We Did a Thing: Back Yard Makeover

I think I posted last year about our front yard makeover, which was one of the most long-awaited and much-needed home improvement projects in our house. For 10 long years, our front yard had been an embarrassing wasteland (thanks to crappy landscaping from the original builder combined with the previous owner’s and our gardening incompetence), so to have it turned into a beautiful garden over night was incredible. Because it was designed with my skill level in mind, maintenance has been relatively pain-free; a question of occasional watering and regular weeding. As soon as the project had wrapped up last year, I knew we would need to do the same for the back yard.

The back yard was an even sadder story than the front. It had been even more neglected (and barren to begin with) over the years, especially after the crappy original deck had to be pulled down. We rarely spent any time out there. We had 3 good trees, and otherwise a whole lot of nothing. Or, to be more precise, weeds slowly taking over the poor quality grass that the builder had put in. Some time ago, my husband had built a shed, but its location was poorly thought out. All in all, a very sad state of affairs.

The deck rebuild ended up being delayed by about 18 months due to supply; we were sent deficient material and it took a long time (and threats of litigation) to wrangle replacements from the supplier. Additionally, because my husband was doing the work, it progressed slowly — between work and life in a pandemic, there just wasn’t a lot of time and energy to devote to it.

However, we did get lucky with our landscape company having an unexpected gap in their schedule earlier this year. We had the opportunity to have them come in and do their work on the yard ahead of the original plan, which gave us a headstart on the summer. Most of the work was completed by late June. The design was prepared by the owner based on our input and preferences: minimize the grass area, keep things simple to maintain, go for a classical vibe. At the last minute I decided to switch the focal point from a fountain to a statue. It was the right decision, but it did create some additional unforeseen complications. Who knew that larger sized statues are difficult to come by in Canada if you’re not looking to spend tens of thousands of dollars to import something from the US or UK? Well, not me. I also had a specific statue style in mind, which made things more difficult. Long story short, we ended up with a statue that isn’t as nice as I had hoped (that was before I had any sense of how much nice ones would cost) but is the right size and has the right vibe. Her face is a bit of Monet — to quote from the movie Clueless — but that’s okay because she fits in really well otherwise.

I absolutely love the tile work on the stone patio. It is such a standout feature and extends the “living space” well into the yard. I am looking forward to some en plein air dinner parties in the future.

There is still work remaining to be finished on the deck, and the fence needs to be painted, but otherwise our back yard is fully transformed. Sitting on the deck in the evenings, enjoying the warm weather and listening to the birds, has been one of my favourite contemplative exercises in recent months. We also got to make use of the space to host an outdoor birthday party for our son in July, and recently a clothing swap for me (more on that next week!). With everything going on, having this little oasis has been wonderful.

My lessons learned from this project reflect things I already kinda knew. It’s important to know one’s strengths and weaknesses; some things are better left to professionals. [My husband’s work on the deck is incredible. On the flip side, he has no talent for landscaping. Moving literal tons of earth is also much easier with a crew and heavy duty machinery.] Things will always take longer than expected. There will always be contingencies. It’s important to set reasonable expectations from the beginning (I failed with this on the statue front). Real life is nothing like HGTV. Sigh.

Stay tuned next week to see how the back yard was used for my clothing swap.