Backyard

Last month we decided to do a floating/platform deck. I love it so much!!! We never really sat outside...we had a couple of chairs but never bought a table or anything because I didn't want to just plop it in our empty backyard in the grass. My husbands dad came over and helped him build most of it and then he finished it up! The following weekend he put a rail on the other side so we would have something to lean the grill and the smoker up against. The whole thing is about 16' x 20' and cost just a little under $1000. We didn't think we'd have to add a step but it was just a little too high at the end so last weekend my husband added a step. I was scouring the internet trying to figure out how to do it since we only needed one step but he was able to figure it out on his own and mostly using just leftover wood from the deck! We only had go and buy one other piece which was about $15. We used pressure treated wood on the whole thing and I can't wait to stain it in a few months. And we also added little gardens on either side of the step. I love it, it's perfect! We had a smoker and a fire pit that we hadn't even used yet so we finally used both of those. We plan to do some gravel around the firepit area and then maybe some slate/stepping stones leading from the deck to the firepit area. It's not ideal that we have the chain link fence but we are ok with it for now. I love our backyard....we really need a new shed though! And soon I'm either going to build or buy a little potting bench to put up against the house. Sorry for the bad cell phone pictures but I'm really bad about using our actual cameras lately!

Our Backyard last year:

Starting on the deck this year:

We got this table for $79 and the chairs for $19! 

But we had to have a table big enough for 6 and patio sets are expensive! It was a good deal.

 Don't you love the little solar caps on the railing?? I do! 

They were less than $5 each at Home Depot.

My little veggie garden, which is much bigger now

 We finally cut down this random basketball pole. We've spent almost two years trying to figure out what to do with it! Turns out it was filled top to bottom with concrete! Who does that??? We cut it from the bottom and got rid of it....now I think we'll have to use the jack hammer to break up some of the concrete in the ground and cover it with dirt and grass seed!

 Love our backyard! We recently picked up an umbrella for our table, which was a gift from my mother in law for our upcoming 3rd anniversary!

 My little garden in the back which is starting to fill with flowers that came back this year and will continue to come back!

 Mmm smores.