My New Project!

Not sure if I've mentioned my plan for our new backyard. The yard is big and fenced in, but it's not great. My biggest gripe with it is that it's ALL dirt, there's not one ounce of grass or anything green. This presents many problems, the main one being that we have a very active dog, who likes to dig and roll around. I can't keep up with the amount of mud/dirt she would drag in the house constantly. Obviously it's a rental and we don't want to put a ton of money in it, but we want to do something to make it a little bit more livable. There is a nice patio space right off the house and then a detatched covered gazebo, but after that, it's just dirt, dirt, dirt. Also, we get about 90% shade all day long, so we can't really grow too many flowers/plants/grass.

This leads me to self-installing a "patio". Yes, that's right. There's an area right as soon as you walk out the back door into the yard that is nothing but a mud pit. It's not that big of a space and it's sort of L shaped between the gazebo and existing patio. So my plan is to fill it in with pavers/stones/something to extend the current patio and cover up the mud wrestling pit that forms there every time it rains. I think this is a fabulous idea, Sailor Boy is not sold on it. He doesn't think we need to put that much time/money into it, but we do plan on being in this house about 3 years, so I don't really see it as a waste of money. We obviously need to do something with it, and I'm not sold on planting a big garden there, mainly because I don't have a green thumb and that requires alot of upkeep. Pavers do not...you put them down and that's it. Plus, it's removable if our landlords hate it (which I don't think they would) so we could pull them out when we move (and take them with us - since they would be ours)

I don't have any actual pictures of what the yard looks like now, but I found this picture and this is my best interpretation of the current space (no, I'm not kidding)

Except we don't even have that much "grass". Ok, so it's not really this bad, but you get my idea. I'll take some real pictures soon.

I've also found some pictures of what I'd like the final outcome to resemble.

Something like this - sort of a walkway with large different size pavers.

I found this picture and it just cracked me up. I can totally see me out there with my shovel working by myself, as Sailor Boy watches me and takes pictures of my handiwork. But I wouldn't be wearing mom jeans.

So I guess we really need to price this out and figure out what we need and how much we should expect to pay. Luckily, my BFF K's fiance works in landscape design, so he offered to help me. I'll be sure to do a before, during and after so you can see my completed project!