The backyard transformation

As I sit here, on the upper deck, enjoying an evening cocktail, while the girls watch the birds and squirrels, I realized that I had not documented the last couple of years' worth of backyard renos. I had put some pics on Picasa, so here it is.


When we had originally moved into the house, the patio at ground-level was never used. It was always in the shade, and a large brick bbq/firepit occupied most of the area where you might put a chair or patio furniture. We finally decided to get rid of the brick monstrosity, and then by expanding the concrete only by 6 feet or so, we'd get a place to sit in the sun in the backyard. I struggled with whether or not to put in a traditional fireplace, as I thought we really needed a focal point, but I finally decided upon a firepit, with an Allen brick "feature wall" to act as a fire barrier and provide a backdrop for our patio.

Suffice it to say, that we moved TONS of dirt, gravel, concrete, Allen blocks, and soil over the last two summers. We didn't tackle it all at once, and the first spring/summer we poured the new patio, and built the new firepit and brick planter areas. We also had the yucky fibreglass deck cover removed and replaced with a new glass one... awesome. I also reclaimed the cedar I had used for a little patio area, and made them into some deck lounger/benches.

The next summer we finished the rest of the Allen block garden walls, and put in a little paver patio at the other end of the lawn, for a place to sit in the sun in early spring. During a few days off last summer, I tiled the patio, since the old concrete was cracked and ugly compared to the newly poured area. Somewhere along the way, we wanted to take advantage of the home reno tax break, and put in a new fence as well. With this year's relatively cool, damp spring, our garden has grown like gangbusters! We're having a BBQ next week, so I'll post some pics of the backyard in full bloom and glory.