Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
ANNOUNCER: This out of control backyard is running wild.
It has gone neglected.
SARA: This is like a potted plant catastrophe.
There's like, just everywhere.
Of course, the grass is an allergy issue for me, so.
Really?
ANNOUNCER: So we're tearing out the lawn
and starting fresh.
WOMAN: There's no more lawn.
EDDIE: We don't need no stinking lawn.
ANNOUNCER: By using wood, rock and water--
Check it out.
Isn't that crazy?
MAN: Yay, gravity.
ANNOUNCER: We'll turn this yard
into a beautiful relaxing retreat.
Open your eyes.
Wow. Are you serious?
This is my not so lovely backyard.
I hate my yard.
It's basically a big desert with no character at all.
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,
Sarah 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: Danielle and Eddie
would love to spend more time in their backyard.
But its current condition is making that impossible.
We hate our yard.
We hate our yard, yes. Yes, we do.
DANIELLE: Our yard is an overgrown mess.
It's not blooming in some places.
It's got weeds everywhere else.
Our yard lacks any sort of style
or any sort of signature that says it's our home.
ANNOUNCER: Even worse,
this overgrown yard
is literally making Danielle sick.
I'm allergic to grass.
So it's kind of difficult for me
to really spend a whole lot of time out there.
All right.
Well, you have a lot of potted plants.
( laughing )
Who's the gardener here?
I am. It has gone neglected over the winter.
I know. This is like a potted plant catastrophe.
They're like, just everywhere.
I like the intent but the organization
is a little questionable though.
I concur.
SARA: So you have a lot of lawn here.
The grass is an allergy issue for me, so.
Yeah.
How does that work?
Well, it starts with some really sexy sneezing.
Okay, sexy sneezing.
And followed by some nose blowing.
And it lasts for quite a while.
I get excited when I get to do
a landscape with no lawn,
because there are so many opportunities
that you can take advantage of.
There are so many beautiful gardens
that don't have lawn.
Oh, great.
So tell me about the privacy.
I see you have a screening here
but I see into your neighbor's yard
on this side and this side.
Yeah. We can see right into the living room.
I can see basically torso up
of my neighbor in their living room and kitchen.
SARA: Oh, my gosh, really?
Well, I'll try and give you guys
a little bit of privacy.
That would be fantastic.
It'd be really nice.
So is this where you guys hang out?
Is this your relaxing space?
It used to be.
Where we entertained people and squirrels alike.
The squirrels have had their way with it though.
I don't know if the romantic duct tape
just behind you--
I better get off.
I'm seeing a lot of really random items in your yard.
So how would you describe your style?
Eclectic is probably a good start.
You know, eclectic is great when you have a plan for it.
Yeah. Yeah.
But I think we should roll with that.
I like the eclectic aspect of your yard.
It just needs a little more thought and organization
and some more info from you guys.
Tell me what you guys want? What do you need?
It'd be great to have a place to relax,
a place to entertain.
Relax and entertain.
We'd like to eat outdoors too.
DANIELLE: Dine outside.
EDDIE: It's not very appetizing out here, is it?
What with me sneezing all the time
because of all the grass.
I know, right.
So to sum it up, you're allergic to grass,
privacy is a must,
you need a place to entertain, hang out and dine.
Awesome.
Okay, well I have a lot of work to do.
So I'll go ahead and measure up the yard,
get some drawings going and I'll come back.
And we'll go ahead and build your landscape.
ANNOUNCER: Here's Sara's plan.
The new grass free backyard
will be anchored by a small stream
and fountain surrounded by flowers.
A large flagstone walkway will lead to a new dining area
and elegant outdoor lounge
that will provide much needed spaces
for entertaining guests.
Raised planters will add architectural interests
as well as give this couple all the space
they need for an organic garden.
Total budget for this project is 24 grand.
All right, guys, before we start building
we need to move out all of the stuff.
We're gonna start staging the pots in the front
so we can bring some of them back.
Anything you don't want, we have a dumpster,
we'll just throw it in there.
Great.
Let's start with the potted plants.
You have plenty of these.
Watch out for spiders though.
She says she has black widows.
No big deal.
We're not throwing this away, right?
If it doesn't fit into your design scheme
I'm happy to give it to a new person.
Right. This is too beautiful to dispose off.
I don't know.
I might have to think of something creative to do with this.
All right, Danielle and Eddie,
we are going to remove
some of your concrete patio here.
I really want to create a whole landscape experience.
And the patio is dominating that space.
All right, now that we have the yellow line marked out,
we'll go ahead and saw cut
the rest of the concrete out.
All right, guys, we're done with cutting the concrete.
Now we have to break out the rest of it.
We have sledge hammers and a breaker bar.
We'll go ahead and break it into small pieces
and dispose of it in the front.
You want to give it a go?
Oh, sure.
EDDIE: There you go.
It's the tiniest chunk.
EDDIE: No, it's--
Yeah, babe.
All right, Eddie, it's time to remove your lawn.
I know that Danielle's allergic,
so I'm gonna have you help me out.
Gladly.
We rented a rototiller.
This machine you can rent for about $40
and it's gonna cut our time in half.
Vroom, vroom.
All right, so the trick is, it's gonna drive itself
much like a lawn mower.
We're gonna pull it back,
let this bar rest on the ground here.
And pull the trigger
and see, it just tears it right up.
Oh, all right.
Off to the races.
Yoo-hoo.
When I found out that Danielle was allergic to grass,
I was kind of excited.
I don't get to do too many yards that have no lawn.
And I think it's a great opportunity
to really showcase how beautiful a yard can be without a lawn.
There's no more lawn.
EDDIE: Woo-hoo!
I know, right?
EDDIE: We don't need no stinking lawn.
Today was good. We got a lot done.
We roto-tilled the sod.
We removed the concrete we wanted.
We have a lot of work ahead of us.
SARA: Danielle, under the Christmas tree
you need to put a tamper with a bow on it, all right.
( Sara laughing )
If you're really good, we'll get you a steamroller.
ANNOUNCER: It's day 2 of Danielle and Eddie's backyard renovation
and things are moving fast.
Sara's crew has made solid progress
on her unique raised planter system.
And the structure of the outdoor lounge is in place.
I'm checking in with Dave, our contractor,
to make sure the height of the seat benches
is exactly how I want it.
So let's see, 14... that's gonna be perfect.
Yeah.
So we're not gonna see any of the frames.
Great.
We clad everything with 2 X 6s and 2 X 8, so.
And then I'm getting custom cushions made as well.
So it'll be nice and cushy.
I might be taking a nap there soon.
Well, you got to build it first.
Oh, yes.
Thanks, Dave.
Really?
The plants are here.
We need to unload them all.
I can't wait to show you guys.
The plant palette I chose goes from whites to soft pinks
to medium purples to dark purples and blue.
It's gonna be a beautiful gradient.
This one right here is the Alyognye hugelii .
It's a blue hibiscus
so it's a very drought-tolerant variety
that gives you these big beautiful flowers
that doesn't take a lot of water.
That's awesome.
I love it.
This is the first time that I think I might have over ordered.
Hey.
I know, right?
Oh, I can't wait to get them in the ground.
I'm showing Eddie and Danielle
how to make their very own stream and fountain water feature.
Let's get started grading our stream.
I have shovels over here.
Okay.
We want to create a slight grade to our stream.
It needs to be a little bit higher
at the start of our stream and a little bit lower at the end
so our water flows down.
So the next thing we want to do is we'll go ahead and get the frame
and I had the guys build one.
Let's go ahead and grab it. We'll set it in here.
What we're gonna do is we're gonna make sure that it's level.
I know we graded it but let's go ahead and double check.
So we might fill in just a little bit under here
to give it a little more slope.
Perfect.
Now that we have our frame in and it's grated perfectly for our drainage,
we're gonna go ahead and drop the basin in.
Okay.
Yeah, it is pretty light.
Perfect.
So now we're gonna get the--free tubing.
We'll go ahead and line that up.
And that's what's gonna recirculate your water.
EDDIE: Awesome.
What we have here is a 45 mil professional grade pond liner.
And it's guaranteed for 20 years.
Yeah.
DANIELLE: That's great.
So it's important to have an overlap with the rill.
You're not gonna see any of this.
We're gonna cover this up with either mold or gravel, okay.
So I'm just gonna throw it in there.
Now it's important to make this kind of "v" here,
that way the water is going directly straight down to the basin
and not falling out this way.
All right, so let's go ahead and place the pump in the basin now.
Now this pump is for our stream.
This is gonna circulate the water in our rill
from the basin here all the way through.
We went ahead and trenched for electrical here.
So we'll go ahead and plug this in.
Grab the non--tube.
Go ahead and righty-tighty.
Now that we have that in place
we'll go ahead and drop the pump in our basin over here.
And now it's time for our second pump.
And this pump is gonna be for our water feature.
All right, Danielle, same trick.
So go ahead and drop that in.
All right, guys, we are almost done.
So we're gonna place some of the cinder blocks
on top of the basin and that's gonna raise the level
so when our water feature, the pot, goes on top of it,
it's gonna be flush.
We got our cinder blocks in place.
So now all we have to do is fill in dirt around them.
And on the inside we're gonna go ahead and place the gravel.
Woo!
SARA: Danielle.
Yeah.
Under the Christmas tree you need to put a tamper
with a bow on it. All right?
( Sara laughing )
If you're really good, we'll get you a steamroller.
All right, guys, it's time to fill this thing with water,
test our work, make sure we did a good job.
Eddie, you want to grab that black hose right there?
I'm gonna drop this in.
So let's go ahead and plug it in.
Woo!
EDDIE: We have water.
Hey, check it out.
Isn't that crazy?
EDDIE: Yay, gravity.
It's beautiful and it's making a really soothing sound.
And I can't believe it's so lovely.
Thank you.
It wasn't that hard, was it?
Not at all.
All right, now that we're done screeding,
we can lay the tile.
This is gonna go quick.
I think it'll take us about 10 minutes.
It sounds too good to be true.
ANNOUNCER: There's tons left to do
to finish off Danielle and Eddie's backyard.
Sara's crew was busy installing privacy fences
to heighten the existing walls,
laying down an elaborate flagstone walkway
and finishing the raised hexagonal planters.
All right, Danielle, I know you love to garden.
So we're gonna make you a tool wall.
This is gonna house all of your garden tools
Cool.
All right, let start painting.
It looks good.
So let's let it dry.
Okay.
I have this great product
I'm gonna use with Eddie to create a dining room floor.
Basically, it's these wood tiles and they snap together just like this.
And this is what's gonna create the floor
That's great.
So first step for us is to go ahead and compact this area as best we can
to give you a nice level base for our new duct tiles.
Okay, I'll get to work then.
All right.
SARA: So I'm just gonna screed this area.
It's really important for us to have a level base here,
because if it's not level our tiles are gonna warp.
All right, now that we're done screeding
we can lay the tile.
This is gonna go quick.
I think it'll take us about 10 minutes.
All right.
Far corner?
I'm gonna bring you a pile.
Okay.
It's looking really good.
EDDIE: All right.
SARA: All right.
Good.
What do you think of your new dining room floor?
I love it. It looks fantastic.
Yeah.
Thanks.
Woo!
All right, Danielle, now that the paint's dry,
we're gonna go ahead and attach a bunch of fasteners
and different things to hang tools.
The best thing about making your own garden tool wall
is you can customize it to whatever you want.
You can place the screws and the hooks
wherever you want to fit all the tools that you have.
This hardware adds a lot of charm.
Let's see, is that a good spot?
Sure.
All right, last one here.
What do you think?
I know.
Let's go ahead and prop it on the back of the house
and see how it really looks.
Okay.
What do you think?
I love it.
And attach it to the wall,
we're gonna have a little garden table here
and all the tools you could ever want.
Danielle and I are gonna make macrame plant hangers
to make a hanging garden from the back of her house.
So the first thing we need to do
is we need to measure out our rope.
Pull a little tighter.
All right, now go ahead and cut it right there.
Nice.
So you want to grab one of the rings.
All right, so we're gonna place the ring in the center.
You're gonna pull your side and all we're gonna do is tie a standard knot.
So the next step is more knots.
Okay.
So what we want to do here is we want to pick buddies.
So the strings that are next to each other,
we want to select--
Just like that.
Okay.
The next step is another round of knots,
but this time we're gonna take strings
that are on different knots and tie those together.
All right, so the last step is to tie the final knot
and this is what's gonna hold the pot in place.
Okay.
Hey...
Woo!
I know. That looks great, doesn't' it?
Yeah.
What do you think?
I love it.
I chose a lot of flowering perennials for the backyard.
Some purples, some pinks, some light purples.
I want to mix all those colors
to create a really relaxing space.
Eh...
We can keep going.
Well, you guys have done so much already
and it's time for me to ask you to leave.
I'm gonna take over with the crew.
We're gonna finish this renovation.
You guys are gonna come back and it's gonna beautiful.
Okay.
I'll see you guys later.
See you later. Bye.
Bye.
Open your eyes.
Wow.
Aw, Danielle, give me a hug.
Oh, my God.
ANNOUNCER: Danielle and Eddie's
backyard is almost finished.
Sara just has a few more details to work out.
Adding a little color to the yard really helps.
I added touches of blues and,
of course, all the flowers really brighten that yard.
The build is done
and I can't wait to show Eddie and Danielle
their new backyard.
All right, no peeking, guys.
Open your eyes.
Wow.
Are you serious?
I know.
Can you believe this is your yard?
I'm shivering.
Aw, Danielle, give me a hug.
Oh, my God.
It's so pretty.
Oh, my God. I need another one of those.
Oh, my God.
This is so beautiful.
ANNOUNCER: Before this messy yard
had no style or structure
and the overgrown lawn was terrible
for Danielle's allergies.
Now it has distinct areas for dining,
entertaining and gardening,
all unified by a central water feature
and with plenty of flowers
but not a blade of grass in sight.
Oh, my gosh, look at this chair.
That's big enough for two.
Yeah, both of you guys can fit in there.
Wow, this is so cool.
So I wanted to bring a swing here
but I wanted it to be eclectic.
This is gonna be a talking piece forever.
I love the flagstone.
Yeah, this is an informal flagstone path
to guide us to our swing here.
Then we have the formal flagstone path,
they'll lead you
to all the other destinations in the yard.
What do you think of the planters, Danielle?
I'm blown away.
Look at these vegetables.
Wow. Oh, my gosh.
I could spend hours just on each--
This is so exciting.
The best part is that it has all these different levels.
You can sit here, you can garden this.
There's low gardens, there's high gardens
and there's little steps.
DANIELLE: This is just lovely.
I'm speechless.
And then, of course, your tool wall to keep up with it.
DANIELLE: Oh, my gosh. Look at that.
I know, Danielle, we worked on it
but you never saw it finished.
DANIELLE: I love the color.
EDDIE: This is great, baby. You're gonna love this.
This is so cool.
I've been really wanting something like this forever.
Oh, that's great.
Of course, the water feature we all worked on.
Look at that beautiful fountain.
EDDIE: Yeah, that's gorgeous.
DANIELLE: This is so beautiful.
Wow. Look at the bird cage.
Oh, right.
I wanted to give you
a nice little accent in the corner.
So we painted some bird cages
and hung them from the tree.
And, of course, it brings that eclectic touch.
Look at the fence.
I mean, we have--
You have privacy.
I can't see any of my neighbors half naked anymore.
SARA: Woo-hoo!
So now you have a beautiful backyard
and it's going to be private.
I can't get over how beautiful this yard looks.
EDDIE: Look at this lounge.
DANIELLE: This is such a significant change.
SARA: Yeah.
I just want to chill now. You know, this is amazing.
Chill, let's chill
and you can look at the rest of your yard.
Oh, and look at all the macrame.
SARA: Yeah, the macrame.
So we got you a hanging garden
at the back of your house to dress it up.
I'm never gonna get any work done anymore.
SARA: Well, let's check out dining area.
DANIELLE: Oh, this is great.
We've talked about wanting to sit outside
and eat all the time.
And now we have some place to do it.
Oh, yeah, Eddie,
what do you think of your dining room floor?
I love it. It's perfect.
This is fantastic.
You can come out barefoot here.
I'm blown away.
ANNOUNCER: Danielle and Eddie got the beautiful,
relaxing backyard they were looking for.
And in the end,
they were only $300 over budget.
The yard is amazing.
It's overwhelmingly beautiful.
It's inventive in ways
we never would have come up with.
EDDIE: It's beyond anything we could have imagined.
DANIELLE: I feel like I'm in a magazine, like,
this is-- this can't be real.
SARA: But I'm so happy that you guys have this yard
that you can actually use now.
EDDIE: Yeah. We definitely can.
Thank you so much.
All right, well, I'm gonna let you guys enjoy the yard.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Eddie, Danielle, take care
and I will see you guys later.
Bye.
Oh, my gosh.