DIY Yard Makeover

Single ladies of the world, do not ever marry a man who is not capable of doing "manly" things around the house. If he doesn't know how to do yard work, fix basic household problems or use tools...get rid of him, stat. This is an important lesson I learned at a very young age. As a kid, I never remember having someone else come to "fix" things at our house. If anything needed to be done around the house/yard/cars, my dad always took care of it. Yes, my dad is a custom home builder so he knows how to do some things that the average man might not, but I'm just talking about the basics. I always knew that when I got married, my husband needed to have these "handy" qualities. Why should I have to pay a plumber to come fix a clogged toilet when I have a husband at home? Just like men say that a woman's "job" at home is to cook, clean, do laundry, etc...I think it is the man's job to do the yard and fix stuff.

All that being said, I chose wisely because my husband is capable of doing all kinds of "handyman" stuff. Toilet clogged? He fixed it. Needed shelving installed in the garage? He did it. I wanted a patio built in the backyard? He did it. So of course when our latest home improvement project came about, he wanted to do it all himself. God bless him. I can fully appreciate his DIY motivation because I am quite the DIY queen myself. Why should I buy something/pay someone to do something when I can do it just a good myself? This brings me to our latest home improvement project...re-sodding the backyard.

Our poor backyard has been through quite a bit in the last 3 years...freezes, heat waves, broken irrigation, etc. Not to mention the fact that my dogs run around the yard like they are at Daytona International Speedway. Long story short - our yard was torn up. Not only was the yard unsightly, but there were areas where grass did not grow and it was just straight dirt. Large dirt areas + rain + dogs = mud all over my house. This called for a massive yard makeover in the sod department.

Last weekend, Jared began the task of cutting up all of the old, dead sod and weeds which was quite the undertaking. He tore up 1,000 square feet of our back yard all on his own.

Yes, my husband built the paver patio that you see in this photo. Told you he's awesome :) 

On Friday, the sod company delivered 1,000 square feet of sod to our driveway. One of our neighbors came over and asked, "Hey, are y'all putting down some new sod?" We responded, "Yep, in the backyard." How I wanted to respond..."Nope, we just thought it made for a nice decoration in the driveway." As Jeff Foxworthy would say, "Here's your sign." 

After all the old, dead stuff was torn up, it was time to prep the area for the new sod...

Jared was in charge of transporting all the sod from the driveway to the backyard, while my dad raked the entire area to make for a nice even surface and I put down the fertilizer. Yes, I actually helped with this project and by "helped" I do mean that I did more than simply supervising and drinking beer. There was beer involved of course because I only do yard work under one condition...that I get to drink beer while I do it. It keeps me hydrated :)

Digging up the old sod is by far the worst part. Laying down the new sod is hard work and time consuming, but the progress is definitely more rewarding. Luckily, there were three of us so this process went a lot faster than Jared had originally anticipated because he had intended on doing the entire thing himself. Side note: a piece of sod is actually pretty heavy, especially when you single-handedly lay about 500 square feet of it. Yes, I am bragging about my accomplishments...mostly because I despise yard work and was proud of myself for actually participating in this endeavor. A few hours later, our back yard went from what you see above, to this...

My hubby, admiring the accomplishment from all of his hard work...

Our yard looks beautiful and we did it on our own for about half the price of what it would have cost for someone to come do it for us. Let's just cross our fingers that the dogs and this Florida heat don't mess it up. Oh the joys of home-ownership. Now our yard is all ready for some outdoor summer fun!