Spanish Spinoff

ANNOUNCER: This backyard is filled with fault after fault. SARA: There's a lot happening here that's not good. The tree in the yard-- SARA: Is it deciduous or dead? CHRIS: I think it's dead. ANNOUNCER: So we're tearing out all that's cracked and crumbling. Oh, my God. We'd be here for weeks if you were digging these holes. ANNOUNCER: And rebuilding it into a tranquil space with a cozy lounging area. SARA: They can actually use it for a grill and fire. ANNOUNCER: Plus, a play space that's kid safe and completely convertible. If he grows out of it, you just pick them up and move it out. ANNOUNCER: This backyard's going from bleak and broken to a beautiful relaxing sanctuary. My God. CHRIS: Wow. This is my not so lovely backyard. I hate my yard. It's basically a big desert with no character at all. Everything about the yard we hate. It's just embarrassing. I don't think you could pay me to come up with one thing I like about it. ANNOUNCER: When a yard's this bad, you need all the help you can get. That's where top landscape designer Sara Bendrick comes to the rescue. Now we can get going. This might take longer than we thought. So maybe just angling a little bit that way. ANNOUNCER: Tough, creative, and determined, Sara can turn that yard you hate into an outdoor space you'll never want to leave. MAN: That was amazing. I was blown away. WOMAN: I've never seen something like this. I don't know about you, but I'm home right here. I'm good. My name's Chris. And I'm Kimberly. We purchased our home 3 years ago. It's a lovely residential neighborhood, good for raising families. We haven't focused on the backyard because it seems like such a daunting task. There's cracked concrete, there's overgrown plants and shrubbery. Got the manhole cover. Yes, for an apocalyptic escape if it's ever necessary. We desperately need Sara's help. All right. This is a great space. I mean, I can see your issues. But, I mean, it's a big space. There's a lot you could do here. Notice the lovely assortment of appliances here. SARA: There's a lot happening here and it's not good. I would have to think of some creative solutions 'cause you need all these utilities. What is this? KIM: That's a great question. I'm not entirely sure. We were told it was to incinerate trash once upon a time. It's so weird, I kind of like it. Oh, yes. The tree in the yard-- Mm-hmm. I actually kind of like your tree. But it is a home for many birds that poop here, which is why the lawn furniture has been moved over there. We try to sit out here, but they just corrupted it entirely. And I see some clothes lines-- CHRIS: Yes, those are one of the things KIM: Really hate. KIM: Yes. We try to make sure our child doesn't get gangrene from swinging on it. Yeah, I'm not against drying clothes outside, but, I mean, if that's not what you are going for... And now what's happening down here? We got, uh, not a lot. No, and it's really what we were told with our gardener it's the tree. The tree is so big and its roots are so deep that it's difficult for grass to actually grow here. It looks like your soil is so tough, I can't even hardly get my finger in it. We'll deal with that. We'll find some fun tools to get through that. Sounds good. Okay. SARA: This is really bad. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen which-- SARA: Well, what happened here? No clue. When we acquired the property, this is exactly how it was. SARA: I think that this is something that we definitely have to keep in the budget to make sure that we can get rid of this, put something back that's functional that you can actually use. But I want to know what you guys do back here, what you'd like to see, how you spend your time outside. Okay. We definitely like entertaining out here. A little more privacy. Yeah, definitely. If we could get something covered too, Okay. A fireplace would be nice. That would be nice. Ooh, yeah. That sounds real nice. Okay. He's growing, something that will grow with him as well. Well, I know that your house is a Spanish style house, Yes. I think it'd be great to roll off that Spanish style. So I'm thinking Spanish, modern with a little touch of color. So--or maybe a big touch of color. Sounds really good. ANNOUNCER: Here's Sara's plan. The perimeter wall will get livened up with paint and the height of it extended for added privacy. And she's tearing up the crumbling driveway to pour a new concrete pad that will house a play area for their son Eli. An overhead structure featuring a hanging garden will lead from the back of the house to the rear of the yard where a fire pit will be the focal point in Chris and Kim's new lounge area. Retractable sails will be installed overhead to give them much needed shade. The budget for this project is 23 grand. Chris and Kimberly's concrete driveway is horrible. It has so many cracks, there's no way that we can salvage that, so we're gonna get rid of it. I brought in a skid steer that's going to speed things up. We're gonna knock it out, dispose of it, so we can pour a new concrete driveway for them. Aren't you glad that's not you right now breaking it with a sledge hammer? We'll just leave this in the yard for the kids to play on. ( screaming ) Since I already had the skid steer here, I'm gonna have it till up the soil area for us and that's gonna help speed things along as well. All right, guys, so where we're standing right now is your brand new lounge area. Yeah, that sounds great. We have a lot of postholes to be dug, because I want to frame your yard and create like a courtyard feel. Okay. So each of those highlighted spots with the spray paint needs a posthole and it needs to be about a foot wide, about a foot and half deep. So you have a posthole digger and you have a pickaxe, so both work. You guys can kind of switch off and help each other with the holes. Okay. Are you kidding me? So serious. Oh, my God. We'll be here for weeks if you're digging these holes. All right. You want to let the weight of the pickaxe do most of the digging for you, but it does take some elbow grease to do it. Then I got to bring in some help for us, because this is gonna take us a while anyway, but-- Oh. Digging holes was extremely tough. I have really bad hand-eye coordination. Might be here all day, all night, maybe all month. Oh. Hey, Dave, you want to show her the auger. Yeah, let's bring in the heavy duty. See, that's what I need. This is Dave, our contractor. And this is a tool and it's called an auger. And it's gonna make our life so much easier, because it does a lot of work for us. Thanks, Dave. Yeah, we got 24 holes, so. KIM: Let's do it. You need all the help. Chris, you want to try the auger out? I would love to. All right, give it a go. You can do the posthole digger. All right. SARA: Today was great. We got a lot done. We had a couple of machines that helped us out, made it go quicker, 'cause if we were hand digging those posts, we would still be there right now. It's gonna be pretty easy. I am hoping it takes us an hour. Don't start timing us. All right. ANNOUNCER: Much progress has been made in Chris and Kim's backyard renovation. Yesterday was a big day. The concrete for the driveway was poured. We also poured a pad for the fireplace. All the posts for the overhead structure were put up. Today we have a lot of work to do. We have to build our fireplace, we have to finish the overhead structures, we need to stain them. All the plants are arriving today and we have to build our custom benches for flanking the fireplace. I hope Kim and Chris are ready, 'cause it's a big day and they're gonna get their hands dirty. Right guys, check out the progress we've made. CHRIS: Wow. It's awesome. SARA: Isn't it impressive? CHRIS: Very. Okay, you kind of get the feel for what we're going for? Curious to see how it's all gonna turn out. Concrete is way better than the old one. Yeah, it's kind of a game changer for us, that was a huge embarrassment, our old concrete slab, and this new one is just-- it's perfect. I have a project for you. Alrighty. Can you guess what we're gonna do? I have no idea what we're gonna do. All right, so what you see in front of you is your fireplace. I got us a DIY fireplace kit, so you and I are gonna put it together. Okay. We have the pad that was poured yesterday. Okay. So that's gonna be our foundation for it. And then we're gonna take each one of these pieces, fit them together like a puzzle. It's gonna be pretty easy. I am hoping it takes us an hour. Okay. Don't start timing us. All right. This is the first fireplace kit that I've ever put together. There's about 35 pieces. There's no mortar and there's no screws, so it makes it really easy for Chris and I just to fit it together, follow the instructions. They can actually use it for a grill and fire. On either side of it I'm placing seats, they can lounge with their friends. How do you feel? Feel great. Oh, my gosh, we're done. We made it within an hour too. Oh, man, this is awesome. Yes. All right. Everything's going great. The benches are going in. We're staining the pergola. It all looks good, but we still have so much to do. All right. Oh, aren't they? What type of fern is this? This is coleus and this is going to go in the fireplace area. So this will soften it up and I love these colors. These colors are gorgeous. They'll fill in pretty quick. Sara, is this a type of palm tree? It is. It's called Phoenix roebelenii and it's a dwarf date palm. Nice. There you go. None of these have flowers. Not yet. All right. Today is a super busy day. So much needs to happen, anything that needs to be painted, needs to be painted. We're building the benches. Pavers need to go in, all the plants, the sod and mulch. So we got a lot to do. Thank you very much. It's gonna be a little bit darker. What do you think? I think it looks really good. Good work. All right, Kim, we are making hanging planters. But hanging planters dry out a lot. I'm somebody who doesn't water often. ANNOUNCER: Things are moving right along on Chris and Kim's backyard. Sara's crew has begun adding the components that will help transform the space. And Sara has enlisted Kim to help with the next project on her to-do list. We're gonna make All right. So we have the lounge and it's gonna be gorgeous. We have the seats, those are built, but I want really, really, nice seat backs. Now what we're gonna do is we're gonna make it out of plywood. I have half inch plywood here, I also have some foam and this batting and, of course, the fabric. So I want to make sure that I have 3 inches of extra batting to roll over and pin on the other side. So top and bottom. Okay. So we're gonna staple every 3 to 4 inches, that's gonna help hold the foam in place. I have this premium outdoor fabric and I love the soft yellow of it. It's gonna look so good with all those grays back there. Yes. But it's also gonna be fine in the sun, you can leave it outdoors. And you want to catch it at the other end, I'm gonna roll it out. Sure. Okay. We do want it nice and taut, but we'll worry about that when we get to the other side, we'll kind of pull it. And so you can just staple a couple of inches off here because this is all just excess. Okay. All right. This looks really good. Oh, I love it. Nice and smooth. I can't wait. Well, we have a lot to do, so let's keep going. All right. All right, Chris, we have some nice rubber mats here. And what I'm gonna do with this is I want a nice soft surface for the play area for Eli. They're really neat. All you have to do is use these pegs to lock them in together and what I really liked about it is that we're gonna lay this out on your driveway, but if you ever decide you want to bring a car back here, you can just pull these up really easily and move them. Yeah. All right, so I'll start with the first one. Oh, my gosh. The concrete driveway is a perfect substrate for this pad. It's a nice, even, hard area that we can lock all these together, that will create a great play space. All right, Kim. We are making hanging planters with these beautiful ferns. They're gonna look so beautiful. They're gorgeous. They're gorgeous. But hanging planters dry out a lot or they dry out fairly quick, of course 'cause they're-- have all the air that's sucking all the water out. So I found this really cool product and I'm so stoked to use it. It's a soil substitute basically. You can use it by itself or you can mix it with soil. But we're gonna use it by itself, because I want the plant to have as much water as it needs. Okay. But why I really like this product is its ability to hold air when it's fully saturated. Nice. And air is super important for plants, 'cause if it doesn't have the air, they drown. Okay. I'm somebody who doesn't water often. So anything that makes watering easier for me is great. Here we go. That looks good. I'll hold it up. You tell me what you think. Okay. So we'll be hanging these plants from your pergola. I think that's gonna look amazing. I know. Oh, my gosh, I can't wait to have all of them up here. It's gonna be so beautiful. We have a lot of them. We have like 20 of them. Let's get to it then. I chose a Mediterranean plant palette for this design 'cause it goes with the Spanish theme as well as it's low maintenance and the colors are awesome. What are you guys up to over here? Planting. We've been digging holes for these plants. I see. I know, isn't it gonna be beautiful? Oh, yeah, it will be. KIM: It is. Oh, great. Well, I'm so glad you guys are so helpful, but it's time for me to kick you guys out. Aw. Don't be aw-ing, you get to relax now. Me and my crew we're gonna finish this whole job up when you see it tomorrow, it's gonna be gorgeous. I believe it. I will see you tomorrow. When everything is done. Thank you. All right. Rest well. I want you all happy and smiles tomorrow. KIM: Thank you. SARA: Painting utilities on the back of the house is a good way to help hide them without the expense of having to remove them. The backyard gets a lot of sun. We're installing retractable sails. Basically, those are gonna give us shade if we need it and if they don't, they can roll them back up. Oh, my God. Wow. ANNOUNCER: Sara and her crew have been busy wrapping things up in Chris and Kim's backyard. The sod's been laid, the plants are in the ground, and the final items are getting checked off the to-do list. The yard's almost complete, I just have a few finishing touches before I show Kim and Chris. We're installing sliding doors. They're gonna be the perfect end cap to the overhead structure and they're gonna hide all these ugly utilities. Okay. After a lot of hard work, the yard is ready and I cannot wait to see Kim and Chris' faces. Oh, my God. Wow. ( laughing ) Look at that backyard. ANNOUNCER: Before, this backyard was part crumbling safety hazard and part barren eyesore. Now it's a functional, relaxing retreat with space for Chris and Kim to kickback and a dedicated area for their son to enjoy on his own. Wait, wait, look. You can no longer see the funky appliances. Both look so cool. And the best thing is you can move them. But they just look like nice for no reason. Don't even know what they're doing. This is my part right here, this fire place, a little oasis back here. Oh, my goodness. Wow, this is so private. SARA: Kim and I made the seat backs here together. Oh, it's so comfortable. I am in awe. I can't even believe. Look at these tables. KIM: These are awesome. SARA: So you now have an area to lounge with your friends. I know that was so important to entertain. KIM: Yes. SARA: And of course Chris and I built this fireplace together. KIM: And it's amazing. SARA: That can also work as a grill. CHRIS: Yes. SARA: Mm-hmm. Yes. But if you want the sun, just move it on back. CHRIS: Wow. KIM: Nice. And I wanted them to have big bold colors. KIM: Yes. CHRIS: That's beautiful. Everything looks so amazing. I love how the yellow pops against the brown. Yes. Yeah, that's one of my favorite parts of this is the dark wood with the pops of yellow. Our garage looks gorgeous. It's beautiful. And I love this fountain. Yeah, isn't that fountain gorgeous? I love the color. It looks so rustic like an old Spanish garden. Like it was--like it's been here. Plus, gives you all that soft noise that really relaxes you. Yes. What do you think of the structure? The little overhead walkway. KIM: It just came out gorgeous. CHRIS: I know. KIM: It really did. Feel like we're in our own private oasis. Can we look at his area? Yeah, this is Eli's kingdom over here. He's going to have a fit. We have the brand new concrete first of all, so there's no more potholes. And then we put these rubber mats, so Eli has his play space. If he grows out of it, you just pick them up and move it out. KIM: Yes. And then this structure... Oh, this is his little kingdom over here. He can climb up and he can play in here. He has pillows, of course the soft little ground cover here. Yes. And this is probably one of the coolest, you climb up here, you got little triangles, but you have this hammock up here and he can just hang out, it's secured. Nice. Nice. It is nice. He's gonna love that. What do you think of the wall? Remember this? KIM: The wall looks amazing. SARA: What about your neighbors? SARA: I know. KIM: They can't see us. It's perfect. This is all so beautiful. Yeah. The yard is absolutely amazing, much more than I expected. CHRIS: Yeah, I can't believe how good of a job Sara did. ANNOUNCER: And to top it all off, they came in a little over a grand under budget. All right. Well, we started from not a lot and now we're here. KIM: Yes. Well, I'm so glad you guys have a space you can use, you can enjoy with your family. Eli has a play space. It's time for me to go, it's done. We're done. Thank you very much. We're gonna enjoy the comfortable space. Well, it was so good working with you guys. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I had fun building with you guys. Thank you so much. All right, well, take care. CHRIS: Thank you. I'm gonna have a glass of wine, you want to join me? Yes, I do.