the RA RA Home

The Evolution of Our Yard

we recently had friends over after renovating our backyard and they said they couldn't remember what it looked like before, so i decided to show a before and after.  we bought our house over six years ago and we feel in love with the back yard as soon as we saw it. for the burbs, it was a huge lot with a ton of potential and we immediately got to work taking advantage of it.  

our first step was to put up a privacy fence (we have two big dogs), minimize the size of the garden beds and replace the red mulch that filled them. there were no plants in any of them. seriously, no plants, just red mulch as far as the eye could see. I wish I had that before picture!

  BEFORE

here's what it looked like the first couple years... a concrete/brick slab, a pergola that we attached painters tarps
 to for curtains, new plants and a lot of furniture that wasn't really designed for the outdoors.

a few years later... a little updating with a new table and chaise lounges,
 and an electrical light we converted to a candelabra.

then last year we made the decision to tear down the pergola because it was rotting and build a deck in it's place
 to make things safer for our two little ones. then there was the domino of projects that would come with it.

we added shutters and put in a sliding glass door where the window to our dining room used to be.
we couldn't believe the difference they made to the interior of our house too.
  our dining room became so much brighter and felt twice the size.  we also replaced our back door
 with a glass one to add light and visual space to our hallway. 

then this spring because of hail damage we replaced our pink roof and replaced the metal siding with vinyl.
we also added a shed and a brick paver path and patio.  we still can't believe the results...

  AFTER

it's been a lot of time, money and hard work, but totally worth the end result.
 it feels like a vacation every time we walk out our back door
 and the memories we will make with our boys will be priceless.  

and special thank you to my father-in-law... we couldn't have done it without you!