We're giving our UGLY backyard a makeover!!

[.sarah]

I think we have one of the ugliest, most redneck yards in existance. It bothers me ... A LOT. I've been talking to my mom about doing something about it and yesterday I took her outside to tell her everything I wanted to do and she agreed! :D I am beyond excited. The last time our yard looked nice was 4-5 years ago, probably more.

So here is a "before" tour of our ugly, redneck yard! (I think I should submit it to Blue Collar TV!)

Wanna go for a swim? Oh wait you can't! :rolleyes:
The pool has been like this far too long, probably 2+ years. Buttons and Mandy dug holes in the liner and we never fixed it because they kept digging. When Buttons died (a year ago) Mandy quit digging. We've been contemplating whether or not to put it back up ever since we got Nova, and we finally decided we would. (I bet the Labbies are happy about that!)
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1172.jpg
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1188.jpg
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1167.jpg
Nova won't have to use this poor excuse for a pool anymore. Luka loves swimming but refuses to use the kiddie pool. (Don't mind the water, I just changed it last week but Nova rolls in the dirt and then jumps in.)
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1184.jpg
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1221.jpg

Stay tuned ... more redneck yard to come!

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Dumb question.... But, what the heck is a "redneck yard"??

[.sarah]

This will be the dogs potty area (behind the "fence"). We're not sure yet if we're going to seperate it or not.
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1170.jpg
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1163.jpg
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1168.jpg
This is my dad's grilling area. We're going to put a gate up to seperate it.
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1180.jpg
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1181.jpg
Still more tour ahead!

[.sarah]

Lovely green fence, eh? :rolleyes:
We're going to pressure wash the algae off and stain it.
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1178.jpg
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1183.jpg
Oh, and might I mention that the deck is green too!
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1206.jpg
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1207.jpg
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1217.jpg

Still more coming...

[.sarah]

My favorite ... looks like we couldn't make it to the trashcan. lollll
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1177.jpg
A 1 1/2 - 2 ft fence will be put here to keep the dogs out and this will be a garden.
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1179.jpg
Wanna get in the hot tub? Too bad, it's out of order!
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1185.jpg
Oh yeah, you'd have to jump in anyway. The stairs are rotted!
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1187.jpg

Guess what? There's still more!

[.sarah]

I already showed this picture, but we're going to put lattice up around the deck to keep the dogs out from under it. There is a bunch of stuff under there and I don't like them going under there, and I'm not about to clean it!!
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1207.jpg
The paint is coming off of the railings on the deck, which is a good thing because we hate the color and we're painting our house anyway (pink should never be used for a house color! Blech!). We're going to pressure wash it off and stain it.
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1197.jpg
Anyone need leaves? We're always in supply...
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1201.jpg
...thanks to this oak (?) tree that we're probably going to cut down if it's not too big.
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1214.jpg
What bothers me the most ... this is Retread's grave. This is NOT what I want my dog's memorial to look like! I'm going to make a concrete grave marker with ceramics and such on it, and it will go on top of the grave.
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1210.jpg

There is more, but I believe I've embarassed my family enough for now.

[.sarah]

Dumb question.... But, what the heck is a "redneck yard"??
It's not dumb since you're not from the USA. But man ... that is hard to explain! Most people use the term to mean "stupid southern people" which is pretty offensive. When I get called a redneck by fellow rednecks we know that we're not using it to say that we're stupid, but rather southern and proud of it. People who aren't rednecks usually use it offensively ... like if you have a southern drawl you're automatically stupid. I don't know really how to explain it better than that. :o

Oh, and in this case I'm using it to make fun of my family's yard. :p

The most redneck part of the yard -- trashy!!
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/IMG_1177.jpg

[Toby's my baby]

I don't know how to reply to this, I dont want to say, "gosh sarah you have an awful yard, what a dump" cause its not, but lets just say, I'm sure it'll look awsome when you are all done, and I'm glad you're cleaning it up! :) ;)

[jackie]

You should call ones of those home make-over shows and see if they would do it! :D

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Looking forward to the "before" and "after" shots!

[poofy]

Wow, lol..Im laughing cause it dont looks as dumpy as my brothers place here.lol.lol.lol..and the only time they get it cleaned up which is about evey 8 years is to get a loan..this is real red neck acre here..smashed cars, olf furniture, and oh wow..your place needs some work. but really I wont even take pic of this place to show you and my nephew has been working for 2 weeks to get it cleaned upcause they want to sell..When my brother gets aggraved at his family (they do nothing in the way of clean up onlyhim) he throws evey thing out..lol.lol..good or bad..out it goes..lol..I will have to find some place else to live , I have lived her free for 10 years, and I go out and pick up trash , and dont make a dnet..yours will be a job but it can be done if ever one is willing to pitchin and work at it.. :)

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Awww, thanks for the explanation!!
My hubby wouldn't stand this for a second. Once we had our new house built, he couldn't wait to start working on his garden!! Well, he truly has green fingers, and made our garden beautiful! Do something about all the trash, plant lots of flowers and bushes, it is worth it!!
http://users.pandora.be/bernardgabriels/images/april%20m.jpg
http://users.pandora.be/bernardgabriels/images/meituinq.jpg
http://users.pandora.be/bernardgabriels/images/meituinl.jpg

[BC_MoM]

Ok, Sarah, you have my dream backyard!!! Who cares about the mess...

You have the fence, the shade, the SPACE..

Everything I want!

[gemini9961]

You are so funny Sarah. Being from Florida myself I feel for you. I live in the country myself in an area pretty "rednecky". :D However, if that is your one "little" oak tree, I have got ya beat. I have large oak trees in my yard which prohibit the growth of lush green grass, no sunlight means no grass a growing. Combine that with Grant digging holes and we have quite the yard. We do have a nice patch of grass in a few areas that do get sunlight but that's not the whole yard. :(

Back to your thread, I am sure your yard will look fantastic once it's finished.

[Flatcoatluver]

:D I'm in need of a backyard makeover too!!! my dad is too lazy to do it though!!

[joanofark]

Hmm, I can't think of a word to describe it... how about "WoW" :p Yeah it looks like you have TONS of space and I think it has a lot of potential!! Just a lot of work, haha. Oh, and good job on explining us "Rednecks" LOL :rolleyes: :p

My yard's pretty boring.....

[Daisy and Delilah]

Sarah, From another Floridian.....just about everybody's back yard looks like that about now. I work on my yard as if I'm expecting Better Homes and Gardens to stop by and to no avail this time of the year. Most of my plants are brown(hit with cold), I have leaves all over the yard, and just a general appearance of doom. The grass is all brown because it's dormant etc. Your yard has great potential. I keep my fences painted because they will all turn green if I don't. I even painted the back stoop(if you will) and it turned green through the paint before I treated it. That was during a period of alot of rain and humidity. Who can fight the humidity in Florida? I can't wait to see your makeover pictures and I know you guys will have a blast doing it. :D

p.s. LOL I have a hot tub on the back screened porch but I don't keep water in it ;)

[.sarah]

You should call ones of those home make-over shows and see if they would do it! :D
LOL. All of the ones on HGTV are usually only for Californians. Extreme Makeover? We're not disabled enough. That's a good thing though ... I think :confused:


Wow, lol..Im laughing cause it dont looks as dumpy as my brothers place here.lol.lol.lol..and the only time they get it cleaned up which is about evey 8 years is to get a loan..this is real red neck acre here..smashed cars, olf furniture, and oh wow..your place needs some work. but really I wont even take pic of this place to show you and my nephew has been working for 2 weeks to get it cleaned upcause they want to sell..When my brother gets aggraved at his family (they do nothing in the way of clean up onlyhim) he throws evey thing out..lol.lol..good or bad..out it goes..lol..I will have to find some place else to live , I have lived her free for 10 years, and I go out and pick up trash , and dont make a dnet..yours will be a job but it can be done if ever one is willing to pitchin and work at it.. :)
LOL ... yeah I've seen worse. It's just really bad because up until a few years ago we had a gorgeous yard, but my mom has gotten health problems and an increase workload so she can't work out in the yard anymore. So I'm taking it over now. Hopefully it won't get like this again ... or worse :o


Awww, thanks for the explanation!!
My hubby wouldn't stand this for a second. Once we had our new house built, he couldn't wait to start working on his garden!! Well, he truly has green fingers, and made our garden beautiful! Do something about all the trash, plant lots of flowers and bushes, it is worth it!!
http://users.pandora.be/bernardgabriels/images/april%20m.jpg
http://users.pandora.be/bernardgabriels/images/meituinq.jpg
http://users.pandora.be/bernardgabriels/images/meituinl.jpg
Holy cow that's gorgeous :eek: :eek: :eek:


Ok, Sarah, you have my dream backyard!!! Who cares about the mess...

You have the fence, the shade, the SPACE..

Everything I want!
Shade - we have too much of it. Well, not really, but the trees "shed" too much! I must admit, we have a decent sized yard, but for around here it truly is small. I have the smallest yard out of everyone I know. We have one of the smallest yards in the neighborhood. We only live on 1/4 acre but I guess that's a big yard to some people. We wish we had 3-5 acres.

[.sarah]

You are so funny Sarah. Being from Florida myself I feel for you. I live in the country myself in an area pretty "rednecky". :D However, if that is your one "little" oak tree, I have got ya beat. I have large oak trees in my yard which prohibit the growth of lush green grass, no sunlight means no grass a growing. Combine that with Grant digging holes and we have quite the yard. We do have a nice patch of grass in a few areas that do get sunlight but that's not the whole yard. :(

Back to your thread, I am sure your yard will look fantastic once it's finished.
No grass? Did you look at the pictures? ;) We have zero grass. Zippo. Nada. Nothing. Thing is, if we had grass, we wouldn't mow it and then it'd really be a redneck yard! So it's probably a good thing the tree is there. I think that picture makes it look small. It's a huuuge tree. I'll have to measure the diameter and see how big it is. We need a permit to cut it down.

We're lucky that our dogs don't dig. Mandy used to, but when Buttons quit digging she quit to. She also quit digging out of our yard once he went blind. So she was kind of the follower with him.


Sarah, From another Floridian.....just about everybody's back yard looks like that about now. I work on my yard as if I'm expecting Better Homes and Gardens to stop by and to no avail this time of the year. Most of my plants are brown(hit with cold), I have leaves all over the yard, and just a general appearance of doom. The grass is all brown because it's dormant etc. Your yard has great potential. I keep my fences painted because they will all turn green if I don't. I even painted the back stoop(if you will) and it turned green through the paint before I treated it. That was during a period of alot of rain and humidity. Who can fight the humidity in Florida? I can't wait to see your makeover pictures and I know you guys will have a blast doing it. :D

p.s. LOL I have a hot tub on the back screened porch but I don't keep water in it ;)
We decided against staining the fence for one reason: it's HUGE! lol

We haven't had water in our hot tub for years lol.

[.sarah]

What I did today: My mom and I went to Home Depot and bought $250 worth of stuff.

I put up a cute white picket fence for garden #1. This is just going to be a flower garden. In the back of the yard we're going to build a 3-4 ft fence and have a flower & vegetable garden. No flowers until April, which makes me really ansy! I think I may go buy some fake flowers because I'm dying to know what it will look like :p
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/0217/IMG_1258.jpg
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/0217/IMG_1259.jpg
I layed out 2 bails of pine straw.
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/0217/IMG_1260.jpg
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/0217/IMG_1261.jpg
Got the leaves out of the pool. Holy CRAP this was hard and time consuming! There was like 4x as many leaves as I originally thought.
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/0217/IMG_1263.jpg
A message to the dogs (especially dirty little Novey) ...
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/0217/IMG_1264.jpg
New toy box for the dogs. This is probably better than letting the toys rot out in the yard ... agree?
http://www.southernmutt.com/photos/yard/0217/IMG_1266.jpg

Planned for tomorrow: cutting down some of the branches on the oak tree and some other trees (we have too many darn trees!). My dad will do that stuff. I'm gonna clean the patio furniture and put the new cushions on that we bought today. We're also going to set up a really nice concrete bench that we bought today.

Then I'm going to the adoption booth at Petsmart to volunteer and then I'm taking the dogs to the dogpark with my friend and her dog (who is Nova's new boyfriend :D).

[Alysser]

Poor Sarah! It looks better! I think. Can't wait to see the makeover. :D

[Daisy and Delilah]

It looks like it's coming along nicely! It's gonna look great when you finish it. Keep showing us progress-you'll inspire me. You can plant some flowers now that are tolerant if you want to. Some pansies or dianthus would be pretty and the stores are full of them. They're great in the cool weather(even though it was pretty warm today ;) )!!

[poofy]

your doing great..cant wait to see more results :)

[anna_66]

Sarah, I have to say...you've definitely made me laugh this morning:p
We've always thought our back yard was a redneck back yard too (especially now with the snow fence up where the pool used to be and where all the mud is:rolleyes: at least now if we get snow it will block it from drifting onto the porch..HAHA!)

Sounds like your off to a good start, I can't wait to see how it looks when you all done:D

[.sarah]

LOL! Anna, that picture is too funny.

We worked in the yard a lot last Saturday but since then it has been rain rain rain! I'm going to a dog show this weekend so I'm not going to be able to work on the yard. Hopefully the rain will stop by next week. Stupid Florida :rolleyes: