hi all,

Our back yard has been abandoned and a place of shame for many years now. I basically only go out to have a look and bbq. We have a small unusable concrete patio and a back yard with a farily steep grade. Probably about 10ft from the highest to the lowest point. I'm looking for advice and opinions on what to do with this yard and what our options are.

Some notes:

- the yard is north facing and doesn't get a whole lot of sunlight at certain points of the year.

- it's mostly weeds now.. I've uploaded a shot of it last year when it was quite bad.

- it seems to have poor drainage and is mostly moss now.

My thoughts on options based on what I've seen in the area are:

1. Create a deck over the patio extending to the left and create a patio stone bbq zone to the right (where the sandbox is). Stair case down the left to get to the lowest point of the yard.

2. Same as above, but extend the deck to the right, instead of a patio stone bbq zone. The problem I have with this one is that the staircase rail will appear behind it and "low"..

3. Demo the concrete patio and build a large deck with a stair case to the lowest point of the yard.

4. Demo the concrete patio and do a full back yard dig up, backfill, leveling, tamping, patio stones, flower boxes, and perhaps a couple zones.

I think #4 is the best option, but I think it would cost by far the most. I have no idea how much this would cost though.

Please let me know what your thoughts are, how you would approach this, and what you might do. Any design ideas would be greatly appreciated! I need to stare out my kitchen window and find peace and be able to relax in our back yard.. especially NOW!

These photos were taken a couple years back, however, the yard remains the same..

sorry this shot was taken a little bit later in the fall following year.. many more weeds.

bottom of the back yard.

Thanks so much! I hope everyone is well during these uncertain times.

Cheers.