If you would have asked me a month ago, I would have told you that we made a big mistake.
You see, we chose NOT to pour a patio and retaining wall when the basement and garage were being poured. For two reasons – cost and overall look.
Instead, we were going to do it ourselves and it was clearly going to be amazing and epic and awesome and all the words. But, fast forward 18 months and the patio area was looking pretty stinkin’ rough.
Basically just a weed patch. Thats’ why I thought we should have just had them pour the concrete and been done with it.
It actually looked worse than this. And the list of all the stuff that “must be done” before winter was stacking up. (Can you see the plywood we were using for pavers? We are so fancy around here.)
But within the last two weeks, progress is happening. Thanks to my husband’s inability to stop working and my uncle’s skid loader.
We had 8 or 9 loads of dirt delivered and Ryan filled in the yard and the slope between the garage and the exposed basement, which needed some fill. Then, he worked on the retaining wall – the first time we have needed one of these at our homes. 
It was a matter of spending a ton of time on the first row to make sure it’s perfect and level. He even worked in a pretty slope for some added flair. Between the blocks and the soil is a layer of landscape fabric.
And then he stacked heavy, grown-up Legos. (I’m only partially kidding. But you know that this lady didn’t help at all so I have no clue.)
It’s really quite beautiful, as far as a wall goes.
And the area around the sliding door to the basement is getting a little facelift, too. Starting with some fill and rock. It’s kind of incredible how much better it looks already. It’s been a muddy and weed-filled mess for over a year. Now at least we have a little rock and a flatter area for the next steps.
As for what those next steps are, we’ll be adding some pavers here and a little landscaping.
At some point, I’d like this to become the new outdoor play area for Henry – the playhouse, toys and sand table need a spot and this would be a good spot.
Most of our play gear is still over at the barn, and this area like a natural place to move it all. Plus, it may be one of the only outdoor areas with hard surfaces for all those wheels (bikes and trikes and tractors, oh my).
I have plans, but we are running out of time before the snow flies. It’s probably not going to come together until next year, but progress is still a beautiful thing.
It looks GREAT! My husband is a landscaper… yet we have zero landscaping at our house. It’s yet another one of the things that bugs me about this house. I’d like to do exactly what you’re doing in the rear of our house.
Arg- I totally feel you on the retaining wall… we just finished an epic wall!
HI Kim, I’ve been enjoying your ‘voice’ on the home projects this past few weeks. Thank you for being so up beat when the dust is flying!
As to the new porch area I have a couple comments. First, don’t forget to use the landscape fabric uphill from the wall, (our guy didn’t read all the instructions). Second, how about pushing the porch beyond your posts out into the landscape, visually and functionally tying home and land together. This would also visually break up the tall block of the house. The curve of the new retaining wall might be continued or repeated down slope as gentle terracing either for grasses or flower beds or nooks for fruit trees.
Have fun!
Cheers, Ginger
Thanks so much for your ideas! Totally great things things to think about – I love the idea of extending the patio under the deck to tie it into the land. Smart!
And thanks so much for asking about the landscape fabric – just checked with Ryan and he did install it between the wall and the soil. I’m editing the post to add that. Phew!