Before & After: Backyard Edition, 3rd & Final Phase

When we bought our house 8 years ago, there was a lot of work that needed to be done, especially the backyard.
The backyard was a DISASTER.
 It was 30 years of over growth & not being maintained.

The pool had issues. Major issues. Cracks. Leaks. Nastiness.

Kevin & I saw the potential and we had a vision of what we wanted our backyard to look like.
Well, 8 years later the backyard is FINALLY completed.
We did the backyard renovation in 3 phases and we are so happy with how it turned out!
Here is a little walk down memory lane to see the backyard transformation.
You know I love a good before & after :)
Backyard when we first bought the house in 2010.
There was a rotting overhang:
Phase 1 of this area...tearing down the overhang:
Phase 2 of the remodel in 2013...tearing out all the bushes along the fence & getting a new fence.
(Kevin tore all those original bushes out....took MONTHS!!!!)

 Alternate view:

 Phase 3...get rid of some of the lawn to extend the patio and to make a better walkway:

We added steps to new French Door (we added the French Door about 4 years ago)

Our beautiful outdoor living area that Kevin & our neighbor built:

Alternate view in 2010:

After:

I mean....wow.

So much better!!!

Garden area Before in 2010. It was just a bunch of weeds & overgrown plum trees that didn't produce anything.

We changed this area in 2011 & Kevin built Garden boxes & we added steps.

Garden Area 2018:

The pool BEFORE when we first bought it......it was like a swamp.

One of the first things we did before we moved in was re-do the pool, put up a pool fence, put up a new side fence & re-do the landscaping around the pool.

 Alternate view of pool area after we fixed in 2010 before we moved in:

In 2013, we ripped out the bushes and added more cement around the pool:

Last summer we took down the pool fence while Kevin was building the outdoor structure and we never put it back up (because Luke is extremely pool safe). Kevin also ripped out that palm tree that used to be in the middle of the patio)

The pool area is so user friendly now.

 BEFORE {May 2010} The kids called the pool a pond...it was scary!
After in 2018:

The lounge chairs are from Costco (and match the outdoor couches)

Closer look at the furniture in the Ladies Lounge:

The Ladies Lounge is what my friends and I have named this area :)

Furniture is from Costco.

We have a TV under here and we spend a lot of time out here. It's like an outdoor family room.

  The table converts to a firepit.

Night view:

Here is what the structure looks like from another angle:

The structure was officially finished at the beginning of this year, but this was the first Summer we have enjoyed it. 

It's been so nice to have shade back here!

The side yard is another area we re-did. 

Before in 2010, it was dirt & a random walkway.

To the left you see a mini fence (that hid our pool equipment). Another before because it was just nasty.

Here is what it looked like after we fixed it up a few months after we moved in:

Here is what it looks like now!

 Kevin & our neighbor built this awesome bar! We had the pool equipment moved so that it wasn't in the way, now it is behind the fence on the side yard.

Here is what the back of the bar looks like:

We call it the LarBar:

It seats 8 people at the bar.

There is also another TV.

I got the chairs HERE.

View from across the pool:

 We got rid of the grass in this area and extended our patio:

Of course I had to add hanging twinkle lights:

Here is what it looks like at night:

We are SO happy with how our backyard turned out.

It has been a labor of love. 

We did most of this with our bare hands (except for building a new fence & pouring the new cement, we hired professionals for that)

We also hired a professional to re-do the pool in 2010, move our pool equipment & change the electrical, but everything else was done by myself, Kevin & our neighbor. 

I did all the landscaping planning & Kevin and I did all the planting of trees, plants & laying black mulch.

The only thing that is original in the backyard is the grass (even though we changed the shape of it)

We ripped everything out, including the original patios & walkways. 

Everything else in the backyard from 2010 we literally ripped out with our bare hands. 

There is not one original tree or plant in our backyard.

Many hours of our blood, sweat & tears have been spent working in this backyard.

We do a TON of entertaining & throw a lot of parties and we love having people over to our house. We designed the backyard so that it would be an outdoor living space.

Kevin has guys over to watch sports & it's so nice having the outside bar area.

My girlfriends and I watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette on Mondays and it was so nice to have the outside Ladies Lounge so we could watch it there. We are also lucky that here in California we don't have bugs, so we spend a lot of evenings out there.

I think we've eaten dinner outside every night this summer.

So happy that we are FINALLY done and this was the first Summer we could relax in the backyard and not have a project going on.

You can see the entire Before & After of Phase 1 HERE and Phase 2 HERE

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Show + Tell Tuesday {Home Tour 2017}

I don't know about you, but I LOVE looking at other peoples houses.
I love going to Open Houses, I love looking at houses on the internet.
It's not just because I am nosey (well, maybe a little bit!) I just really love seeing how other people live & how other people decorate. I love how everyone's styles are so different & unique.
I have blogged about most of our house before, but today I am updating some of the rooms.

Thanks for the fun link up Andrea!

 Let's start with the kitchen, since this is where I spend most of my time!

Here is our Kitchen/Family Room:

 Opposite View:

 Eating Area & Family Room:

Another view of Family Room:

Last year I got a new sign for my family room wall....I LOVE it!

  If you want to see Before & Afters of the Kitchen/Family Room from when we first moved in, check them out HERE

Living Room/Dining Room:

 Here is a BEFORE of our Living Room/Dining Room
We re-did this area in Fall 2014 to get rid of the nasty brick fireplace & conversation pit.

Our house was built in the 1970's when conversation pits were all the rage.

 The conversation pit was right in the middle of the living room & dining room. Totally awkward & waste of space. For the first 4 years we lived here, I just put all the kids toys in the pit, so it was like their playroom. 

AFTER:

We added a French Door so that we have more flow to the backyard.

I also moved the direction of our dining room table:

Got a new rug for the living room & some new throw pillows:

 This room is SO much more user friendly now!!

Now onto the bedrooms......

Here is our Master Bedroom:

You can see the Before & Afters from our Master Bedroom Re-do HERE 

(2 years we actually took out the hardwood floor in our room & put in carpet in our room, so that is another change we made since I posted the Before & After of our room)

  

Kate's Room:

I LOVE  her comforter!

This is the 3rd time we have given her room a facelift.
You can see the Before & Afters and more pics of Kate's room HERE

We recently re-did Claire's Room because she said her room was too "baby-ish"

Here is what it looked like Before:

This is the same paint color we had when her room was her nursery. 

You can see those Before & Afters HERE

Claire wanted a BRIGHT pink room. Pink is her favorite color, but wanted something not so babyish. We painted it last year & this is what her room looks like now:

 Hello Pepto Bismo pink room ;)

 I'm not going to lie...I may or may not have started to have a panic attack when Kevin and I started painting her room. It's just SO PINK.

 It is WAAAAAY brighter than I would have picked. In fact, I wanted to re-paint it the week after we painted it.

 It's sooooo bright. But, it's also soooo Claire.

 She absolutely LOVES it and thinks her Bubble Gum Pink room is the greatest thing ever. So, the paint color stays :)

 Comforter {HERE} // Aqua Pillows {HERE} // Pink Pom Pom Pillow {HERE}

Luke's Room:

We also re-did Luke's room 2 years ago & switched his room from nursery to a Big Boy Room.

 Here is what Luke's room looked like when it was nursery:

Here is what his room looks like now:

We kept the same "theme" which is basically navy/red with a sports emphasis.

Those are Luke's favorite colors & he loves sports, so it worked perfectly to keep his room with the same theme. I LOVE his name "Scoreboard" {HERE}

Bed {HERE} // Dresser {HERE} // Bedding {HERE} // Lamp {HERE} // Toy Bin {HERE}

 His crib & dresser where white, but I for his big boy bed, I wanted to switch to dark wood.

 We took down the rain gutter bookshelves because we needed more storage & we were putting his bed along that wall. I got THIS bookshelf {HERE} and  bins {HERE} to store trains & cars.

The "L", baseball piggy bank & lamp {HERE} were from his nursery.

I kept the same canvas prints up (HERE) but updated the one in the corner (Homegoods!)

He got THIS chair for Christmas last year. His nightlight is also from HERE.

 I got his sheets HERE. They are SO soft!

I love Luke's room & bedding because it is classic & simple...I think it will work until he is in middle school/high school...if it holds up that long!

Here is our Guest Room/Office:

The other side of the room "the office" You can see more of our Guest Room/Office Before & After HERE

The final stop in our home tour..... our backyard:

Another view:

And, our side yard where the garden is:
These pics were taken 4 years ago, that is why our grass is so green. Now, our grass has a lot of brown since we are on water restrictions because of the major California that we had for almost 4 years.

 2 years ago Santa brought a trampoline, so now that is there instead of the play structure.

   You can see more Before & Afters from our Backyard HERE

We are in the middle of another Backyard re-do....we got rid of some grass & we added more cement.

And we took down our pool fence!!!

Here is a photo of the construction:

We are adding an outdoor structure off our kitchen/family room (where the orange cones are)

We also added an outdoor kitchen area that Kevin built. 

  More pics coming soon!

Once the backyard remodel Part 4 (or is it Part 5? I can't keep track. LOL) is complete, I will do another Backyard post!

Hope you enjoyed our house tour!
We have lived here for 7 years and have done TONS of work on our house, but we like doing house projects :)
Be sure & check out the Before & Afters to see what it looked like when we first moved in.
If you want to see our old house, HERE is that home tour :)

As you can see from these pics, I am VERY simple (and kind of boring) with my decor.
I don't like clutter, so I try and keep things light & simple!
Thanks for coming along on the tour & I can't wait to go check out your houses!