This is what the yard looked like December 31, 2008 when I signed on for this crazy fixer upper project (I'll post about the house later):
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| Starting with the house to the left of the back door... |
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| Left side |
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| Middle |
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| Right side |
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| House to the right of the backdoor |
It's totally gorgeous, right?!
Haha, if you're wondering what was behind that green wall in the back, curiosity satisfied:
More buildings or sheds, and a wacky fenced area with a dead tree trunk. Underneath that green building on the right was a thriving beehive. So awesome. But since I'm not in the honey business, I paid someone to relocate the hive a few days before demolition.
I didn't get a picture, but behind the other side of the green wall was lots and lots of junk. Old treadmill, metal shelving, broken spigot, and other random trash.
Here's a zoom on the middle yard pic - see what that is in the center back by the wall?
Yep, if you guessed an old dried out Christmas tree, you are right! Now if we only knew how many years it had been there...
Fun facts, there was hole the previous occupants had dug next to the right side of the house and filled with many alternating layers of trash and leaves. I mean, I'm all about composting if you are into that, but this was non-biodegradeable plates and stuff.
The entire right side of the yard was covered in several inches of gravel - not nice clean gravel, but mixed with trash, and dirt, and leaves, pine needles, etc. And the "patio" was around 20 x 30 feet (not rectangular in shape), sloped up from the house, had a curb on the back and left sides with metal posts sticking out of it, and the part closest to the house had been whacked away randomly.
Someday I'd like to know what that thing was originally built for!
My realtor made a comment about not many people being willing to take on a yard like this - I guess I'm rather unique. Or naive. I did a little gardening at my parents house, and planted a few fruit trees. But prior to this house, I'd never even mowed a lawn (I was always terrified the lawn mower would cut my toes off if I tried, haha!).
So, did I find this massive mess overwhelming? No! Quite exciting actually, thinking of all the possibilities. Or as Anne of Green Gables would say, "scope for the imagination."
A big yard was on my list of wants for a house, didn't really matter to me what state it was in. Then again, I had no idea how incredibly long it would take and the ridiculous amount of work that would be required to beautify it. But I learned a lot in the process, and got to teach myself many new things.
So it might not look like much to begin with - but just you wait!
First thing that had to happen was demolition of the existing stuff. Luckily I moved into a city that has a week once a year where you can put almost anything you want in front of your curb and they will come around and pick it up. So, March 2009 was time to clear out the junk! In about two hours my one man wrecking crew, aka tasmanian devil (or brother-in-law), went to town and took it all down. Amazing! Thanks again!
Later that day a few of guys from my ward came to help with the demolition, but instead just ended up helping to haul since it was mostly taken down already. The pile in front ended up being about 5 feet wide, 5 feet high, and 30-40 feet long! Crazy! And that's even after the scavengers took a bunch of stuff...
And so, this is what I was left with after the great clean out:
And that is how the yard stayed for about a year while I worked on the inside of the house. Project on hold. I needed a kitchen more. But we did make use of that hideous yet functional patio for Bubba's first birthday party.
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