Backyard of our Home

I'll just go ahead and put it out there.  We have A LOT we want to do to our backyard.  

These first two photos I found online from year 2010.  It shows grass and a pool, both of which are no longer there.  You see the sweet 91 year old lady that built this home with her husband (he passed away 5 years ago) couldn't maintain the house or yard anymore.  Basically nothing was done with it since her husband died.  And let's be honest, the lot is almost an acre and a lot to take care of.  

So they filled the pool in and evidently stopped caring for the grass.

And now it looks like this:

Our back concrete patio which would have looked appropriate if we still had the pool.  We want to do some brick or stamped concrete instead, build cabinets and a wine cooler storage around the grill area.  Also add a roof sorta thing over the grill.  We did have gas run directly to the grill which we are really glad we did.  I'd also like to get those cords off left side of the house.  

And this is where the pool was.  Now it is just weeds.  Actually we found a four leaf clover the first time we ever set foot in our backyard (before it was ours).  And you can see Kevin's firepit that he built the second day we owned the house.  He LOVES that thing (despite our homeowners association rules).

We will eventually have this area be part of the brick or stamped concrete patio and we're going to build a stone or brick fireplace over there and have some seating and possibly a TV above it.

Lack of grass.  Oh friends, how I'd love to have grass.  Yes we have lots of great mature trees, but some of those will have to come down for grass to grow.  One of the reasons we do love our neighborhood is because of the mature landscaping.  We didn't want to be in one of those homes where everyone's landscaping was the same and trees were just starting to grow.  Just our choice.  

We love our fenced in yard and so does Mills.  But we are working on coming up with a plan of what area we'll keep natural and what area we'll have grass.  And if you are Kevin, you WILL have a hammock in your backyard!  And if you're also Kevin, you want to build a two car garage back there with a man's room above it.  We shall see.  I'm not sure why we need room for 4 cars but what do I know?

Our back driveway area with our oversized garage.  Kevin powerwashed the entire driveway and patios when we first moved in.  They already need to be done again but it's really hard work.  Evidently our bushes also need to be trimmed again.  It never ends y'all!

But we love our house and yard and couldn't ask for more.  We'll take each project and get things done as we can.  Until then, we'll continue to apologize to our neighbors (they really don't care but they have beautiful yards) and the homeowners association in response to the letters we get from them! ;)