The unveiling of our backyard hideaway!!

Tucked away in the trees and bushes in a quiet corner of our yard is this sweet little space…

It’s finally done! 

It has taken us all summer.  It was worth it though.  I can see my grandchildren playing in this cheerful space far far in the future.  We had wonderful help with the deck and the roof from friends, but most of this was The Man and me.  It was wonderful to work so well with him.  I think I have a handy husband in the making.  You would be amazed what we both learned!  (One of them was that we should take a few months between huge projects.  ;) )

  It’s under a beautiful maple tree that I wasn’t sure was going to make it through Ice Storm 2012, but it has come back beautifully and shades this area in such a way as to make a charming dappled glow.

I painted the chairs from Logan’s preschool table bright yellow and green and placed it right next to a window where you can watch sweet birds feeding from the feeder hanging by the eves outside. 

With two bird feeders and our entire birds nest collection in the rafters, I aimed for it to be as inviting for my nature loving kids as possible. 

I see many a school day sitting and watching the birds as they read in the mini easy chair I found for $5 at a garage sale this summer.

My kids have spent the last two weeks up there.  They have made a mud-pie/cake store, camped out inside (all fire inside was LED candles), and made a waterslide with a hose running down the slide.  Already, the spot is worth it’s weight in neighborhood friends, too!  Kids flock to our house just to see what I have finished on it that day.  During the waterslide day we had 11 kids here!

This is just the start of our backyard revamp in the next year.  We are going to do a bunch of work that includes fences, trees, and outbuildings that need to be remade or repaired, but this had to be first.  9 years in the making, this space is an incredible blessing for our family and I am so excited it’s done!  Bring on the last backyard BBQ’s of Summer! We are ready!