Reader Redesign: All Fired Up
When Christy sent us pics of her amazing backyard transformation we were super inspired/jealous. Here’s her letter:
Our backyard before was mostly dirt, grass & weeds with an existing in ground pool & spa. But as soon as we saw some clearance dry stacking stones from Lowe’s we knew we could spruce things up pretty cheaply. We also ended up finding some pavers on clearance at Lowe’s too and plants on clearance at Target so it sort of snowballed from one thing to another and before we knew it we had a before and after story to send to you. Here’s the so, so sad before:
And here’s the almost after (the walls on the benches still need to be painted, but this space is much more used now):
We enjoy fires in the fire pit weekly. Plus, not being green is a lot greener. I am conserving water by switching out to a xeriscape lawn with low maintenance plants. The pavers, rocks (12 tons), fire pit & plants were all done DIY by me, thanks to many long cold nights after work with a broken finger. The benches & BBQ were done by a local mason (they’re topped with flagstone). The entire thing, mason work, materials, plants, etc. was around 2k. I hope you enjoy my little DIY do-over. – Christy
Enjoy it? We live for it. It’s amazingly well done (we love how you mimicked the round spa and pool with the circular fire pit and benches). And to think that you did almost everything yourself (with a broken finger no less) is spectacular. Thanks so much for sending your fabulous before and after pics our way. Yummy.
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This is fantastic! The before and afters are my favorite things.
I LOVE Christy’s DIY do-over. What a great place to hang and roast marshmallows! Broken finger ’cause of all the rock and stone hauling??? Hope not!
I love the new backyard. What a nice little place to entertain friends and family. I’m sure they are all envious of your new space. I know I am!
I want a firepit so badly! This is amazing!
I also love the xeriscaping mention, I’m reading about it currently in my environmental science class and I think I may just have an excuse to let those weeds grow this summer ;)
Thanks! My family wants to come for every b-day & holiday now, which I can’t say I mind. :) I enjoy my home & hope others will too.
That fire pit is awesome!! I want a space like that so bad! That is exactly what I want to do. Christy, did you follow instructions or just “wing” the whole project? If you have anything specific, can you email the link or the directions you used? Thanks in advance.
That is very cool… I love seeing before and after pictures :)
For Alysia,
If you are looking to renovate your backyard like that and are looking for contractors, check out http://www.constructiondeal.com– you just post your project and contractors will contact you and give estimates.. Its a pretty easy way to find help without doing much. And its a free service so feel free to check it out!
Alysia, I didn’t start with a plan. I did see some similar ideas in my Sunset landscape book & had a general ideal of what I wanted. It was just kind of a snowball effect. The firepit was a lot of trial & error, it was actually put together & taken apart about 5 times (NO JOKE). I can give you lots of advice on how NOT to do it. :)
It was dry stacked at first, then added the pavers for the little patio area, once I found the right feel & size for the fire pit, I decided to mortar it in. The benches were added later. I did everything but the benches, that was done by a mason. I wanted to repeat the curve of the spa (as J&S pointed out). I knew what I wanted, just had to explain it to him & he did a great job. He also added in a built in BBQ for me, not shown.
You can e-mail me if you have any more ques. wtp_72 at hotmail dot com