noelle o designs

creativity + sewing + upcycling inspiration

design, garden, projects

finishing the backyard, part 1

OK, I realized this has nothing to do with sewing, but it does have to do with creativity, at it roots. There has to be a foundation and groundwork in everything even if it’s not so pretty. This project is so monumental in my life, and makes me so happy to finally be undertaking, that I really must share ‘the backyard project’.
getting ready for a retaining wallWe began this project last year, the task of finishing our backyard. This is the rocky, sloping, tiny weed patch we started with.

ready for a retaining wallSomehow, our yard and house ended up about 3 ft. higher than the house behind us and without some sort of retaining wall we were going to loose a lot of backyard square footage.

unfinished backyardAlthough it’s not gigantic (the lot is 1/4 acre) we decided with a retaining wall we could keep all of our precious inches, and feet of backyard space.

putting up the forms for a retaining wallWe mulled over rock walls of various shapes and sizes, cement blocks and eventually decided on a cement retaining wall, with the fence built right into the top. Leaving the neighbors the option of finishing their side of the wall however the like.

pouring the concreteThe footings were poured first, then the forms installed and the wall poured the next week.

retaining wallSkip ahead to this summer- with about 5 dump truck loads of fill dirt, then 4 loads of top soil, we are getting there, making slow progress. As you can see the cement needs to be repaired on the top of the wall in the closest corner and the fence posts aren’t all the right height (oops, cement dries fast) this should be fixed very soon and we’ll be ready to fence ‘er all in.

cement pad for shipping containerThis cement was all poured this week, a big pad in the side yard for boats (we have a nice collection of old boats- Hobie Cat and 1977 Sea Ray) that both work part time.  The narrow portion of cement sticking out into the yard is for a shipping container we hope to plunk down and use for storage but not without making it snazzy on the outside, I’m picturing something like this:

shipping container outbuildingBut maybe not yellow… we’ll see.

topsoiled yardA view from the other side, we extended the back patio too.

rounded cement patioThe original back patio pad, that came with the house (lighter colored chunk) was ridiculous and probably just put in to pass inspection. We extended it with curved edges and added a step down because it was way too high (14 inches tall or so) without something to step down onto. We also took out a rickety wooden step (that had been built to step out of the house) and put in the two curved steps.

garden shedThis shed, that looks a bit like an outhouse, came with the house and has been an eyesore sitting in it’s random spot in the yard waiting for placement. At first I though about selling it to whoever would haul it away but then thought better of it. I mean who doesn’t need a little more storage? So, we poured a cement pad on this south facing side of the house to give it a permanent home and title of ‘garden shed’, since the garden will be right where those tomato plants sit in their pots.  And when I’m done with it, it’s going to look something like this:

tiny garden shedI can’t wait to rip off the stupid aluminum siding, find some funky old windows, maybe even a new door, and go to town jazzing up my shed like this one.

corrugated metal fenceAnd here’s what we’re thinking about for a fence- corrugated, probably galvanized metal sections placed between the wooden posts. I’m still doing the research on this option, as opposed to an all wooden fence. But I like the look of the metal and it will probably age better than wood, less maintenance and staining every summer for the teens.

For backyard ideas I’ve been collecting (and photo sources) go to my pinterest board. I can’t even think about plants, trees and shrubs yet- but when that time comes it’s going to be a-w-e-s-o-m-e!

Stay tuned for more…

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