Becca and I looked at this disaster area for six years while I
tried to figure out what to do. I had many ideas but it wasn’t
until our friend Dave built a concrete walkway around the
house. Once that happened we finally had a frame that inspired me to start with the landscaping of this area.
First I built a retaining wall around the pond that I installed
2 years prior. I filled the void inside the retaining wall with
topsoil and placed various plantings. Next I created slate
steps that bordered the retaining wall. At that point I hit a
wall. I had this large area bordering the cement walkway
and the slate steps and didn’t know what to fill this space
with. The obvious choice was a lawn but I had always abhorred lawns due to the excessive water use and the
maintenance involved. I relented since it was the most expedient
thing to do. The funny thing is I love the lawn. Mowing
it brings me an unusual pleasure that I wasn’t expecting.
Before the lawn went in I set a temporary pool for Tyler and
Lee to use for the summer. Tyler and his friend Davis helped
roll out the lawn after I installed the sprinkler system. Then
when the summer was over I removed the pool since it was
an eye sore to me.
Again I had to fill a large area(12’x12’) with something. I
Could finish it out with more lawn but the idea of a sun deck
for Becca seemed like a great idea. Here is the problem, I am
not the best with wood structures. Especially making wood
structures level. In comes our good friend Dave who guided
me on the sub structure. Then winter hit so the deck was
postponed till spring. Finally spring sprung as it does and
I was hankering to finish that deck which I did with Dave’s
help.
The below pictures show the transformation pictorially as
explained above. Most of the structures I wanted to create
are now finished but check back, as the yard develops I’ll
add new photos.
What we looked at for six years.
