One sunny day, this Spring, Scott was out for a walk and noticed a real estate agent hanging up sale “For Sale” sign on a house a few doors down from ours. We called the real estate agent and asked him if we could see the house the same day. When we walked in to the house we were immediately impressed by the faded grandeur of the house. What was most impressive though was this gigantic big yard! The yard is 16 feet wide and 45 feet deep which is very unusual in South Philly. The entire lot is 16 feet wide by 98 feet. Scott and I were saving up to renovate our current house. It seemed like the better option was to buy this house and renovate it….so we put an offer on the house. When we got a call telling us our offer was accepted (despite there being multiple offers) the enormity of our project sunk in. We’ve hired a architect and contractor to renovate the interior and exterior of the house. However, this back yard is our project.
The building behind the house is covered in ivy. The ivy is stunning but completely unruly. The little door leading to the alleys is really cool. Jai + Kiran are super excited to run around the “secret passages”.
This little door leads to one alley which then leads to three different alleys.
Skinny alleys:
We have a huge garden project on our hands: we need to dig out all the concrete; remove the crumbling stucco from the side brick wall, and get the ground ready for plants. We plan on using drought tolerant grass and native perennials to create a wild meadow like garden much like this garden designed by Dutch master gardener Piet Oudolf:
Image via Gardenista
South Philly Renovation 