Overgrown & Underappreciated...

...but (hopefully) for not much longer. When John and I bought our house 2 years ago we knew that there were a few issues that would need to be addressed with some immediacy. The kitchen was #1, and the backyard #2. We checked the kitchen off of our list last spring, which leaves us with the backyard to complete this summer. The backyard right now consists of dirt, weeds, uneven pavers, poorly pruned bushes, steep steps, horrible stair railings, and leftover kitchen cabinets (um, yeah, a throwback from our kitchen redo last spring...)

So, what will this backyard project entail? I'm glad you asked. Hopefully before school's out we will have a concrete raised patio poured. (We'd love to do the whole composite deck option, but it's a bit out of our price range). After we pour the deck I'm hoping to recruit my dad and brother to help me design a sprinkler system and install it in both the back and front yard. (Because houses built in the '50's don't come with sprinklers). After the sprinklers are in, we'll layout the flowerbeds and then plant grass. Flowerbed plantings will come at a later date (unless I go project overboard, which has been known to happen). I'll keep you posted on our progress. But for now, enjoy (or endure) the before pictures.

The family room french doors & windows

The side yard

The ugly stair railings. The bedroom french door is on the right.

The uneven paver patio & the garage on the left

More uneven patio with lots of weeds

The bedroom slider

The patio area, garage on the right, and the dirt (soon to be grass) area.