Our Backyard Pt: 4

Irrigation:

We decided to use something called netafim to water our grass...It uses half the water and there is less water waste because it waters from underneath the turf! Sher and I were so excited to come across this product.

Here is a video on youtube to show how it is installed.

The tubing goes underneath the turf and delivers water to the roots of the grass. It has actually been around for quite some time and is widely used in Israel. 

Here are some photos of the process:

A layer of soil goes down, then the netafim system, followed by another layer of top soil and then the sod is placed upon that. 

It costs a little more than your traditional sprinkler system but we are thrilled to be using less water for our grass..thus saving water and money in the long run.

Up next I'll share some photos of our completed yard!! It's truly a dream come true!! It's so surreal to look outside and see what has been in my head for so many years. We are so excited to actually have a yard now  instead of a rock and weed cemetery, hehe!! 

My Mom had hip replacement surgery on Monday so I promise to return with the photos as soon as I can! Thanks so much for dropping by! God bless.

Our Backyard Pt: 3

Concrete Curbing

We decided to use concrete curbing to seperate the different areas in the yard. For example, under the tree we will have rocks and on the other side of the curbing will be our lovely grass!

Here is the view from the "rose wall" side of the yard, looking onto the play area and future shed.

The view from the "rose wall" looking towards the house.

Gazebo

We chose to use sand in the play area and will be putting in a playhouse/swing set for the kiddos!

Here is little Miss Sophia enjoying her brand new, fluffy sand!!! 

Our Backyard Pt: 2

Next on the to do list was all the flat work! This was so exciting to watch unfold because we woke up without sidewalks and went to bed with lovely brand new sidewalks!!

This is the patio extension

The view looking back into the yard from our patio

We also removed the old spa that never worked! Now we have a nice place to BBQ and hang out.

Here we have the platform for our future shed.

Stairs and sidewalk leading to the playground.

This is where the gazebo will sit, with  flagstone flooring and climbing roses at each of it's legs!

Coming up next will be the concrete curbing!

Thanks for stopping by!

Our Backyard

We have been dreaming for a long time to turn our ugly backyard into a beautiful place. A place where the kiddos can run free and let their imaginations run wild....

This is what our backyard started out as, these are actually how it looked when we bought our home.

...a wasteland of rocks and weeds!

Here are more pictures of what we started with...the bushes in this picture are deceiving! When you actually stand next to them they are a good 5 -5 1/2 feet tall!

We put the gazebo in place to make sure we liked it, before setting everything in concrete.

 The year before Sher built the retaining wall you see in this photo, it was a monster  of a project- each block weighing 60 lbs.!

I'm so happy that we were blessed with some nice, shade producing trees in the backyard!

After drawing and redrawing up a plan for the yard about a billion different times, we finally settled on this: 

The items in white are what was already existing in the yard..

..And so this is how it all began, I was really TIRED of looking at our messy rock wasteland so I decided to take it upon myself and start working on the foundation for the gazebo.

During nap time I'd go outside and move a little bit of the rocks, until I had the area clear. I deal with fatigue and really low energy levels so it was quite a task for me, but I was so happy when I accomplished it!! We already had some flagstone in the yard so I brought them all to the gazebo to make sure I had enough for the patio floor.

Here you can kind of see the stones laying under the gazebo...this encouraged my husband Sher to come help me get more things done out there! The next thing we tackled was to build a small retaining wall to house a rose garden. 

After that came time to hire out for the concrete work! Those guys were awesome! They went by my drawing and laid out all of the forms..

patio extension

future shed

sidewalks

....Next I'll share how the concrete came out!

Our Yard..

We have lots of dreams and plans for our backyard...

This is a before picture of the view from the back of the yard.

Here's the after..we trimmed those poor trees a bit.

..Now it seems like they can breathe better!

Here's a before of our tree that lives on the left side of the yard.

I don't understand the placement of the shrubs..they will have to go

- we just haven't gotten there yet!

This is another before picture of the area

And now the after..

He still needs more trimming but already looks sooo much better!

This is my goofy paint doodle lol

We'd love to have a pool to cool off in and enjoy, me and Sher both love swimming..

So we are dreaming of placing it long ways in the yard and having a pergola at the far end.

More trees are also on the wish list with many others such as roses, a fountain, hydrangeas.. etc.

I love this picture...I envision our pool something like this:

Surrounded by a walkway leading from the patio to the pool in either something like this:

or this:

then I'd have my Honey build some nice furniture to relax on...

Perhaps a swing somewhere in the yard?..

Sher is dreaming if a hammock..so we will definitely have to put one under a tree

Hey maybe someday a dog too!! haha..a cocker spaniel though :-D

Our patio is gonna need some furniture also, thank God I can "order" whatever I like from Sher :0)

These are some inspiration photos for our backyard..

I miss GRASSSS...so we will be putting some in eventually and we can't wait!

this is a GORGEOUS inspiration photo I saw here on the blog Oliveaux

It's so beautiful, and such an inspiration, it just makes my heart sing.

I LOVE this photo also ..we want to put in some lanterns too, maybe one on each column of the patio and then some around the yard because at night it is pitch black out there!

*sigh* I am SO looking forward to enjoying this yard once we get it a little greener, and get rid of the sharp rocks lol..Just to walk on grass again would be a dream for us :0)