Met Monday: Landscaping Phase 1

When we bought our home 21/2 years ago we were cramped for time. Okay that was a gross understatement we had four days to find a house that was move in ready! When we chose our home we loved the wooded back yard. What we did not care for was the slope that came down from the house into the yard. We knew we would have to do something to remedy this once we owned the home. I was eager to get to work but moving to a new state produced its own challenges. One was knowing who to call when you know not one soul in the state. Who could we rely on to accomplish the big job I had inside this head of mine? Time flew by and before we knew it we had been in the home a year before we decided to make the commitment to getting the hardscape done. If you ask my husband he was rather deperate because I don't do well without an outdoor grill to cook on and he wanted a steak! Last Summer we had our hardscape done with very little of the greenery put in. This Summer we hope to get more of the greenscape part done of the project. We had a series of three terraced patios placed in the back. We used stamped concrete and were lucky enought to find some true craftsman that created these lovely curved walls. Stacked stone? NO they actually hand sculpted these out of colored concrete. Amazing!

You can see the slope here that rolled down from the driveway and into the yard.

Here are the steps we had installed off the driveway eleminating that slope. It looks so pretty at night with the lighting. We had lights installed in the stairs and planters.

Ahhh just look at that blinding sun beaming off the grill! That rounded wall is actually a built in grill island. It has drawers on the front side to house all of our cooking goods! You will find us grilling out here about 3-4 nights a week.

Here is more of the space before. The builder gave is a 12X12 stamped patio. Not bad but not large enough for what we wanted.

The same space after.

Here is the view from my screened porch. This was that patio I mentioned that the builders gave us.

Here is the same view afterwards. The wall curved on the table patio now housed two lantern style lights on each end. In the picture you can see the wiring sticking out where they are now. These pictures were taken shortly after the main concrete work was done but before we had some of the final touches installed. You can see our grill island in this picture better and maybe peak at the drawers on the front side. Our outdoor kitchen. We have plans to plant a lot of flowers and plants. I hope to add some hydrangeas and hostas among other things. Once we work on the greenscape a bit more I will post some more transformations. Thanks for joining me for this Met Monday. To find more wonderful transformations join Susan over at Between Naps on The Porch http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/.