Backyard Makeover

One of the big projects I planned last year was to give our backyard a major overhaul.

Here’s an overview of how it looks like now after the overhaul!

When we first laid out the garden, we had envisaged a sort of zen-inspired landscape…

Over the years, our family grew and evolved. Things got added into the backyard to keep up with the changes. Various plants and a few fruit trees. Outdoor toys and play equipment. A sandpit. Even more so since I started my family day care. We tried to make the most of the existing landscape and work with it to accommodate the various add-ons.

But it was hard to stay on top of the mowing and the weeds. The original landscape just got lost in the midst of all the changes.

So I rolled up my sleeves and got down to business. I did up a plan and list of materials. I applied for a small grant from the local council and got a modest sum of money to supplement the cost of materials.

I found a great guy to do the heavy lifting with digging up the whole backyard so we could redo the entire landscape from scratch. As you can see, I’ve opted for a nature-esque type of landscape. I got rid of the lawn which was not really practical and was time-consuming to maintain. The new landscape provided a nice blank slate to start afresh.

Next came the fun part of laying out the various components in the garden. My favourite section are these tyre play plots which I filled with mulch and artificial turf squares.

I included a little fairy garden in one of the tyre play lots to inspire lots of small world play ideas for the children. It took some time to collect and assemble the various bits and pieces but I’m really pleased with the result.

#feelinghappy seeing my little fairy garden being enjoyed by the children #familydaycare #outdoorplay #fairygarden

A post shared by Serenely (@livingserenely) on Mar 21, 2018 at 8:06am PDT

Here are a few more snapshots of the different areas in our revamped backyard. There’s plenty of room to modify and move things around in the future. I’m planning to take my time with gradually adding on new plants or interest corners. For now there’s already plenty to keep me and the little ones occupied.

>> Here’s more information about my family day care and our daily activities.