Over the past two months, we've been relentlessly working on building our backyard. And as I got ready to post some finished photos of it, I realized that I should write a little bit about the journey as well, since it has been non-stop work for weeks.
So before we did anything else, we knew we needed to get some concrete poured. And if you're going to do, might as well do it right, you know? So we went all in for a new patio, a parking pad, and a shed pad. Basically just making the whole yard concrete, as a few people joked. And it turned out great. We still have big plans for this space, but more to come on that later.
Fortunately, I didn't have to do it alone. Grandpa was here to supervise and to help lay pipe. And the kids were out most evenings cheering us on as we moved as quickly as possible. (We gave ourselves a week to do all the sprinklers and get the grading done before the sod came, so it was quite the race). In our old house, the sprinklers didn't reach all of yard, so we had to do a lot of watering by hand. We wanted very much to avoid that, so we put in a lot of sprinklers. Like, a lot. Enough that a few minutes per zone would be enough to keep the lawn nice and green. It is overkill without a doubt. But I'd rather have that than the alternative. We also got a smart controller, which I can't recommend enough. Being able to test out zones from your smartphone is awesome. We'll be replacing our other controller soon so that we can control all sprinklers from our smartphones.
Part of the kids excitement was also due to the fact that they knew that once grass got put in, they were going to get a playset. We purchased a kit a few months ago and it's been sitting in the garage. And a couple times a week the kids have been asking why it hadn't been put together. "That silly daddy, he hasn't built our playset yet." That's what I've been living with for months now.
A few more evenings of work though, and we had it all done. And following a terrible tradition of doing outdoor projects on the 4th of July, we put down the rubber mulch after the parade. And with that, the first phase of the backyard is just about done. The grass is in. The playset is built. We planted lilac bushes along the back for privacy. Next up, we'll be putting in a fence and doing some additional finishing touches along some of the side and back.
But at least we now have a usable, fun space for the kids.
1 Comment
|
AuthorMy personal musings on a variety of topics. Categories
All
Archives
January 2023
|