Backyard Remodel

We decided to remodel our backyard.  We added cement, stained the cement, added a shed, and a pergola.  We have had to replant grass, added berms between the trees, and then planted the berms.  It has been crazy but it is finally paying off.

Our Inspiration

Before

Cement & Grass

We extended the rock circle the was on the left and made it cement.  We also took the rock/gravel that their hot tub was on.








In the process of removing our dirt (and our neighbors), and putting it in our backyard for berms, dad's tractor hit a frost pocket and it looked like a whirl pool of grass in our back yard.....

 We then had to till the whole whirlpool and start fresh with grass.....










Once the cement was poured, it dried to quickly (supplier error) and we were not able to scrape it in time before it dried.  This meant we had to grind the cement down to have the pitch correct.

The grinder didn't work the first day so our contractor had to come back a second and grind again.  After two days of grinding, the pitch was correct.

A big shelf cloud came through, but it also shows the progress (cement done) and the grass not yet planted.

Grass is planted and we are watering the grass.  Cement is done.

 The grinding didn't look the best (in my personal opinion but I am a perfectionist) so I decided we needed to dye our cement to cover it up. So began the many-step process.  Here is the dye choice we made.

Cement originally (after being washed so the dark spots are just wet.  The Color at the right is in the shade.

The first color (Canal Blue) turned out a little more blue than we anticipated...

The accent color was not quite what we expected, but we do like the end result.

 

The final colors close together.

The color changed a bit when we we added the sealant.  It also made it slippery (since a lot of the texture was ground off when fixing the pitch).  We are working on reducing the slip with out changing the color to much.

We purchased a fire pit from wayfair.com and it is on the round part of the cement.

Shed

We framed out the shed and were all ready to apply for our permit only to discover though it is regulation to stay 5 feet away from the lot line, we have a 10 foot easment due to drainage.  We picked up the frame and the gravel that was already in the frame and moved it up five feet.  We poured cement the same day.  

The shed went up quickly with out much incident. 

Pergola 

The pergola is going in this week.  We ordered smooth saw cedar posts, but they came in rough so we had to special order them again.  The pergola is going up over the new rectangular part of the cement.  I will update soon!