Yard: Before and After

I spent a large part of the Fourth of July weekend in the yard... I had Sunday home alone and that helped me focus and work on projects. So I figured some nice before and after photos were in order as well as some details on the work we did.

We bought our house in November of 2008. The yard (on top of other things) had not been well cared for over the years so we had a lot of projects. Yard works is something I have always enjoyed and it also provided me an outlet for some creative juices. The yard was practically a clean slate, but some remnants made for interesting ideas to re-purpose items.

Here are two "Before" Pics:


As you can see everything was overgrown... first order of business was a 100 foot tall Oak tree in the backyard that was rotting and mostly dead. We then cut (with help from Dave) lots of trees and bushes down around the yard. Chasing the vines that had grown all over was also a big and not-fun job but we cleared those out.

Two things we kept and re-purposed: the patio (and extra blocks) and the swing set.

The patio was all over grown and very small. So when we replaced the side walkways I took those bricks and used them to extend the patio. Eventually we need to replace the entire area as it is unlevel and falling apart, but for now with the new tiles and weeds removed it works.

The swing set was an old solid wood set. It was heavy, but we moved it to the other side of the yard when we cut the big tree down. Then with some elbow grease and helped from Menards I cleaned it, stained it, and replaced some of the hardware. Two new swings and a baby swing from our friend Kari and she was good as new! Throw down some mulch and we have a home playground!

The biggest project was the South side of the house. The clay ground wouldn't grow grass, and the lack of any type of landscaping meant it really need some serious work. In 2010 I did the side mulch, removed an old antenna base, and put in step-stones, flowers and a bench. In 2011 I finished the corner off with some stairs to the lower yard, more flowers and a mulch path to the concrete apron on the back of the house.

Here are a couple "After" pics:

Here are more pictures: Yardwork 2011

There is a lot more to do... we need to landscape the hill from our upper yard to lower yard, we need a new patio (maybe a deck?), I would like a storage shed (that looks like a little house), and then we need a nice complete fence around the yard with gates on both sides of the house. Then maybe Heather can get the dog she has been wanting...