Backyard "Tour" Before

Let me preface this post by saying that these will not be the most flattering "before" pictures you've ever seen.  That's why they're called "before photos."  Michael (and Million) worked on building one of our raised beds.  Michael was generously given some leftover deck lumber by a coworker, and he had several uses for it.  

Okay....on to the explanation.

This first photo is looking from the southeast corner of our deck.  The corner to the right (and back of our yard) from this view is where the chickens will live in what we're calling a "duplex" system.... one coop with a chicken run on each side.   

This is a little bumpout area that we're not certain what we'll do yet.  It's about 7 x 7, so we're thinking maybe a cold frame here?  But it doesn't get enough sun, so we might move the boys' playthings into this area.

Here's the view behind our garage.  We're going to put a narrow "garden tools/lawnmower" shed back there.

This next photo is where it gets really not-so-flattering.  All of that wood on our deck?  Paneling from the 1970's that Michael tore out of our basement.  That's going to be predominately the material that our chicken coop will be made out of.  You can also see several spots where I was testing house paint colors.  Classy, right?

 Had to add this photo of "the men" working on our raised bed.

So there you have it, not an enormous yard.  (Our old one was 1/3 acre...we've got about 1/8th now, but it seems a pretty standard city lot.)

This is the paint color we're thinking of going with.  It's a weathered brown, but technically the name is "charcoal."

Finally, here Michael is next to where our main raised bed will be.  It will be taller, we just needed a bit more lumber, and he needed to change our van's oil before it rained.  If you look to the right of the pile of paneling on the deck, you can see my paint swatch of "charcoal" in this picture.