Backyard Makeover- Part Uno

Our existing back yard was, ummmm, how do I put this....an outdated, non-functional, waste of backyard.  OK, so "waste of a backyard" might be a little harsh, but seriously, there was so little that we could do back there.

We inherited a deck from the previous owner that was original to the home, which means that the deck was 25 years old.  There was no doubt that the deck had been power washed one(hundred) too many times.  We needed to have tetanus shots on hand in case any of our guests decided to walk barefoot on this thing.  It was seriously time for this thing to go.  And if the medical hazard wasn't bad enough, the layout of the deck was a little undesirable.  As you can see from the photo, the deck had two levels.  One level was right off of the sliding glass doors leading from the den, and the other level was one step down from the upper level. 

EXISTING DECK

You can also see our grill in the photograph.  It is a built-in grill, but since we didn't have anything built to put it into, we had a sweet set-up with the existing wood deck bench and two cinder blocks.  It is rather embarrassing for two landscape architects to have this kind of a set-up, but we are going to remedy that situation as well (that will be in a later post).

STAIRS LEADING FROM LAWN TO UPPER TERRACE

EXISTING WOOD DECK AND RAILING

EXISTING WOOD DECK WITH HOT TUB

EXISTING STAIRS LEADING FROM WALK TO LOWER DECK LEVEL

The hot tub in one of the photographs above was a nice little "surprise" that my husband came home with one evening.  He arrived with 6 men and they carried the hot tub (a free used hot tub from one of Nate's clients) and positioned it on an existing "pad" that the previous owner had built.  What the existing "pad" was originally used for is anyone's guess, but it worked out perfectly for my new surprise!

Part uno of our backyard redo began with A LOT of conversations between Nate and I walking around the yard discussing what we should do here and what we should do there.  We came up with a general concept but the conversation always ended with "We need to get this deck out of here to see what we are working with."  so....part uno progressed to removing the deck!

DEMOLITION BEGINS!

We removed everything from the deck and began our demolition.  Our friend, Mike Baker, came over to lend a hand and his highly experienced carpentry skills.  Thank you for all of the help Mike!!

MIKE BAKER REMOVING THE RAILING

RAILING REMOVED AND STARTING ON THE DECK

And now for a series of photographs explaining what happened from 8 am on a Saturday until 5 pm on a Sunday:

And when all of that madness was over...this is what we were left with:

Part Uno was complete which meant that Nate and I could get out the spray paint gun and begin doing what we do best...designing the backyard.  Thankfully that large pile of wood was gone before I returned home from work on Monday evening (thanks to the hardest working husband in the world and one of his very nice workers).

Check back soon for Backyard Makeover- Part Dos!