Josh again… as Kathryn has stated in a few of her other posts, we love to entertain. One key aspect of entertaining is having the ample, friendly space to do so, and in Georgia a nice shaded backyard is just the spot!
When we first got the house, it was difficult to see the potential of the backyard since it was mostly overgrown—trees, vines, brush, kudzu…. you name it. A fourth of the half-acre lot was completely covered under vegetation. The first item on the list, the lot needed clearing. Thanks to the help of our talented friend Chad Evans, owner of Evans Site Service, LLC (shameless plug), we spent a crisp Saturday at the property with his skid-steer and a couple of chain saws. Within the morning, we had most of the brush cleared and spent the afternoon doing finishing work and removing a few *rather large* pecan limbs (that I set aside to dry out for some future woodworking projects). The next day, Chad hauled all the brush off (7 flat-bed loads!) and as you can see… we now have potential for a significant backyard space.
Before:
After:
Now that we have space for vehicle maneuvering, room to start on the woodshop (we will save this topic for another blog post), and can actually visualize the property we have, we’ve started discussing what will formally be referred to as “The Courtyard”.
Nestled between the back side of the house and Kathryn’s Carriage House/she-shed, there is a nice little slice of heaven that is just urging to be morphed into a cozy deck/BBQ/kid and dog safe space. Currently there is a small rectangular wood deck off the back doors, no finished driveway, no walkways or even grass in the backyard. As we get closer to completing construction, we will finish this area, but in the meantime, we have started designing the ideas of the space for us to use.
When discussing needs verses wants, the first thing that came to mind was safety and peace of mind for our current dog and future kids. With the driveway coming right along the house into the backyard and limited visibility, we plan to have a 4-foot fence running along the driveway and courtyard and also off the side porch back to the Carriage House. This will allow for ease of use when letting the dog out to use the bathroom, and double as a corral for little ones down the road, while still keeping the area open. With the driveway going to the carport, this allows us to have a nice curved fence from the corner of the house around the large pecan tree in front of the Carriage House and a few swing gates with pathways from the driveway to the back doors. On the other side of the outbuildings, we will have a running privacy fence from the side yard down the length of the property, allowing a runner between the fence and the backyard structures for access to the back lot. After single handedly constructing my 500-linear-foot privacy fence in our current back yard last year, I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to tackle the fence myself on this property.
With a fence line established, now we have a footprint for a future deck. I’m a big fan of a party deck, always have been, always will be. This gives you an idea of our current set-up:
I’ve never done a deck myself, but I’ve helped with a few, including the 1,500 sq ft, 6-tier deck that my dad designed and built while I was in high school. I plan to do this one myself, more than likely with composite decking to cut down on maintenance. I’ve started some initial concepts, but plan to have at least two tiers with ample space for our furniture and a seamless flow to the patio and walkways to the driveway. As you can see our current deck furniture includes a square table that seats eight, a gas fire table with four captain rocking chairs, two recliners and a two-person fold-out lounge chair. All that being said, we will need some decent space to accommodate. We plan to keep both entrances to the house, one leading to the breakfast nook and the other off the kitchen. The plan is to have traditional stairs off the kitchen door with hand railings for those who need the assistance and more of an open, large gradual step tiers for the other side of the deck. The ground level near the kitchen will house a home-made outdoor BBQ station, where I intend to fabricate a countertop to house our gas grill and space for a ceramic kamado style grill for slow roasts and smoking. The space will also have storage underneath for cooking utensils, cleaning supplies and any other materials needed for the area. Here are a few picture concepts for deck flow/structure as well as a BBQ station.
I’ve drafted up a few quick visuals… nothing to scale, nothing exact, but it at least gives you an idea of the space and the general design we are thinking. Check out these rough conceptual layouts I’ve put together for how the courtyard could look! Which do you prefer: A, B, C, D or some combination of all four?
We are far from having to worry about the deck/backyard, but when it comes to project work, this will be one of the bigger pieces of the pie for me. I plan to get as much of a head start on it as Kathryn will let me so that once construction is done, we are ready to feel right at home in The Courtyard!
Looking forward to hearing your input!