Backyard Renovation

If you have been following me for a while or follow me on insta stories you know our backyard makeover has been a several year process. Due to the amount of money and work it has taken to get it fixed up – it wasn’t something that could be done over night. I have to tell you tho – our back yard is our absolute favorite place to be. To the point we will probably NEVER move because we won’t be able to take our backyard with us! It literally is our sacred ground.

So, when we first moved in – the builders had literally only cleared enough of the trees to build the house and not an extra tree more. Annoying if you ask me. So for the first few months we had tried to remove what we could ourselves as far as small trees and brush and then had people come in to remove the rest. We actually just had our final extremely large pine tree removed a month or two ago. Who knew tree removal was so expensive? Ha! So the tree you see in the top pic is actually not there anymore. That pic is actually from a post I did on our outdoor dining space, when it was all set up for dinner. Click that link if you want to see it!

Anyways. We removed all of the trees, had all the stumps grinded and then were left with a huge back yard of dirty sand. We slowly started working on it. Ryan built our deck first, I painted it. It was always a disaster tho because the kids would track in dirt and sand anytime they went from the deck to the house. We tried things like mulch and stones for walkways and flower beds but really it would just get destroyed so quickly and the kids had no real place to play. We thought about having a lawn care company come in but by the time we purchased the sod and had them maintain it – we are not yard work people…and it’s even harder here because the summer heat just burns peoples grass along with our soil is literally sand. Basically – our sod would die within a few months for sure! 

We did LOTS of research, and decided to order artificial turf. No it’s not cheap, but hear me out. By the time we purchased sod and payed a landscaping company to maintain it every two weeks. It will pay for itself in probably 2 years!!! SO, worth it to us! We ordered samples from about 3 places and finally found a company we LOVED their turf. Artificial Turf Supply actually had 6 different samples from their warehouse alone that they sent us! They had some GREAT options, all amazing, fluffy and full (no sparse spots) of turfs, some that had ‘dead’ pieces of grass in it, but, we honestly just wanted green, ‘healthy’ looking grass. I am so happy with the type we chose, there hasn’t been one person who hasn’t came into our back yard and taken their shoes off or sat down in the grass. The kids literally can roll around in it, even with no shirts on and we don’t have to worry about dirt, grass stains, and most importantly – allergies or itchy backs! It also dries quicker than regular grass after a rain – which is awesome for our summer showers Florida gets! Okay – now for those wondering about the basketball court – scroll down!

Oh, the basketball court. When my husband first brought this up I said, um NO! We need grass or a pool! Well, we decided against a pool until the kids are older. We still have room for one on the side of the house so it’s an option for later. But I have to tell you ladies, once we got the basketball court – I now know why my hubs wanted it. So, lets talk about the process first. We obviously didn’t have room for a full court without taking up our entire yard so we good sized half court. We had a 30 x 30 concrete slab poured. I THINK it is 6 inches deep but don’t quote me on that. My husband than splurged for a really nice basketball goal that we could cement into the ground and we wouldn’t have to worry about rust ruining it. We live so close to the beach – resulting in the salt water destroying our outside furniture, grills, etc. Once we had the concrete slab poured we contacted Flex Court and had them design us our own custom basketball court. Again, yes – a splurge but so worth it! I actually surprised Ryan with the design and layout for Christmas – Flex Court sent over a basketball, an image of our court, and samples of the tiles for him to open under the tree. It was delivered about 2 weeks later! Also, another reason I was fine paying for the court was because we can actually take it with us! So, if we did move – the actual court can come!

Ryan loves it for basketball reasons – the lines, the no slip, the colors, etc. He has guys come play weekly and he’s out there every night after work. I love it because when the kids fall – yes it still hurts, it’s not soft. But its not like rough concrete that will scrape them up. I also love the basketball court in general because I can just leave the back screen door open as well as the kitchen window so I can hear and see them out there playing while I am cooking and I don’t have to worry about them riding their bikes into the street. <<Huge selling point for me!

But, I hope this helps for you guys that have been asking about our turf and basketball court! And yes ladies, if its fenced in – I would let hubby get the court! It honestly will end up making your life easier!