Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
is loaded with flaws.
You see right into the neighbor's yard.
That's your neighbor's yard.
This concerns us a little bit
just because our kids are so little.
So we're really worried about them falling over and--
Especially the baby.
ANNOUNCER: So we're streamlining
the separate spaces and adding contemporary style.
Much needed privacy...
This is gonna be a multi-layered fence.
We're gonna have little cubbies
with plants coming out of it.
ANNOUNCER: And amenities for young and old...
Who do you think will like it more
Ginger or Milo?
They're not gonna fight over it, I'm sure.
ANNOUNCER: that will take this yard from safety hazard
to safe heaven for a growing family.
Ah.
Oh, my God.
Wow.
This is my not so lovely backyard.
And I hate my yard.
It's basically a big desert with no character.
WOMAN: Everything about the yard we hate.
It's just embarrassing.
I don't think you could pay me to come up
with one thing I like about it.
ANNOUNCER: When a yard's this bad,
you need all the help you can get.
That's where top landscape designer
Sara Bendrick comes to the rescue.
Now we can get going.
This might take longer than we thought.
So maybe just angling a little bit that way.
ANNOUNCER: Tough, creative, and determined.
Sara can turn that yard you hate into an outdoor space
you'll never want to leave.
MAN: That was amazing. I was blown away.
WOMAN: I've never seen something like this.
I don't know about you but I'm home right here.
I'm good.
ANNOUNCER: Brian and Kimmie just moved
in to their modern 1950s dream home.
The house is perfect for them and their two kids.
But with a baby on the way,
their disaster of a yard needs help.
It's ugly and it's dangerous for our kids.
When we bought the house,
we walked into that backyard and it was destroyed.
Everything is overgrown back there.
It just--it needs to be addressed.
As a family, we spend a lot of time outside.
We do a lot of picnics and barbecue.
I'd love to, uh, have my friends
over to sample my home brew.
I can't wait to see what we can do with it.
So this is our backyard.
All right.
Yes, welcome to the yard.
It looks like you have a nice concrete pad here.
Lot of cracks.
BRIAN: Lots of cracks.
It's really unsafe and it's ugly.
We see right into the neighbor's yard.
That's your neighbor's yard.
KIMMIE: Yes.
They're even elevated so you almost see their floor.
Yeah.
All right, so we want to think about
screening that area here.
BRIAN: Oh, for sure.
And then you have a second part of the yard
which you almost don't even know it's there.
BRIAN: And you know what, this concerns us
a little bit just because our kids are so little
and, you know, it's about a 5 foot drop going down.
So we're really worried about them falling over and--
Especially the baby.
We have a yard down here,
but it doesn't get enough sunlight
so it's just one big giant mud pit.
So we need to address this tree and trim it up
and make it more of a--
A canopy, and all this undergrowth just gone.
Big trees like this can add value to your home,
so we'll definitely want to keep this
and it's not in the way, it's to the side,
so I think we can definitely work around it.
But I agree, we should trim it up a little bit.
It's a challenging backyard because it's cut in two.
That makes two separate spaces.
I really want to bring those spaces together.
We love avocados
and so we're really excited about growing
our own fruit but--
SARA: It's a botanical wonder.
I don't think it's gonna get any fruit on
with all the ivy growing out there.
SARA: I know. I doubt it.
This wall is just cinder block, you know.
I like how it's multi-leveled, but it's just not--
yeah, very aesthetic and it needs something.
From here your tree is just huge.
Isn't it beautiful? It's so cool.
So overall, could you guys tell me what type of look or what type of feel
you're trying to get back here, any inspiration?
Yeah, the house is a mid-century modern house
so we'd like to keep a modern aesthetic to it.
But we also--uh, been to the tropics a lot
and since we have two small kids
and another one on the way, we can't travel as much.
It'll be nice to have a backyard
that gives us that same kind of feel.
We could relax here.
Clean lines and big leaves.
Yeah.
Yeah, there you go, that's great.
This yard is bad, but it's not the worst
I've seen, there's a lot of potential.
I want to give Brian and Kimmie
a modern tropical design.
They need a space for the adults to hang out.
They also need to have a place where their kids can have fun.
ANNOUNCER: Here's Sara's plan.
She's going to break up and tear out the old patio,
then pour new concrete and apply sealer
to give it a shiny modern look.
Planter boxes along the edge
will address Brian and Kimmie's safety concerns.
And a planter fence will add privacy
while still letting light through to the patio.
A built-in grill and beer tap will give them
the outdoor entertaining area they desire.
Down below, she's adding a raised deck
featuring a wrap-around couch,
gas fire pit that overlooks a lush new lawn.
Exotic plants will wrap the perimeter of the yard
with a playhouse and chalkboard wall
added in for the kids.
The budget for this project is 26 grand.
First we need to clear this area.
So anything we're not using
we either need to put away or throw away.
Now that all the junk is cleared out,
I'm gonna have Brian help me
demo the old concrete pad with the jackhammer.
That is some thick cement.
Wow, that doesn't want to go.
Demoing out the concrete pad
was a lot harder than we expected.
It was almost 5 inches thick,
so getting the jackhammer through it was a lot slower
than I thought it would be.
Am I doing something wrong here?
I am not unmanly.
I know.
So I thought we would be able to wheelbarrow
the rest of the concrete to the top of the hill,
but the wheelbarrows wouldn't make it up all those steps.
So we had to hand-carry each piece of concrete out.
So that slowed us down a bit.
You get the sun, it's just crazy.
Look how much more light we have already.
It's crazy, yeah.
Yeah.
I want to save these plants over here,
but they're in the way, so let's put them over here.
Oh, my gosh, all these roots.
Yeah, this is tough.
'Cause ideally you want to dig
twice the size of the root ball here.
Yeah, right?
We don't really have that luxury.
Oh, my God, I broke my shovel.
Nice.
Hey, can I get another shovel please?
So what's this crazy device you've got?
It's pretty cool.
Oh, yeah?
We use it on smaller trees like this.
So what we want to do is want to remove
all the rest of the plants,
we don't want back here anymore.
You want to put the teeth around
the base of the sapling or the tree.
And then we just pull it back.
And what's nice is this will pull out
the whole root ball instead of having to dig around--
You want to give it a go?
All right.
And just pull back.
Oh, sorry.
Look out for falling trees.
Look at that.
So imagine how much harder
it would have been to dig around it.
That would have been kind of hard to dig out.
All right, I wanted to take a look
at your irrigation system here.
Okay.
So your anti-siphon valves look relatively new.
Okay.
But drip is really hard to reuse.
So what we want to do is, we just want to pull this up.
There's no water coming out, right?
Then we're good.
SARA: We pulled up all the irrigation
and that was really easy.
We just hand pulled it up
and we're gonna redo that whole irrigation system.
That's probably just been watering your whole yard.
I bet you that has, is--
All you had to do was cap it off.
Oh, my God.
That's why it's been a mud pit back here.
Need any help with the nail gun?
I don't want to be anywhere around her
when she's got the nail gun.
ANNOUNCER: Demo is nearly complete
in Brian and Kimmie's backyard.
Nothing like a little sawdust in the morning.
ANNOUNCER: And next, holes need to be dug
for the new deck posts.
We rented an Auger which is a really cool tool
because it'll make our post hole digging go a lot faster.
So these are our post holes right here.
We marked them out.
And they're about 10 feet off the wall here.
So your deck will go about here,
but it's actually gonna go 4 more feet.
So for the rest of the yard,
it's gonna look like a cantilever deck.
Very cool.
All right, so I'll flip it on right here
and then just get it--
All right, you want to give it a try?
Yeah, absolutely.
Now you know how it works and--
Awesome, I love it, I love power tools.
Demo was great today.
We had so much done.
It looks a lot larger than when we started.
After we removed all the ivy from the perimeter fences
and trimmed up the trees,
there's so much light coming in.
Once we got the demo done,
I brought in a crew to pour the new concrete pad.
It's a nice dark grey,
so it'll bring in that modern touch.
We also framed up the deck yesterday.
You really start to get the feel
for what the yard is gonna look like.
You ready to seal your concrete pad?
I am ready.
Rolling up my sleeves for the job.
Well, the reason we want to do
this is to give a protective layer to the top coat here.
And also make it look really nice and sleek.
Okay, so what is this exactly?
So this is a pump sprayer
and we're gonna use it to spread the sealer
to get a nice even coat, much like spray painting.
I'll get us going
and we're gonna start in this corner,
we're gonna work our way down,
we're gonna exit out that way.
And we're gonna do
just a light glaze over the top.
Can I try it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, here you go.
Nice.
This is a satin finish.
That'll be nice.
I don't want it too glossy, right?
No, we don't want glossy, that'd be too much.
Here you go.
I'm excited to check out all the plants we ordered.
There will be a lot of tropical inspired plants.
There'll be a lot of big leaves, lot of flowers.
All right, Kimmie, you're only allowed to hold what you can.
Maybe you're better directing us.
I can hold some.
All right, these are one gallon,
these are gonna go in your planter wall.
Pretty.
SARA: I'm building a planter fence with Brian right now.
And we're using 1 x 4s to face the front of the frame
that was built by our contractor.
Well, the idea of this,
is that this is gonna be a multi-layered fence.
We're gonna--at the front, we have the frame here
and we're also gonna back it.
We're gonna have little cubbies
with plants coming out of it.
So you'll have the nice structure,
but you also have it softened up by some plants.
Oh, cool. This one looks as good as any.
All right.
Let's make sure we're perfectly flush here.
Okay, pull back.
Halfway through.
Despite my disability,
I am so excited to work today.
Need any help with the nail gun?
I don't want to be anywhere around her though
when she's got the nail gun.
I am fantastic with the nail gun.
Center, diagonally.
I think they're having fun watching it come together.
They're having fun working on it.
It's exciting.
So what is this thing you're making me carry?
Oh, this is gonna be fun.
Nice.
ANNOUNCER: There's a ton of work yet to be done
on Brian and Kimmie's backyard.
First project on Sara's to-do list today
is a fun addition for the kids.
I'm gonna show Brian how to make
a "do-it-yourself outdoor chalkboard."
So we already put the plywood up.
The next step is to use cement board.
And we're gonna attach that to the plywood.
Nice.
This is going to be our chalkboard.
We're gonna prime it with an exterior latex primer.
And mix it with a non-sanded grout at a 1:8 ratio.
The grout's gonna give it a chalkboard texture.
SARA: Once the paint is thoroughly mixed,
we're gonna paint it on our concrete board.
Who do you think will like it more,
Ginger or Milo?
Oh, God.
They're gonna fight over it, I'm sure.
All right, so after this dries,
we're gonna come through with the chalk stick,
cover the whole board and that's gonna help it cure.
Brian and Kimmie's house is coming together great.
We got a lot of stuff done,
we had to hold back
on the planter fence yesterday,
so we're gonna get to that today,
finish that up.
We're also going to plant all of the plants.
I am.
Good, 'cause we have a lot of plants to plant.
We do, for sure.
I have two different soils here,
one's a garden soil for in-ground plants.
Then I have a potting mix for planters and containers.
So if I can have you take the potting mix
and place it in our planter over there to get going,
I'll go ahead and start with the garden soil
in our bed over here.
All right, so you need some plants now, don't you?
I do.
Okay.
I want to mix up and I want to bring
some bright colors.
Okay.
SARA: We're on the homestretch, we're almost done.
We got to finish our major elements,
but the bones are there
so the garden's really coming together.
These planters are really cool,
they're low profile planters.
So the nice thing about them
is that the focus is not on the planter,
it's on the plant.
I'll show you really quick how it works.
It's two parts here.
This lower part right here,
this will screw in to the deck.
Okay.
Like this, and so this will catch
the upper container here which will sit--
the little lip will sit on the outside here.
All right, first one down.
Drop it in.
Great.
Pretty cool.
Let's get some plants in this.
I have these bright bromeliads,
so it's gonna look really tropical.
SARA: Brian and I started the planter fence yesterday,
but we ran out of light.
Planter fence is really important.
When I first got to site,
you could see right into the neighbor's yard,
so I wanted to screen that view.
SARA: You ready to finish this planter wall?
Yes, definitely.
All right, yesterday we went ahead
and paneled the front side with 1 x 4s.
I had the guys side the back of it for us
so we could do the fun part.
We're gonna step back and pick out different areas
we want to cut out panels, we can plant inside of it.
We want to make sure like we space them out,
so it's not too full and empty.
You want to pick the first area?
Yeah, right here.
All right.
What do you say, we do, like, kind of, centered.
Okay.
SARA: We're using a plastic to line
the inside of the planting cubbies
to protect the wood from the soil.
And we have some stuff to wrap up,
but it's time for me to send you away.
It saddens me that I have to go away.
Well, you and your wife are gonna be so surprised when you come back.
Yeah, we will. I haven't seen my kids in, like, four days so--
Okay, I'm out.
All right. I'll see you later, Brian.
BRIAN: Today was amazing, they got so much done,
I can't even believe it.
I mean, the fences went up
and the decking is almost done and,
you know, I got to built part of the fence
which was a lot of fun.
Ah. Oh, my God.
Wow.
Oh, my God.
ANNOUNCER: It's down to the wire
on Brian and Kimmie's backyard overhaul.
Sara and her team are working to get
every detail perfect for the big reveal.
Brian and Kimmie were worried about
their young children falling over the edge of their patio.
So Sara had her crew built low profile planters
to alleviate their concerns.
They also built a set of sturdy steps
between the upper patio and the lower deck.
One of the big elements in the yard
was the barbecue and beer tap.
I really wanted to keep in mind things
that Brian loved.
He makes his own beer,
so I got him a beer tap
for him to pour his own beers,
entertain, with a large family size table.
To offset the dark colors of the wood,
we have bright orange cushions.
And it might sound a little nerve-wracking
at first to have such a huge area be orange,
but with all that wood, it needs that pop.
Love this.
Tropical and modern are two really interesting
themes to combine,
and I think they work really well together.
One's a little more random and bright,
the other one is a little more sleek,
undernoted, and to combine the two
I think is a perfect combination
'cause we have a nice relaxing area
with pops of color.
ANNOUNCER: Before, this yard
was three levels of disastrous overgrowth
and dangerous heights
that kept this outdoorsy family inside at all times.
Now each level flows safely from one to another,
creating a modern tropical paradise.
Ah. Oh, my God.
Wow.
Oh, my God.
Oh, wow.
SARA: I know.
Yeah, I love this.
Oh, whatever, you've only seen, like, 5% of it right now.
Oh, well, you know what?
That makes it even better.
I can't believe it's the same yard.
It's just night and day.
Your modern planter fence.
Came out really great.
I didn't think the plants would be
so like nice and big.
You're not looking into your neighbor's yard anymore.
Yeah, thank God. That's nice.
Oh, yeah, Gives us so much privacy.
It's gorgeous.
Look at how much better these steps are.
So much safer than the old cement steps over here.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
And look out how nice it looks around the tree.
It's awesome.
This is an anchor in your yard,
it's a major feature.
Sitting on this bench over here,
you can look back onto the dining area,
the tree here.
Ever think you'd be sitting in this corner of your yard?
Never, never.
I never thought we'd be in this corner of the yard.
This was just so overgrown
with all that ivy and nasty dead plants.
It's just-- it's amazing.
I really wanted to make it a usable space for you guys.
Yeah.
So from here you can see up,
you can also see down.
KIMMIE: It's perfect.
It never dawned on me
that this would be like a sitting area.
I think we're gonna be spending a lot of time here.
Okay.
KIMMIE: I can't believe we have grass.
SARA: You have grass.
No more mud.
We took out the broken irrigation system.
We put in a new one.
And you have light now, you'll have grass.
No way this is the same yard.
I know, right?
KIMMIE: I can't even believe like--
it feels like we're in a totally different space.
And just trimming up this tree
has brought the ceiling of the yard so much higher.
KIMMIE: I love, just, all the layers,
so many layers--
BRIAN: And levels.
So who fits in the toy house?
Look, they have a little mailbox,
they're gonna love this.
KIMMIE: Bird house.
Oh, there's chalk in the mailbox.
SARA: And, of course, they have the chalkboard over here.
BRIAN: Yes.
I don't hate my yard anymore.
BRIAN: Our yard is pretty spectacular now.
KIMMIE: I love my yard.
BRIAN: There's a beer tap, there's a fire pit,
there's a play area for the kids,
there's grass where there was once mud.
Love the upper level. I can't wait to barbecue
and dine with all of our friends and family.
ANNOUNCER: Brian and Kimmie
now have the yard of their dreams.
And they got it for less than a grand over budget.
Go check it out.
Wow!
They're gonna go straight to the play house, I knew it.
I had so much fun working on your yard.
Yeah, me too.
Thank you so much.
It was fun working with you.
You were supposed to give me a beer if I did a good job.
Yes.
All right, let's go.