A Slippery Slope Becomes a Beautiful Outdoor Space
This house had a vast backyard. So big that we referred to it as “the Back 40,” rancher-style. There was one problem. (Okay, there was more than one.)
It was totally useless — a steep, root-strewn hillside. And when I say root strewn, some of those bulging roots were four feet in diameter, and definitely not attached to trees. Oh yes, there were also stumps — a great many of them, from trees hastily executed by the prior owner. A very large and dilapidated sequoia, no doubt planted as an adorable seedling, was banging against the upstairs siding, and for fire safety would have to be removed.
What to do? The goal was to create a flat play area, a patio, a wooden dining deck that could eventually hold a hot tub, and to fence everything off for the dog and our clients’ young son.
There were other problems.
At the front of the house, the entry point was a steep set of slippery brick stairs. People had already fallen on them.
Did we mention that the entire property was covered in foot-deep ivy, at least 60 generations of it, in which rodents were making their homes?
The first job was to get the dangerous tree out of there, so we called our favorite tree removal company. They dragged a chipper down all the slippery stairs to The Back 40 — and the tree and the stumps were removed from the hillside.
Next, we brought in a team to build retaining walls — two of them, across the breadth of the yard — a good 50 feet across. (If we’re making this sound easy, it wasn’t, especially in the middle of hard winter rains.) Note: If you want a reasonable deal on excellent hardscape, you have to do it in the winter. In April, prices double.
Juan and Pedro, who can do almost anything, got to work building the patio. The exterior of the house is brown wood and red brick, so we designed a patio that integrates bricks with cement pavers, to really good effect.
The house is rustic in feel, so galvanized metal accents made sense, in railings (hog wire), planters and a very handy shed. The redwood deck went in next, with plenty of heavy duty beams underneath, to support the eventual hot tub.
That flat area is plenty big for a peewee soccer match and a climbing structure. In general, we don’t like synthetic grass because of its impact of a gigantic, non-recyclable plastic blanket on the environment, but in this case, weather conditions and intense play made it the best option.
Remember those stairs? We joked about putting in a slide, the angle was so steep. But ultimately, we chose to tear out the brick, extend the angle of the run, and replace it with a broad set of redwood stairs. Redwood can get slippery, so in keeping with the metal-and-wood scheme, we installed step lights and no-skid metal stair noses at the edge of each step. Non-slip, great looking.
Planting was next, of course — and we were starting from scratch. Our landscaper, Alfredo, stepped in at that point, and we brought in a couple of truckloads of plants from our favorite wholesale nursery. (To the trade only, and far less costly than HD, if you’re ordering enough.)
Spring came, and then summer — and the little plants are now huge and gorgeous. The view is killer. We turned something ugly into something amazing — and that always makes us feel like a million bucks. (But we don’t charge that much.)
Before
After
Before
After
