outdoor update: sprinklers & grass

yes. green grass, people. green. not old, brown dying lawn. not brown dirt. beautiful, soft (and some faux) green grass! needless to say, this lady is grinning ear to ear each time i catch a glimpse of this view…

seeing the grass also gets me excited for the additional outdoor improvements in progress right now (you'll be seeing the backyard soon too!).

since everyone loves a cinderella story, here's how this area started. this was before move-in…

the trees surrounding this area were overgrown and a few were dead altogether. the lawn was patchy and there wasn't a sprinkler system...

there also wasn't a pathway from the front driveway to the backyard...

when i saw this area for the first time...

this is the potential i saw in my dreams…

all this area needed was a lot of tlc - specifically sprinklers, new sod, and an awesome discounted, floor model swing set! turns out the swing set arrived before sprinklers and grass. it was located and installed before move in…

for the discounted price, i was willing to work around the swing set after the fact!

we all know that cinderella stories start out bad, then get ugly…then get a whole lot better. so here is the "ugly" part of this story - the demo…

trees were trimmed, the old lawn was pulled up, sprinklers were installed and borders were added to define lawn vs flower beds...

and a future pathway was added from the front driveway to the backyard...

if you look closely, you'll see 3 perfectly worn out spots under each swing...

this was an issue because i didn't want to lay sod under the swings only to have 3 sets of feet create wear and tear. instead of laying sod under the swings we created a border...

and chose a very realistic looking synthetic lawn. can you believe this isn't real?...

once the sprinklers were in and the sod / synthetic was chosen, the area was leveled out and covered in top soil...

with the area prepped and ready, the sod arrived...

here comes the happy ending…

future path and flower beds along the far left (house wall)...

future flower bed...

the redwood tree is staying here so we worked around the root system. this will eventually have flowers and meet up with the path…

can you tell the different between what's real and what's synthetic?...

just call me the plastic surgeon of landscaping.

a few before and afters…

can't wait to rev that lawnmower engine in a few weeks.

for those wondering, the lawn we chose is called premium 90/10 600 fescue blue.

have a great day!