Most of you that would be reading this have been to our house and have witnessed the "yard art" we used to have gracing our back yard. Yes, I am referring to the lovely little Shasta trailer. It was with mixed emotions that we sold it. Mixed in that Mark wasn't so sure we should sell it, I was fairly sure we should have sold it the summer before. See, Mixed! Upon the trailers departure, my mind began to spin with ideas for this new land we had re-acquired. But as I thought about it, I came up with a completely different idea. Tristan was taking a drafting and technical drawing class after he expressed an interest in landscape architecture. This seemed like the perfect test project for him to design. Gavin liked the idea so much he wanted to take a whack at it as well. Both boys set out to measure the plot and then transfer the dimensions on to graph paper and create a to scale drawing. They had a budget of a $100 gift card to Lowes we received for Christmas, and $100 that we put in from the tax return. The goal was to really stay in budget and still create something cool. We ended up with two amazing ideas. So I took a go at it and combined the creations and added a bit of "me" to it.
Mark's mom was here for the weekend and from the basic fire pit and cobble stone beginnings we had in place, the vision took off.The following pictures are where this project was at after our afternoon of work. Remember this corner started out completely occupied by the trailer with the fire pit set out in front and no plants around other than the ones in pots.
Phase 2 was completed after the trailer was removed and we (Mark) rototilled the whole area up so we could dig a french drain for the fire pit, sink it down half way into the ground, flatten the area around it, and mound it on the out sides. 
Phase 3 was the mad dash to get the bricks in place around the pit in time for Tristan's party.Phase 4 the day of work bringing the idea to life.
Phase 5 still to come - the finishing touches.
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| Gavin took this from on top of the swing set to give the big picture. |
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| White wrought iron chair - $5 from the auction, matching one still out front. |
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| Bridge - free old motor pallet from Mark's old job and the 4x4's on the bridge are left overs from the swing set project. |
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| Bamboo fountain - Broken mother's day gift from a few years back. Large rocks, left over from the neighbors project, small rocks, left over from my brother-in-laws handyman business. |
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| The old flower box I have had and the bottom broke out but it is a perfect addition to this corner with old milk jug. |
Most of the plants were propogated from others in the yard or old pots that I held over in the greenhouse. We found three red mums on sale and added a few bulbs. All of this came in under budget. I keep finding the perfect little things to tie in out there. Not sure where it will all end up. We have decided that we need to add about 50 more bricks to the patio. It gets pretty hot sittin next to a screamin Mark fire. I will take some new pictures after we work on it and hopefully get most of it done. We probably won't be able to swap the strawberry box and the wheel barrow around till after strawberry season. And then, we'll have to take some in a few months when things really start growing. We have several things in the green house that we started from seeds that the guys picked for this corner specifically. The color theme is tropical. Reds, oranges, yellows, white, and lots of textured greens. Gavin bought me a sweet black grass for Mother's Day to sneak in there too. So far, I think the new improved corner is a huge success. Wait till you see the bridge completed. The whole thing is very Survivor. I was given some sweet old cork floats. They fit in perfectly. You should really come see it!
