The Lay of the Land

OK, done with the front of the house! For now at least. I’m eager to get out there and make some changes and additions, but the perennial beds have been cleaned up, the boxwoods trimmed and thinned, and everything fertilized and mulched. We’re good.

Onward, to the back! But first, a layout of the property. The lot (50’x145′) and house footprint are to scale, though the details on the house itself are not. They’re close, but the roof lines are definitely a little wonky (the house is not entirely the odd assemblage of angles it appears to be!). I gave up on getting them exactly right because the focus is on the overall land here.

There’s a 3′ purple cast iron fence out front, a 5′ black cast iron fence next to one neighbor, a 4′ wooden fence next to the other, and 6′ wooden privacy fences elsewhere. None of them match, none of them are in perfect shape, but they’re there. The boxwood hedges, we’ve talked about. Everything else is garden space, aside from the parkway, the small patch of grass out front, and the flagstone patio in the back.

Our neighbors in the greystone are clearing out their yard and putting in a paver patio. They had some flagstone that matches ours, so we’re taking it (thank you!). The plan is to either create a small patio, use it for stepping stone paths, or both.

The first option would be solely for the kids and their friends. We have a table and chairs on our patio, and there’s a kids’ picnic table off to the side. It’s cute and they like to sit there because it feels secluded next to the fence, beneath a row of lilac trees, but it’s just dirt and mulch beneath the table right now. I feel like we could turn it into a pretty cute space! It would only be useful for the next five years or so, but I’m OK with that.

Option number two would be to make a lounge area. There’s a dirt path to the egg chair right now from where foot traffic has trampled the plants. Go with what has already been started and turn it into a paved area, or just make a stone path? If we’re going to do a patio, we’ll have to do a lot more planning before we can get started, but if it’s just a path, I can dive right in and get it done.

Kids’ area, lounge area, or a combination of both? I’m thinking the way to go may be to do a stone path to the chair, leave the rest alone, and then a small patio area beneath the kids’ picnic table. I’m heading out now to figure it out.