From Blank Canvas to Breathtaking Oasis

Our Journey to Creating the Perfect (for us) Yard

As the proud owners of Kings Landscaping, when we bought our home it was important that we showcase our own capabilities as an outward statement to our neighbors of what is possible.

We bought in 2022 and knew this would be a perfect opportunity to go big on designing and executing our vision. As we planned out our front and back yard, we considered the following details:

1. We wanted the front yard to be colorful and vibrant, including flowers for all seasons and well manicured trees and shrubs

2. We wanted our home to be well-lit to highlight the hard work we put into our home

3. We have five kids who now have their own children, grandparent-ing is something we take seriously. We needed our backyard to be a place to play, and enjoy company on summer nights.

4. Given the amount of equipment and materials we may need at any given time, we needed our yard to be functional to store our equipment and have ample parking when we entertain.

5. We love to garden, so having a dedicated space to continue with this hobby is important to us, and it still needed to be easy to maintain

6. Given we support our community to maintain their yards, keeping ours in tip-top shape should be low touch

7. less water consumption is ideal to keep bills low while still maintaining a lush lawn where it makes sense to us.

With the above requirements in mind for our yard, we began to plan everything out! First we started with our front yard, since it’s the first thing a visitor sees when they arrive at our home. I have always loved to see tulips blooming in the spring, so knew this was a must. I wanted to compliment those tulips with various perennials like daisies, phlox, hibiscus, salvias, so that it could fill some of the empty space between the planted bulbs and keep beautiful flowers present during spring and summer. To make sure the tulips and other greenery were visible, we decided to do a raised garden bed lined with low voltage LED lights to make sure everyone passing by would notice the beauty of nature and our hard work. Finally, we installed an in-ground sprinkler system throughout to ensure there’s enough water getting to the lawn and garden. When we did this we made sure our sprinkler heads were evenly spaced while also allowing for minimal water consumption. We put finishing touches on our front yard by adding some large planters with varying flowers to line the front entryway for a different pop of color.

Next we moved to the backyard, which was such a labor of love after we had designed the final concept for ourselves. It was important to us that we have plenty of pavement throughout, thoughtfully placed, so that we could pull our truck and trailer, our kids could use it for parking when they visit, and we could use it as a materials landing space for our client when needed. We started by stamping our concrete with a charcoal paver design to elevate the look at a low cost. Next we laid out hardscape to build dedicated walkways from the back sliding door to the opposite side of the house. This was lined with lighting to make sure no accidents occur if kids are playing or any late-night tasks. We decided to lay gravel on the sides of the pavers as we didn’t think it would be practical to have grass line the fence of our yard. Once the gravel was laid where we wanted it, we started building our garden boxes where we would have our kitchen garden. While those boxes were being built we also chose some beautiful trees to line our fence with ample sunlight, to give our home some privacy and noise dampening. Those trees are also lined with smaller shrubs and gravel to boot, as we want to keep maintenance to a minimum.

We then decided to have a fire pit put together as well, to really tie the entire backyard together as the central gathering point to relax, enjoy each other’s company, and roast some s’mores with the grandchildren too. In order to make this dream a reality we had to create a gas connection from the house to the fire pit location, then we build out the pit with cinderblocks covered with beautiful pavers on the sides and top. Once the fire pit was built out we realized having some built-in seating close by would be ideal, so we got to work on that as well. We added some lighting around the length of the new seating.

We then realized there was a lot of hardscape throughout the backyard, so to really even everything out we created a small grassy area where the kids could play rough, have a slip and slide, or snowball fights for years to come.

When all was said and done, our beautiful yard took 8 weeks and cost us about $80,000 (including materials and labor which we did ourselves). Do we regret it? Not one bit! We have enjoyed our yard so much with family and friends already, and the time it takes to keep it maintained is so minimal we can do it in an hour at most.

We’ve been able to recreate elements of our yard, front or back, with clients across the Salt Lake Valley. We love creating raised garden beds, pouring and stamping concrete, laying hardscapes, low voltage lighting, and making sure your irrigation system is up-to-snuff. Connect with us if any of these projects resonate with you, let’s see what we can make happen!