Before and "almost" after

 Here is the before and after looking down from the deck.

Here is the before and after looking up from the bottom of the yard.

Here is a before and after standing on the north end of the property.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Backyard Remodel (not sure how many days anymore)

The walls are coming near completion. The fire pit has been put in place. The wall toppers are stacked on the patio. We need more dirt in the planting bed, but you can see the general idea.

Below is a view of the two walls from below and the view of the fire circle.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Backyard Remodel (end of day sixteen)

The second retaining wall is going up. This will be the wall that holds in the planting bed and will be the back side of the fire pit patio.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Backyard Remodel (end of day fifteen)

33 tons of stone have been tamped down into our new patio. Wow!

Not sure there's much more to say.

Carolyn  "Care Bear" King

Backyard Remodel (end of day thirteen and fourteen)

By the end of day thirteen here are two views from atop the deck. You can see much of the lower wall has been built and lots more stone has been packed down into the inside of it.

After day fourteen there is much more stone added.

From below and the way the builders have left the wall, it looks like a little castle.

Backyard Remodel (end of day ten)

The pictures today don't look that much different from yesterday, but more stone has been delivered and the bottom retaining wall has begun being laid.

This is the very bottom of the lower retaining wall. A pipe is being added for drainage from the firepit. On the right is a picture taken of all the junk the home builder plowed over into our back yard. We've heard stories of even scarier stuff people have found buried in their back yards.

Since we cleared off our patio under the deck, we felt we needed a new patio table and chairs. We found this lovely set on Craigs List and think it fits wonderfully! My husband is happily enjoying it already!

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Backyard Remodel (end of day nine)

By the end of day nine things are looking very messy indeed! They have covered the carved earth with landscape material and some rocks.

Below you can see the color of the retaining wall brick. It is called "Oyster" and has three colors: brown, tan, and gray.

Below is the view from the  bottom of the yard looking up at the future patio.

The cat likes the new bricks too!

Below is the back border where the fence will go. Since our property line is actually in about 18" from the electric fence, we don't want to have a difficult time maintaining the land between the fences. We are having some decorative rocks placed in that area, and all we will have to do is weed whack in front of the fence line.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Backyard Remodel (end of day five)

It is the end of day five and the following things have been done. The concrete patio has been stained. It's a little dirty at the time because the dogs have been walking through the dug-up earth and leaving little prints all over the brown floor...hmmm, perhaps we should have chosen a lighter color???

Here is the path tapped down firm and beyond you can see the beginning of the carving out of the hill.

Below: The view of the path from the north side of the property.

This is the view from the top of the deck stairs. You can see the stained concrete and the tampered pathway. Beyond the concrete will be a few steps which lead down to the paved patio.

Below is a close-up of the cut into our slanted earth. It's finally starting to take shape!

Looking strait on.

View from the NW corner of our property.

And finally a view from above.

The Bobcat is really tearing up our yard, but I'll soon find out this is nothing compared to what happens after a good rain! To the right you can see the white paint line for the north side of our property where the future fence will go.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King