Yard Before and After

I thought it might be fun to share some before and after photos of a small corner of our oddly-shaped backyard. We bought this house almost 18 years ago, and at this point the home is 51 years old. When we bought it the yard was overgrown here and there, and due to many life circumstances it was never quite the yard we wanted. It still needs some work, but it is better than it was!

A few years ago, this is what the corner of our yard looked like. This area is right behind our garage. We sit at the end of a cul-de-sac with a long, narrow backyard. Please brace yourself for this photo, as it looks so trashy and ugly. I'm a bit ashamed I lived in a home where part of the yard looked like this:

 

The first thing we got was a new wall, and some new more 'neutral' awful fiberglass. Our neighbor insisted on the fiberglass, and I have always disliked it. My husband worked hard at clearing out the weeds and he also rototilled the entire area.

 

After this we added our own lattice to cover up the fiberglass. My daughter and I painted the lattice and the nearby fence. Actually, I did most of it. It's when our daughter was in a law enforcement academy, so I got up and started painting the fence at six o'clock in the morning. I did that in honor of her dedication to the academy!

 

Then we added some plantings along the back fence (photina), some climbing roses along the lattice, and a magnolia tree.

 

About a year later our future son-in-law helped us plant sod:

 

Here's a close-up of the climbing roses and crape myrtle we planted almost three years ago. We took this one last summer, and now they're looking almost overgrown:

 

Here's the area and how it looked last summer. It makes me yearn for relaxing summer months when I look at this photo:

 

That's our before and after story of our little corner of the yard. Somedays I feel as if my wheels spin and I get nothing done. Seeing these photos helps me see that we actually do accomplish a few things around here!

I hope your week is going great. Thanks for all your comments and words of encouragement!