Backyard makeover!

[brooklyn]

We moved into our home in August 2020, and immediately got a gigantic playset for the kids. Installing it was awful since our yard wasn’t level, so we stuck it in the one place it fit:


Which was mostly fine, but I always worried about the kids sliding right into the side of the house.

Then we started noticing our yard had major flooding issues, and each big storm was bringing water closer and closer to our basement. 😫

So we embarked on a big project to update and re-route our gutters to two new huge seepage pits in our yard. We also expanded our fence line to enclose our side yard. We releveled our yard, which gave us the opportunity to move our playset and add in new seating areas. I’m obsessed! I never guessed we’d be able to improve the flow of our yard this much!

[brooklyn]

And our new stone benches are repurposed from our old stone steps that led into the yard. Also found out they were poured concrete, not bluestone, like the previous owners had told us…

[spinnaker5]

Nice! The planted areas add so much visual interest and it’s great to have more seating areas. We are in the middle of a backyard reno - adding a pergola and fire pit, as well as some regrading and repairs to retaining walls and the sprinkler system - and I can’t wait to be able to take advantage of the added usable space.

[darby]

Wow! It looks great!

[pumpkin]

I really like it. It looks great and you’ve created so much more usable space.

[mrsukyankee]

That looks great and it seems so much more useable too!

[brooklyn]

It’s amazing how much more usable it is now! I never thought we’d be able to add so much seating, but it’s really helped it feel more cozy and has helped us spend more time out there. We have a stone patio area in the front of our house (which that stone pathway connects to, which is great too!) where we used to keep our fire pit, but it makes so much more sense to have it in our backyard. I went on a garden tour the other day where they talked about the idea of bringing “rooms” with different purposes to your yard, and I feel like we accomplished that with the various seating, new fire pit area, and mulched out playset area (mulch was a big improvement over the destroyed grass under the playset before too!)

[maudefindlay]

Looks great! So nice to make something functional and pretty!

[brooklyn]

Nov 7, 2022 9:35:11 GMT -5 maudefindlay said:

Looks great! So nice to make something functional and pretty!

I’m so glad we were able to get some pretty in there too! The price to add seepage pits and bring in a million truckfuls of dirt almost gave me a heart attack. So of course I went and added arborvitae and hydrangea to the bill, but at least I enjoy looking at them. 💗

[boiler717]

It looks great!!

[dr.girlfriend]

Fantastic job!

[thejackpot]

Looks great! Such a welcome area to enjoy for years to come!

[brooklyn]

Added cafe lights around the perimeter and now I love it even more! 💗

[mrsukyankee]

Brilliant!

[brooklyn]

Continuing on my light theme, we added Trimlight to the front of our home. It’s permanently installed led lights that can be programmed different colors for holidays. Love how it brightens up our exterior! Moving from the city, I still can’t get over how dark our street is at night. Hope this helps!