One of our favorite things about our old house was our back yard. It was not too big but not too small, shaded, fully fenced, and had a great party deck that Parker built. We spent lots of time out there entertaining friends over the years. We also loved going out there and listening to music and having a drink on nights when we didn’t have anything to do. It felt a lot better than just sitting and watching TV! When building our new house, we did not have our builder put on a deck. It wasn’t really in the budget, and it probably wouldn’t have been exactly what we wanted anyway. So for 3 summers, we went without a place to really hang out outside. That was an adjustment! It often felt like we shouldn’t really invite people over on nice days because we didn’t have the option of eating outdoors or hanging out outside. When on our own, we often craved the outdoors so much that we did this (terrible photo but I thought still worth sharing):

Design

We thought about building a deck as soon as we moved in, but we could never quite figure out what we wanted. We have a sun room on the back of our house that kind of splits our yard in half. It was a tough decision as to which side we should put a deck on. The one side is more private, but the other side is next to the kitchen, which makes sense for outdoor eating. We ended up choosing to build a deck on the kitchen side. However, we still felt uneasy about how this would allow us to use the rest of our yard. We wanted a grand plan – a plan we could execute over several years, so we hired a designer (The Noll Landscape Group out of Fishers, IN) that I saw advertised on facebook. The design was relatively inexpensive (I think $150), and it really helped us to move forward with a plan. Here are a few of the designs they did for us

These are just a few of the views that he gave us. We were able to see the plan from various view points. We were also able to tell him what we would like to do differently, and he would change it and send it back to us. I would highly recommend The Noll Landscape Group if you are in the Indianapolis area and are looking for some help designing a backyard.

Hammer time:

Finished Product

We love this deck and finally having a place to eat dinner and entertain outside. One of the first nights we could sit on the deck (when it was just finished enough), Parker, Rocky, and I went out on the deck while the kids were in bed. Parker and I joked that we hadn’t talked that much in years 🙂 It’s an exaggeration, but there’s also some truth to it. When you are inside, its easy to get distracted by the TV or chores. Now all we have to do is step out the back door to avoid all of that and just hang out.  It’s also been nice for Rocky and the kids. Rocky likes to go out there and get sun and also enjoys being with us out there. He doesn’t pay much attention to us when we are inside 🙂 The kids are able to go outside while I’m making dinner or busy inside, and I can still keep my eye on them. Overall, its been a great investment! We are looking forward to lots of deck time here in the near future!

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Jalene

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