Spring 2018 Video Back Yard Tour

I had intended to include a video tour of my back yard and the back exterior of my house in yesterday’s post, but after a series of frustrating technical difficulties, I finally gave up. But I finally got things working last night, so I wanted to go ahead and share the video since I don’t really talk about the back yard or back of the house much.

Of course, there’s a reason I don’t talk about it. So far, in the time we’ve lived in this house, nothing really exciting has happened back there. We fenced off an area as a dog yard, and then half of the back of the house (the back side of the studio and pantry) got new siding and paint. That’s it. As far as the actual yard goes, there has been no landscaping, no outbuildings built…nothin’.

But since that’s about to change at least a little bit, I thought I’d grab some pictures and a video of what it looks like now before the construction begins. You can check out the video here:

For those of you who can’t watch a video right now, I did snap a few pictures. Again, there’s nothing really exciting to see…yet.

You’ve seen plenty of pictures of the left side of the house lately. That’s the back of the studio and pantry with the new siding and paint. But I generally try to crop the pictures at the end of the pantry (i.e., the end of the new siding) because the rest of it is just a huge eyesore and a mess. But here is it.

The new gray Hardi plank siding meets the old yellowish antique white vinyl siding in the corner just behind the trunk of that big oak tree. So what you see to the right of the tree trunk is the sunroom, then the “master bath” (I use that term very generously), and then the bedroom. You can see the fenced off dog yard area with Cooper staring (and barking and whining) at me through the fence. 😀

From the studio side of the back yard, if I turn and look across the back yard to the neighbor’s back yard, this is what our yard looks like…

The trees on the very right side of that picture just above form a row of trees that basically cuts our back yard in half, which you can see from this very old aerial view…

That was taken long before we bought the house, and clearly during the winter, because everything looks so gray and dead. But you can still see that row of cedar trees cutting our back yard in half.

So if I walk through the opening in that tree row, you can see the back half of our back yard…

In that picture above, the corner of our lot is in the center of the picture. The row of trees on the right half of the photo lines the back of our property, and the wire fence on the left half of the picture separates our yard from the neighbor’s yard.

We eventually want to put up a privacy fence around our entire back yard, but that’s going to cost a fortune, so it’ll have to wait. I’d love for Cooper (and any other dog(s) we may get in the future) to have full run of the entire back yard.

If I walk along the back side of the row of trees that cuts the back yard in half, you can see a little storage building that sits at the side edge of our property.

For reference, the trees on the left half of that picture are the trees that cut the back yard in half. Anyway, I don’t really use that storage building. It kind of creeps me out. It’s dark and rusted, and it’s barely tall enough for me to stand completely upright in it, and I’m only five feet tall. But it sits on a nice concrete pad, so I’d love to take this one down and build a nice shed right there. Someday.

If I walk to the edge of that tree row, through the area between the tree row and the rusted storage building, and turn back towards the house, you get the view of the back of the house from the other side.

The section with the Tyvek is the bedroom, and that’s the original back wall of the house. We had the vinyl siding taken off and a new door put in last year (I think), and they just put the Tyvek up at that time. I didn’t see any need in spending additional money for siding when it’s just going to be taken down again anyway. But it does need new Tyvek. That stuff doesn’t last forever.

The section that juts out to the left of the Tyvek section is the “master bathroom.” And then the section that juts out to the left of the bathroom is the sunroom. Both the bathroom and the sunroom will eventually be torn down completely, and a whole new addition will be added in its place to include a new master bedroom, laundry room, and family room. At that time, the current master bedroom will be converted into the master bathroom.

The dog yard goes from the side of the sunroom all the way to the property line between us and the neighbor.

The funny thing about that dog yard is that it’s about the size of our entire back yard at our first house in Oregon.

So that’s the full tour! It’s nothing pretty right now, but I have so many plans and dreams for this big back yard, including decks, pretty pathways, landscaping, gardens, a chicken coop, and so much more. I’d love to have a swimming pool, but I’m going to have to wait until they develop ones that are built in and look gorgeous, but cost virtually nothing and are completely maintenance free. Do they have those yet? 😀

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29 Comments

  1. You have an amazing piece of property! I look forward to the changes in the weeks/months/years to come!

  2. y’all need to contact the show “Ultimate Pools” on HGTV and turn that backyard into a water park! What a great piece of land!

  3. What a great piece of property. I’d love to have that much, but in NJ the taxes would bankrupt me.
    Love the rusty shed. Think of it as patina, not rust.

    Wishing you the best on your carport.

  4. What an awesome piece of land with possibilities for doing anything you want. Fantastic buy on this property at $80k(and I live in Texas). Glad you posted this video!

  5. You said it is not pretty right now–but it is pretty! Your property is lovely and your possibilities are endless.

  6. I was thinking POOL! LOL Would that be a good exercise benefit for Matt? Love the big tree by the house in the back. Will that need to be removed with the renovations? Overall, a lovely lot!)

    1. Me too! I was thinking he was thinking “momma, what are you doing? why are you leaving me in here when you are in the wide-open spaces?” I’m a dog-whisperer…lol

  7. That is the prettiest blank canvas I’ve ever seen! Oh, if money were no object!! My little 1/3 acre in the mountain foothills causes me to drool over your vast expanse of land!

    Yes to a pool, chickens, goats, etc! You’re a lucky (and talented) girl! Can’t wait to see what you end up doing there.

  8. What a great piece of property! You may have mentioned in the video (I can’t watch it now), but will the big tree need to be trimmed before the carport can be built?

    Separate question: Is your property officially 1 lot or is it actually 2 separate lots? Reason I’m asking is because my in-laws actually own 2 lots side-by-side. The house is fully on 1 lot, while the other is a large green space. They wanted to build my FIL a large workshop on the 2nd lot and they weren’t allowed to. Code where they live requires all lots to have a “main structure” in place before any secondary buildings can be built. So, they couldn’t build the workshop on that lot. Anyway, it’s a long way down the road, but I thought I would mention that as you’re starting to think about your plans for your yard and workshop.

    1. Theresa, here’s what my daughter did – they own a five acre lot along with my brother in law. My daughter and her husband built a house for them, and a separate “garage with a studio” above. The “studio” is where my brother in law lives (above the garage) and he has a tiny kitchen,laundry closet, living room, full bath and master bedroom. They weren’t allowed to build two residences on one lot, but there were never any inspections to worry about either, since they live in an area not controlled by any codes, just the HOA.

  9. What a find! Your property is fantastic, and the possibilities endless. With you in charge…WAY ENDLESS! Are all the properties in your area as spacious as yours?

  10. I love how you can walk through to the other half, like a secret garden( when everything is complete) 😃 Have you thought of a a underground fence for pup? A lot less expensive for the time being. You needs lots of pups with that land, they could run and play all day!
    Im not sure why people think a pool is so much maintenance 🤔. If you have one of those automatic vacuums, you just need to empty that filter occasionally, and check chemicals once a week. A little skimming here and there. Opening and closing up the pool take a little time but it’s probably cheap in Texas to hire someone for that😀
    It’s exciting to know we have so much to look forward to for future posts!

  11. “I’m going to have to wait until they develop ones that are built in and look gorgeous, but cost virtually nothing and are completely maintenance free. Do they have those yet? ”
    THANK YOU for this bit of humor. You have a gorgeous piece of property, and as the saying goes, “God isn’t making any more land”. (Actually, He is making more right now on the Big Island.) Your home IS your “Art” and it’s coming along beautifully. Again, many thanks for sharing your journey.😀

  12. WOW! You have way more property than I imagined! and it’s all flat too! I have no idea what I would do with all of that, because as you say, it takes lots of money – for anything! I think I would have to have a pool though, just not too big.
    We had some folks near our old house that had goats. They put up a nice fenced area, several houses for them, some climbing things, and had toys out there to entertain them. That lasted about 2-3 years, then all of a sudden the goats were almost all gone, except a couple of them. Soon, those were gone too and it was just empty. I often wondered if they got tired of them, did they get sick and die, or did they get forced to get rid of them? It was cute to see them all romping around in their yard, but I have no idea how to raise any farm animals. I would imagine there would be no grass at all in no time, just dust! We have wild geese who come into our yard from the lake to eat the bird seed that falls from our feeders, and they have denuded the ground where they peck.

  13. What an amazing piece of property you have!!! My goodness, the possibilities are endless! Now I HAVE to stay subscribed, just to see how it all ends up (in a couple of years’ time)!

  14. Great tour, thanks. Will you have to loose the big ol oak tree? And if you ever do get those chickens, see Fresh EggsDaily Facebook posts. Lisa Steele is an excellent resource. I don’t have chickens, but if I did I’d mimic everything she does! And you could build a coop that rivals hers. In teal of course!😉🐔🐥🐓🐓

  15. My neighbor used rocks to build a circular wall around her tree, filled it with good topsoil and planted flowers and hosted. It is beautiful.

  16. I’m living in a 1950s ranch that my daughter and son in law bought for me and as their retirement account. It is similar to yours so I shared you new front porch with them. I’m so thrilled that they’ve decided to build mine exactly like yours. Thanks for so many great ideas. My sil doesn’t thank you so much as he does all the fixin up. He tells me to stay of diy sites; I’m wearing him out.

  17. Oh boy, I can not wait to see what you’re going to do with all that space!! And just as an aside – you really do have a lovely voice! It’s hard for me to imagine that voice getting frustrated enough to throw power tools. 🙂

  18. Great property! We lived in Houston for a little bit, do you get fire ants there too? They made the back yard almost unusable. Looks like projects for the blog from now into eternity! Enjoy

  19. Love this property and love following along on the journey. I want to find us a property just like yours, but alas, prices have skyrocketed in Nashville. 🙁

  20. Curious…have you done up a proposed elevation of what the back will look like once the mater bedroom/sunroom/etc. is added on? I’m just curious what that roofline will look like and how will tie in with what you have going on with the carport.

  21. Big lot in the back = whole family softball games!!!! Even Great Grandma and Pa ;^)
    Blessings,
    J