Allison and I have talked about doing some landscaping on our backyard for years. Ever since we built our house, really. Here is what the backyard looks like now.
This is a purposely unflattering picture. Therefore the transformation will be even more remarkable.
Our backyard slopes down from the deck at a roughly 30% grade, making it all but useless as actual usable space. The best solution seems to be terracing the upper section of it, and creating usable sections that way.
We discussed the plan some this weekend as Allison worked on the plants in the front. Two retaining walls of between 16 and 20 inches in height (not including footer depth) would give us two terraces roughly four feet wide. Assuming the walls were 30 feet long, this would increase the usable space in our yard by 240 square feet.
A discussion about materials quickly showed that landscaping timbers wouldn’t look right. Dry masonry walls made out of local limestone would be perfect, but is cost prohibitive due to the skilled labor required. Shaped concrete landscaping blocks seem to be the best compromise of aesthetic, durability, and ease of construction. The local home improvement stores have landscaping block in various shapes, finishes, and colors for two to three dollars per block.
The next step is to sketch everything out and work with Mitch (our landscaper) on an estimate for the project that fits within our budget. It’s going to be a big project, hence the “part one” in the title. More updates to follow.
One Comment
Yay! I love y’all’s house already & it’ll be so exciting to see the changes when I move back to Nashville!