Back Yard Before

We've got a goal of finally putting in our backyard this summer.  Not sure what's possessing us to try doing this during the 100+ degree weather of a Tucson summer, but hopefully, we'll still get it done.  We've hired out the patio extension.  We decided to do a cement extension with a pavers border.  We're planning on using the same pavers to outline each area of the back yard. They came a week ago to lay the paver border for the patio.  They're coming back on Saturday to pour the concrete.  You can see the patio border in all the pictures below. 

Here's what our backyard looks like today.  Standing by the back door looking left.  You can see the box that our new trampoline is in.  My oldest wants a tether ball set for his birthday and we're debating putting it right off the patio in the picture below.

 By the back door looking straight out in the yard.  In that empty corner, we're planning on a fruit tree and an in-ground trampoline - all surrounded by grass. 

By the back door looking right.  We'll be building a raised garden box here. 

The left side of our house, looking toward the gate. You can see where I started digging on the right.  It's a pretty steep 'hill' in our yard.  We're going to put in a retaining wall there and hopefully grow berries in it. 

We're hoping to get all our projects done by September, but we'll see if that was too ambitious or not.

Recent home changes

 While my husband was in Japan on business, I made a lot of changes in our house.  I really like how everything turned out!

I repainted our foyer.  I know it looks like a bright blue in the pictures, but it's teal.  My hubby finished framing out all the windows in the house just before he left, so I got them painted while he was gone and when he got home, he installed our new 2" faux wood blinds.  Still need to make a valance for the window. 

Here's the other parts of the foyer.  I found the brown chair at the Habistore in Tucson.  I asked if they would negotiate on the price and so I got it for almost half what they were originally asking. It's in pristine condition and I LOVE it!  The table, we've had for a while. It's an Ikea Hemnes table that I painted a bit before putting it together. I got a babysitter one night while David was gone and went out with a friend.  I found the fun green and white rug at Lowes.  It's so fun!

The white furniture with the fabric drawers is our new shoe cubby. I bought it for my birthday in March.  Everyone has their own drawer to store shoes in.  The picture makes it look like I matched the wall color to the drawers, but there's a bigger difference in person.  The orange mirror I bought on a yardsale page and painted.  I finally hung it up and LOVE it.  My husband gave me the gumball machine for Christmas last year.

 While my husband was gone, I looked through our builder's information and found the company that made our home's cabinets and ordered a new one for the left side of our kitchen window.  He installed it with the help of a friend a couple days ago. Love it!

I sold our china cabinet, again, while hubby was out of town and bought this new lovely off Craigslist for half what I sold my old one for!  It holds everything our china cabinet held and I love that visually, it takes up MUCH less room.