Transforming A Backyard

I’ve had a ton of questions about our backyard transformation, so I thought I would do a tutorial of how it all came about. 

When we bought our new home it didn’t have anything in the backyard.  Talk about a blank slate, it was really bland.  Nothing but wall to wall gravel.  Not one single plant except a lone half dead tree.  We went from Blank Slate to Backyard Oasis in a few months. 

 

We wanted a pool and pretty landscaping and a nice patio to enjoy the outdoors.  That seemed like a huge task looking at this picture. 

We put some plans together and started the makeover.   First was to add the pool, that would be the base for the yard.  Digging began and we were on our way. I did step by step posts on how the pool was constructed and you can see all of those here.   

As the pool progressed, I wanted to try and do something with the patio space.  It had really become a disaster and dumping ground for all the pool mess.

Time to clean it off and wash everything down.  A good power washing of all the walls and patio area left me with a clean space.  Then washing our old patio furniture and cleaning the cushions was next.   Now we had a clean place to sit down.

When the pool was finished, we hired a landscaper to put in drip lines all around the back yard and around the pool to water plants and flowers.  

Our initial planting and the labor and materials for the drip system cost approximately $2200.00  This included a large 30″ box tree and over 35 different plants and shrubs.

With the pool finished it was time to give the patio some love.  Time for a makeover starting with what we had.  

I wanted to add a little privacy from the view of the house next door.  So I ordered some outdoor drapery panels from Wayfair.   4 panels did the trick and provided a nice screen.  I used a piece of pipe to hang them from and another piece of pipe to hold the bottom down.  The drapes cost a little over $100 and the pipe was some we had on hand.

Now I had an enclosed room to decorate.  Rearranging our existing furniture, adding some plants and bringing a wicker chair outside gave me a new base to decorate.  I bought a new rug to anchor the space – 5 x 7 for $69 from At Home.  I replaced our old cushions with some gray and white ones from At Home for a total of $68.00.  Next a few pillows, throws and candles from my stash and we had a welcoming patio.  Total cost of the patio makeover – $237.00

It’s amazing how fast plants will grow with a little care – 

Our back yard and pool have become the Oasis that we wanted.

If you plan carefully you can have the backyard of your dreams too.