Hello World

Welcome to the renovation of our St. Louis backyard. The project has been under consideration since we moved into our house back in 2003. We briefly explored replacing our 1920's era garage in 2004, but that project was shelved due to cost and lack of interest. We got used to not having a convenient car shelter and besides, it never snows in St. Louis...until last year (thank you global warming).

With our retirement last year, we decided to give the project a new beginning. The scope has expanded beyond just replacing the garage. Through the second half of 2013, a lot of thought and sketches went into deciding what we wanted to achieve. By the end of the year, the concepts were established and they have not changed much since then. By February 2014, we were ready for professional help and we enlisted the services of our architect/neighbor. On June 17, having already received approval from the neighborhood association, we were ready to seek approval and permits from the City of St. Louis. On June 26, approval was received from the Cultural Resources Office, and on August 8, we got the construction permits. While the approval process consumed over two months, it was achieved without the need for any alterations or adjustments to our plans. A lot of the credit goes to our Architect who knew what issues and concerns might be encounter. During the design phase, he was able to guide us through those areas without sacrificing any of the basics we wanted to achieve.

Below are some pics taken prior to any project work. Lots of shade! Lots of squirrels!

As we move forward with the project, we will attempt to keep this blog updated with the highlights. Our stated goal is to have the project (except for all the landscaping) completed before the end of this year....finances permitting.