A SURPRISE BACKYARD MAKEOVER

Michael and Laura's backyard has been a mess since last summer due to damage caused by a storm that damaged several trees.( And for those who don't know, Michael is my brother and Laura my sister in law and they live right across the street from us.) Since all the financial changes they went through last year when Michael's salon had to close down due to the landlord selling the property and Michael having to go to only working one day a week due to severe eczema on his hands they have not been able to do any work to it. Once they headed to Cleveland Clinic at the beginning of April in order for Laura to go through their month long pain management program for migraine sufferers, the idea to surprise Laura with a complete backyard landscape make over came to mind. I wanted so badly for her to come home to the surprise of a beautiful quiet peaceful space to relax in. But I couldn't finance it on my own either. Three weeks ago while cutting Laura's mom's hair I mentioned to her what I would do for Laura if I had the money. Her mom got a big smile on her face and said "How about we collaborate on it? I will write you a check and you can do it." :-)

With the money she gave me along with my contribution of several hundred dollars worth of trees from my garden that I had available for sale I set out to make that quiet space for Laura. Last fall their daughter Faith had told them that she wished they could redo the backyard like Uncle Kent's backyard. So with that in mind, once I returned home from seeing Laura's mom, I sat in the back yard and began to dream it up. A couple days later I went to work on it.

Well, I got it finished yesterday with some much appreciated help with the gravel on Friday from a friend and my nephew Tim and then yesterday from my niece Faith with some final clean up. Michael and Laura arrived home last night and have been blown away by it all. I don't think I have ever been involved in a project that was more fun and rewarding.

The first photo is a rough sketch of what I set out to accomplish. If you pay attention you will be able to tell I changed a few things as I went along. I had considered putting a small patio in the very back also. I ditched that idea. The next 3 are photos of what the back yard looked like when they left. The photos following that are of the finished project.