Backyard Renovation Inspiration and Tour

Some of the first renovations we really want to tackle is in the backyard.  Normally we would wait since it's not an immediate need, but the fence is something we have to have soon.  Molly is a wanderer.  She likes to explore, which sometimes includes walking the whole neighborhood.  She is fine if you stand on the deck and talk her through the whole going to the bathroom situation, but if you let her out and go inside she'll be making her way through the woods and around the neighborhood.

Let's take a tour of our backyard.  We do have a decent size grassy area in the yard off of the deck areas, but as you can see there is a big slope into the woods. It's great for water run off, but not so great for children who roll easily. 

 

We have 2 gigantic decks that were already existing when we moved in.   The bottom deck is actually off the walk out basement level and there is a false concrete area so when you are looking up at the house from the backyard it looks like 4 stories (so let's just say it's steep).  One of the plans for down the road is to screen in one of the decks. Although we'd have to go downstairs to enjoy it, it'll be much easier to screen in the lower deck.

 

Here is our view from the grassy area into the woods.  It's a very peaceful serene view.

I really don't want to block any of the woods so we're going to install a black aluminum fencing, similar to what you'd see around pools. I like that we won't have to stain the fence and maintain it like you would a wood fence. It's more expensive, but we really don't have a huge area to worry about. I really just want to make our backyard as useable as possible.  Another thing we want to make sure to do is to put steps from the side of the house all the way down to easily access from the driveway/side yard.   I found some inspiration photos via pinterest that I want to show  you.