Don’t you just love those shows where they take something, like a backyard, and make it fabulous in 30 minutes? Well, this backyard makeover took a little longer, like years longer. We have been working on our backyard for several years and we finally have it done! We have worked on everything from the fence to the pool to the flower beds. It is so much better and I can’t believe we lived without grass for so many years.
The Fence
We started with the fence for several reasons. First, it is so large and takes up so much of the visual space, that we thought it would make a big improvement in our view. Second, we knew we were eventually going to put in grass and we needed to address the dirt against the bottom of the fence. We had to decide whether we were going to build a new fence and put in a small retaining wall or whether we were going to work with what we had. News flash, we worked with what we had. You can find all the details at Backyard Wood Fence Upgrade.
The Pool
The pool was the thing that we dreaded redoing the most. Apart from the expense of it all, I was unsure of the finishes I wanted. I discussed what lead me to my decisions in Swimming Pool Renovation Tips. We knew that there was no point in going ahead with anything we wanted to do with the yard or the flower beds before we worked on the pool. We were told that the yard would likely be destroyed in the pool renovation process and that was definitely correct. Pieces of rocks were scattered everywhere. Not that it mattered since we were just working with a dirt yard at the time, but if we had grass at that point, it would have been killed.
The Yard
Once we finished the pool renovation, we were finally able to put in grass! It was so exciting because we hadn’t been able to grow grass in our backyard for years. We had tried St. Augustine more than once and each year it died and never grew back. This time we tried Zoysia and it is much better! This grass has been growing in our very shaded backyard for almost a year. It has been through the worst winter we have ever had and it came back in the spring! I’d say it passed the biggest test Texas could throw at it! We love our grass!
The Hammocks
Once we had our beautiful lawn in place, we decided we would install posts and hang up a few hammocks. This was a super easy idea and you can see all the details in DIY Hammock Posts. Now when the weather is nice, you can find me or my husband lounging around in a hammock! Seriously, him more than me, of course.
The Fire Pit Area
Other than hammocks, one thing we thought would be fun was some sort of fire pit in the backyard. Since we are city slickers, we really didn’t have the option of a real wood burning open fire type of fire pit. We were also thinking Adirondack chairs would make the perfect seating around a fire pit. Check out our city slicker fire pit in Our Fire Pit Area and see just what goes into the perfect Adirondack chair.
The Flower Beds
On either side of the pool we have a flower bed. I have struggled with these flower beds for years, planting random things only to watch them get scorched by the sun and die. I finally came up with an easy design that works with the new pool finishes. See what I did in Easy Flower Bed Ideas. So far, so good. Everything is still alive!
The Planter
Can a planter really be part of a backyard makeover? Absolutely! This planter can especially. You see, my very first blog post was about this planter. See Great Idea For Large Planters and find out what I put in my planter way back in 2017! It was only right that after everything else in the backyard got a makeover, that my planter should also get a makeover to go with the new color scheme. So, check out Large Planter Updated to see what went in to this makeover.
Backyard Makeover Lighting
Finally, we added to our existing outdoor string lights we had in the backyard. Honestly, I thought we had enough and the lighting was complete, but my husband had other plans. He added one final row of lights over the pool. Check out what he used for the easy DIY in Hanging Outdoor Lights The Easy Way.
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