Life in Progress.: Extreme Backyard Makeover (still in progress)

Continuous improvement of our yard.

at first it was all english ivy.

there were trees

then there weren't anymore.

dug out so much dirt, leveled and framed the area that would be the patio

area framed

then we played around by laying bricks on just the top level

had more visions

then i got home from my bachelorette party and the bricks were completely laid for the entire patio

brick laid

firepit

We never added the border or the walls for the bar on the top level. Lots of rain and snow weathered the not completed patio. We're going to have to redo the edges of the top level. So much progress still.

And now 1.5 years into the house and we finally have GRASS!

it's so incredible how much you can appreciate something so small when you know how long and how much work it took. our neighbors told us it would take years to get rid of the english ivy and that we wouldn't see grass for years. neighbor behind us said it took him 3 years to get rid of the ivy in his yard.

Our fence is very near complete. just need to put on the gates on both sides of the house. Want to till along the chainlink, lay black landscaping fabric to stop the grass from growing and add mulch to create a border. Have the mulch and have flowers and plants to line up along the fence. Hopefully we get to do that this weekend if there's no rain!

The amount of sunlight back there is also incredible. With those two big trees gone, we get a ridiculous amount of sun on that side of the house (as evidenced by the grass -- which was actually a foot tall before sketchy cut it today).

Feeling hopeful about a garden out there with how much sun we actually get!