it all started on easter... (a makeover story)

My brother and his wife were over for Easter dinner and remarked on the ever-worsening state of my hot tub cover. "Yeah, I know" I answered, "I'm not sure that I want to invest $500 to buy a new one when no one seems interested in getting in there anymore anyway. I think I'd like to get rid of the whole thing soon...."

Well--that's all it took. With one phone call, my sister-in-law had a friend of hers who refurbishes and sells stuff like that lined up to come haul off my hot tub the very next day. Bye-bye old hot tub!

Ready or not...it was time for a backyard makeover!!!

I had a $350 dollar budget and one Ninja to help me out. Score for me!--When they removed the hot tub, turns out there was a cement slab under it! So, now I would have use of two patios. It was going to take dismantling part of the existing deck and shoring up the other part to make it work thought. Here's the "during" photo.....

Nearly one solid week of work later and TA-DUM!!!..........

Looks pretty amazing if I do say so myself :) ! I added one $90 outdoor ottoman. Two $25 dollar outdoor chairs. A $70 outdoor umbrella. And a few outdoor cushions and pillows totalling $80. New pots, big glass candlesticks on clearance from Pier 1, screws, and some 2X4's took up the rest of the budget. The blue "Oh" chairs by Umbra were in my boys room and never used so they came to join the party. And I already owned the little outdoor table and the dining set so no money spent there.

When it was finally done, we celebrated with a barbecue and a fire in the fire pit. Aaaah....can't wait to enjoy many hours out here over the next three seasons!

I'm glad one comment on Easter propelled this project forward!

And just in case you don't think there was THAT much change....here's what the backyard looked like when I bought the house 3 1/2 years ago----

Yeah. It's come a long, long way, baby :).