It’s a total oasis, I tell ya.

Remember that awesome brother-in-law of mine?  The landscaper?  Let me refresh your memory:

Well, it turns out that Jared’s also a miracle worker.

When we first bought the flip, the backyard was abysmal.  And that’s being kind.

See what I mean?  We knew that it had potential, and that it could eventually turn into a huge selling point for the house – but there sure was a long way to go.

I’ll fill you in on all the details with the pool later, but the landscaping was a huge hurdle all in itself.  Basically, there wasn’t any landscaping.  No grass, no flowers, no plants – it was kind of a wasteland back there.  And there were lots of stumps – oodles of them.

There was no question that the stumps had to go – so two awesome guys went to work and had them all removed within 2 days (they might also be upgraded to miracle worker status).  Take a look at this big sucker, mid-demolish:

It doesn’t look too impressive in the picture, but trust me – in person it was about 2 feet in diameter!

Once the ground was clear, my fancy brother-in-law Jared got to work bringing in the fill dirt and leveling out the backyard – remember that escapade?  Then he laid out these big rocks to form the two planting beds:

I was very impressed that he managed to manhandle these ginormous and heavy beasts into position.

Then it was time for the sod – ahh, the sod:

It took about a pallet and a half to fully sod the backyard – that’s a lot!!  (And all while working in 100+ Texas heat – I’m pretty sure Jared deserves a medal).

After the sod was down, it was time for the fun stuff – plants!!!  The hubby and I took our merry selves to Lowes and had quite the field day in the tropical plant section – no backyard oasis is complete without tropical plants, you know!!

After we wrestled all the plants back to the flip, we laid them all out into position – it took us awhile, and we took turns telling each other where to move the plants.  And let me tell you, some of those palm trees are really prickly!!  My right arm looked like I had lost a fight with a fork (ok, I’m exaggerating, but it wasn’t pretty).  Here are the plants all lined up and ready to find their places:

And here are all those gorgeous plants in their new homes:

And sorry, I couldn’t resist – they were begging to be photographed from every angle, so here you go!

Awesome, right??  Here’s a huge thank you to Jared, who gave up oodles of time to help us out and created a totally gorgeous backyard oasis that any buyer is sure to adore.  Thank you!!

So what do you guys think?  Are you ready to move in yet?  I know I’m ready to jump in that pool!!  What’s your backyard like – did you go tropical, go for all lawn, or are you a sucker for bushes and flower beds?  We want to hear about it!!  (And later I’ll fill you guys in on the plants that we chose, so stay tuned!)

P.S.  A little birdie told me that Jared is thinking about moving to Dallas next year to start his own landscaping company – how cool would that be???