Stage 1 Almost Complete

Our backyard remodel has been progressing, and Stage one is almost complete.

You can see the seating walls are now capped, and the darker border is in.

I had told the landscapers I really liked the herringbone pattern, so they gave it to me in the ramps to get up to the higher level.

The dogs and the twins are really enjoying the new surface.

Here is the other ramp. Don't they look so nice? I am just thrilled with their work. They still need to put sand in to fill the tiny cracks between pavers, but honestly, their isn't much sand that will fit, they did a great job laying them.

I've had a few people ask me why we chose to do ramps instead of just making a step up. We chose ramps for a couple of reasons. Once we decided on having multiple levels in the yard, we had to choose between steps and a ramp. We have a couple friends in wheelchairs, so we needed at least one ramp for them to use. Not that the step up would be too big for a wheelchair to manage, but we wanted to make it more accessible for them. So why two ramps? Well, DH has this picture in his head of the twins racing around on the new patio on the Big Wheels we plan on getting them for Christmas. One ramp would mean a traffic jam, two ramps means they have a circuit to ride.

There will be gravel along side the pavers, and the last third of the yard will be mostly artificial turf, but with a gravel "river" in the drainage ditch. I am already liking the yard so much better, and I think it will be amazing when it's finished. It will still be a while, because we haven't chosen the artificial turf yet. Still, within a month or two, we'll have a whole new yard!