the backyard project part 2

Back in April I shared a peek into our backyard project and for the last three months we have been hard at work trying to get things finished and ready for summer! I happy to share that last week we were able to get the big stuff done and we are so happy with the end result.

When I look at the before photos I am amazed at how much work my dear husband Andy was able to accomplish! It wasn't easy and since it was our first time tackling a project like this, things were challenging at times. But as hard as it was, it feels so good to know that we did it ourselves- WE LOVE a good DIY project! Here is a peek at what we have been up to:

After we finished the garden back in April we had decisions to make about the rest of the space and we went back and forth about what to do. Since the yard slopes into wetlands and since we have soil that is full of clay, we are limited with what can be done. We finally decided to keep things simple and split the space up into a few different areas.

We created a play area for Lucy. We separated this area with a river rock circle and then filled it with pea gravel. We found a cute cedar playhouse at Costco (assembly took about 8 hours!) and made it the focal point of the play area. We have a few more fun things to add to this space but so far Lucy loves it!

We put in a flagstone path, dividing up the space that leads to a fire pit. 

We created a fire pit in the back corner of the yard. This is the area where the ground slopes down the most and it seemed like a great space to add a fire pit for hanging out. I'll be sharing more details about this space later this week.

The last step was to spread topsoil and put in sod which brought everything together!

We still have lots of little projects to finish but the big stuff is done and we are ready to welcome summer!

In the coming weeks I will be sharing more details and DIY projects from our backyard so stay tuned for more!