Backyard Landscaping and Patio Reveal

Ah! I can’t believe our backyard patio and landscaping is finally complete! It turned out better than I could have ever imagined.

When we moved into our home, we had no landscaping, no patio, not even steps into our backyard. We had our back patio door screwed shut (per insurance reasons) because we didn’t want a kiddo opening the door and falling out. So, after 18 months of being unable to use our patio door, it feels so good to use the door daily.

This post contains affiliate links where I may receive a commission from any purchases you make. See my full disclosure here and thank you for using my links!

Because Nate and I have zero knowledge of landscaping or how to lay a stone patio, we hired this project out to a local company (Natural Environments in Fargo), and we are both so glad we did! Keep reading to find out the exact cost of our patio and landscaping.

Before

First, here’s a look at our backyard at the beginning of this summer.

Not bad, but not good. ha! We needed some landscaping help. Our backyard just looked blah. We got a couple of quotes for a concrete slab last summer. We were going to have a slab poured and figure out landscaping later, but I’m so glad we waited to complete the landscaping and patio all at once.

After

Ready for the after?

Our backyard is such a dream! I love everything about it. The stone, the rocks, the plants, the stairs, everything! I picked up this umbrella from Amazon and love how large it is. It covers most of our patio in the afternoon.

Can we talk about this patio furniture? These are the viral River Oaks sofa and swivel chairs from Walmart that are unfortunately sold out (most likely for the season). Our gas fire pit sold out, but I found a similar one I like more (it turns into a table when not in use). I wanted a fire pit that held the propane tank inside, so no external hoses. I also found some similar patio furniture that I’ll link below.

I ordered my patio furniture in April/May because I knew it would sell out quickly. We had it in our garage all summer, and as annoying as it was to store it, I’m so happy we did. The River Oaks patio furniture is beautiful! I will share it once it returns in stock because it’s so affordable for patio furniture. Our woven ottomans are in stock and can be found here!

Stairs

We had our steps made out of maintenance-free material. I wanted all black or charcoal stairs, but the decking company suggested a lighter color. Darker colors will show ALL the things; it makes sense. I opted for black stair risers and a lighter on the top. I was a little worried about how it would look with the stone, but now that it’s all put together, I love it. We have a 9′ patio door so our stairs are just over 9′ wide. I love that our landscaper suggested a 4′ landing at the top of the stairs so we’re not just heading straight down the stairs when we exit our patio door. The stairs cost us just under $6k for material and install.

When we planned a concrete slab last summer, I thought the slab would be directly outside our patio door. I love that the landscaping company designed the patio space to be off to the side and landscaping directly in front of the door. It looks so much better from the inside, and once the plants grow, it will provide more privacy. There’s actually a concrete slab under the stone, you just can’t see it. The concrete will help prevent the stone from settling over time. The concrete underlayment and stone cost about $14,400 and is approx. 14’x16′. I’ve already had some questions on what stone we picked out, and this is called Laurel Tumbled Sandstone. It’s a perfect earthy tan, with some light grey mixed in.

Lighting

Another feature we added are these modern black lights. We have several of them throughout our landscaping and they are on a dusk to dawn timer. I love how they light up our backyard at night. The lights added an additional $2800. We debated if we really even needed lighting outside, but ultimately decided that we would regret it if we didn’t add the lights. I’m REALLY glad we didn’t omit them.

The landscaping continues on both sides of our house and in the front with various plants and large boulders. We went with a natural concrete color for the concrete curbing (the other options were dark gray or dark brown). I think the natural concrete color works well with the other earthy tones in the stone and rocks. The curbing was $2800. The plants and boulders cost roughly $16k. That’s including the extra soil, weed barrier, plants, trees, boulders, the decorative rock, labor, etc. We also had to have the sprinklers moved along the sides of our house and in our backyard, costing about $500. In grand total, we spent just over $43k on our patio and landscaping.

Besides receiving a couple quotes for the concrete slab last summer, we didn’t reach out to any other landscapers or get any other quotes, so I honestly don’t know what a good price is for landscaping or for our project. Natural Environments had the look and style we wanted for our backyard and we felt 100% confident in our decision to chose them as our contractor.

I can’t wait to see what next summer brings when the plants have had a growing season. How do you feel about our backyard landscaping and patio reveal? Do you love it as much as I do?