saw one of the quotes pegging the deck demolition cost at $1800, we rented a dumpster for $300 and did it ourselves.
Having a dumpster for a week is quite liberating. I actually loved it. You find many other things you want to get rid of and it becomes super easy to do so. For example, we took down a fence that was falling down and will be replaced with one that matches the fence on the other side of our property.
We also took this time to repaint the railings on the steps to the kitchen, replace and stain the treads, and wire a more substantial exterior light. The result is a prettier, sturdier staircase on the side of the house.
We also took down the Holly and Cherry trees in the back so that we can regain some valuable space and also some sunlight for our future grass.
Before (with trees) on the left and after (without trees) on the right.
We were extremely conflicted on taking those trees down because they offered us so much privacy, but they also took up a ton of space and made the yard dark. We'll be coming up with a plan to bring some foliage back to that corner to restore the privacy, without the bulk.
Look out for part two of this post, when I’ll dive into our plan for the backyard and material choices.
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