Our Backyard Space – a work in progress

I’m back!  Well at least for this post, summer is still in full swing here,  school doesn’t start up again here until after Labor Day.  As I type this the girls have some friends over and they are busy swimming and having fun, enjoying the beautiful day.

I thought I’d share our backyard with you today, there have been some glimpses here and there with the play set and pool getting set up in May but never a post dedicated to this space.  Our backyard is one of the things that attracted us to this house, it is large, fenced in and has a big deck off the back of the house.  I can’t even fit the whole thing in the camera frame so I tried a few different angles for you.  Here is our backyard in its current condition, toys, Christmas trees under the deck (waiting for a campfire and drought conditions to go away), our makeshift fire pit, pool noodles and I’m sure dog poop is scattered in there too.

 

In May handsome hubby built a play set for the kiddos and also dug out an area for a pool that our friends kindly gave to us.  This pool has been used a lot this summer!  It is helpful that with the full sun in our backyard in the afternoon and evenings, the average temperature in the pool without a cover on has been between 85-90 degrees.

The kids like to put the slip and slide at the bottom of the play set slide, the slanting backyard really makes this quite a ride for the kids, I end up laughing as much as they do when they come down the slide and land in the grass.  I’m hoping next time to capture some of the fun on video.

 

A few years ago I purchased a gazebo on clearance at Target for less than $100.  It served us well at our old house but when we moved here, the poor thing couldn’t handle all the wind on the back deck and the cover was ripped off a few times and eventually the frame was  bent as well.

There was discussion about what to do as our backyard is full sun in the afternoon and evening.  There are no trees to provide shade so if we want to enjoy the back deck and eat out there, we need some sort of cover.  To make a long story short, insurance adjusters were out for our roof, apparently they saw the gazebo with the bent frame and we ended up receiving a nice amount of money to replace our gazebo along with the roof.   After much researching we went with this one from Lowes.  It had very good reviews online, seems well made, sturdy and something that will hopefully withstand all the wind.  So far it’s held up very well and we love it!  The solid curtain panels are nice to zip up for relief from the sun when we are eating dinner on the deck.  The mosquito curtain netting is great for at night when we are playing games and don’t want to be eaten alive by the pesky little buggers.

 

 

Our deck is rather large so I made a smaller sitting area in the back corner with my two adirondack chairs from Target, the $7 table from Kohls, my $2 plant stand from Savers and my Allen & Roth pillows from Lowes.

Now we  need to stain the deck as it is in poor shape right now from sun, dogs and kids.  That is a project we will be tackling soon, after I finish reading up on what we are going to have to do and to make sure we do it right.  We are also on the lookout for a new table and chairs, our set is starting to show its age after 7 years.   Hoping to strike some clearance gold at the end of this summer.

There is more to the yard, as you can see.  This area is in need of some major help.  The original owners had a boat they stored under the deck.  We have children and dogs that think running down this little hill and sliding with the rocks is really fun.  The plan is to  build a little garden area into the side of the hill, get some stamped concrete poured at the bottom of the stairs and extend it out to the side yard for a fire pit area and steps leading to the pool with a small landing area for the ladder.

In other news, Ruby is on the mend and doing quite well now.  Thank you for all your thoughts, prayers and concerns for her.  She gave us quite the scare last week when she was so ill she couldn’t even walk.  Thanks to the veterinary staff for keeping her for the day, hydrating her and giving her medication.  We were very sad and worried thinking that we could lose our precious doodle Ruby.  Make sure there are no little brown mushrooms in your yard as it is so hard to distinguish between the poisonous and non-poisonous variety.