St Lawrence exterior before & after

We've been working oh-so-very-hard in the backyard the last two weeks. It was like working in a third world country as power tools were unavailable on the budget and a shovel and wheelbarrow became our best friends. Traveling to Mexico was rather inspirational....if they can build a road without anything but the sweat of the brow and a shovel, I'm sure we can manage the backyard. It's still a work in progress but I took a few pictures after spreading the gravel this afternoon. Unfortunately despite past regrets for not taking more "before" photos we haven't changed our ways. The first two photos below don't even begin to show our backyard disaster. When we bought the place 1.3 years ago the entire back lot was a shaggy mess with piles of rocks and a dilapidated carriage house and a saggy fence. The situation only got worse during the renovation and the backyard became a repellent sight of mangy dead grass, piles of sawdust and gravel and dirt, piles of rocks, broken-down fences and bushes gone wild. Over the winter Denver added onto the carriage house and replaced the roof and windows to make for a much improved working studio. He built the shed on the left side of the lot for wood-working and storage and was fortunately able to reuse the carriage house doors and windows.

The Before:

The After: