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If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you may have seen a few sneak peeks in stories (now, sitting in my backyard garden highlights) of how we’ve been working on getting the backyard ready for the warmer seasons on the horizon. During our home search, I was so focused on a few must-have features on my list (such as a gated front courtyard, great curb appeal with large pretty trees in front, a bright interior, etc.…) that a decent backyard was the furthest from my mind. I think the main reason could have been because subconsciously, I knew we’d be spending more time away traveling than being at home. Clearly, our needs are very different now due to the pandemic.
When we first looked at our home, the backyard was the most unappealing part of the house, but despite its unsightly appearance, it was unexpectedly huge. We both said to each other, it’s got great potential to be transformed into a vacation oasis. Elements such as the sizable lot and the covered patio/loggia-like feature that spans almost the whole length of the house, had me envision turning that space into a petite hidden resort of a faraway island escape. Think a great mix of beautiful garden planters inspired by the casual, seaside lifestyle of the French Riviera sipping on Aperol spritz while lounging under the umbrella or enjoying a delectable afternoon lunch at the Beverly Hills hotel.
Immediately after we received the keys, we cleaned the backyard of all its debris and had large trees planted all around the perimeter of the property, and placed vines along all the walls that would bridge the gap in between each of the trees. Subsequently, we’ve made some improvements to it each year. However, given its size and the amount of work it needed, we still have a long way to go to get it done.
For starters, most of it was quite grassy, not the pretty looking kind either. Think ‘crabgrass gone wild’. This unsightly ragamuffin weed-wanna-be grass was surrounded by uneven concrete borders that never failed to get me close to breaking my ankles every time I ventured out there. Given that we live in the desert now, where water is scarce, we wanted to save on water and create a space that is as low maintenance as possible. At the end of 2020, we finally got to complete the major part of our renovation of the backyard! Goodbye weed-like grass! We had it removed and replaced it with astroturf. We created a nice curved brick path from our side entrance gate that leads you to a corner circular area (for a bistro table and chairs) using the same type of antique bricks we used in our front courtyard. Since then, we’ve been adding more plants, shrubs, greenery and slowly bringing pieces to complete the space. I recently scored a table that I’m currently refinishing for our dining room area out there. I can’t wait to finish that project.
Since we work from home and are unable to travel as much as before due to the world’s condition at the moment, we felt it became a must to finish our backyard to give us a space, where we can come out and take a breather from being cooped up inside all day and get some sun exposure. Particularly, at the end of our workday, we wanted to take advantage of our short-lived cooler days to enjoy our western exposure that the backyard provides and watch the sunset with wine and cheese. And hopefully, in the near future, it can be a place where we could entertain and gather with friends once more.
The goal for our vacation-inspired backyard plan is to precisely re-create an interpretation of an amalgamation of all our favorite getaway spots we loved staying at over and over again. An inviting, relaxing, and comfortable exterior space to disconnect, re-gather our thoughts, and indulge our innate senses. That’s pretty much what we’ve been up to. I can barely wait for the complete reveal! So stay tuned.
