Thursday, July 23, 2020

Backyard Transformation - Creating Our Oasis #ThePiccoOasis

We have lived in our home for almost 16 years. Originally, it was going to be a short term place. 5-10 years, and then we were hoping to build a custom home on land just outside the city. Time went on, we had 2 kids and realized that the likelihood of building our "dream" home was pretty slim.

We had some ideas of how we could make this home into our forever home.  Some of those ideas including renovating the kitchen, putting an addition onto the upstairs, finishing the basement - and a "dream" we didn't think was likely to become reality - an inground pool in the backyard.

Anyone that has followed me for a long time, will likely remember that we used to get a summer pool membership at a local hotel.  We did that for 3 summers. It was a lot of fun, but packing everything up and heading over for a few hours, then coming home - and sometimes Mr. K wanting to go back later in the day - it wasn't "easy". It was work.  Sometimes we would arrive and it would be so busy that all you could really do was stay in one spot, slowly working your way around. Other times, we would be the only ones there.

It really had me wishing that we had our own, so all we needed to do was throw on the swimsuits and walk out the back door.

Hubby and I talked about it off/on for a couple of years. Last year we did ALL of our research, met with 4 companies and decided to take the plunge!  It was exciting and a bit scary all at the same time.

In the fall, we demolished the play structure hubby built for the kids years ago, and took apart half of our deck.  We kept part of it so we could still sit out back in the spring. A few weeks ago the rest of the deck went.  It was quite strange staring at a completely empty backyard.

Our original install date was pushed back, by 2 weeks because of Covid. The company was shut down for a few weeks during the lockdown.  

The day they came to dig was super exciting. Mr. K and I spent quite a bit of time watching the machine. They pulled up a tree stump, a lot of big rocks and one GIANT one.  I would have loved to keep it, but it wouldn't fit in our backyard with the pool, and I couldn't think of somewhere in the front to put it...... hubby came up with a great spot, but it was too late at that point because it was gone.

The walls went up the second day, and the backfill on day 3. Really interesting to see how quick it starts to take shape.

Once the backfill was done, they were able to pour the concrete surrounding the pool (and the rest for our patio).  

Over the next few days, the concrete was cut, the equipment went in (and hubby built privacy panels to surround the equipment) and then the fence. 


Afterwards, we just needed to wait for our liner to arrive so we could finally fill it with water. It felt like it took forever. For 2 weeks we had a pool that was practically ready, but unable to use.  The upswing in pool purchases this year (with people staying home instead of vacationing) meant longer than usual waits for delivery.  While we were waiting, we worked on all the little jobs that would be needed to "complete" the project.  A walking path from the front of the house, filling under the fence with rocks, a towel rack, setting the patio furniture back up under the gazebo.



It was neat watching the water fill up




#thepiccooasis, backyard pool, small pool, tiny yard, inground swimming pool
#ThePiccoOasis



When planning a project like this, which is incredibly expensive, it can be nerve wracking hoping you picked the right people for the job.  We are very pleased with how everything turned out, and would definitely recommend the contractors we used.  We had a vision, and they were able to bring that vision to reality for us.....#ThePiccoOasis is finally here!


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