Transforming a Backyard into a Living Space

By Lindsay Houts, consultant to Pavestone Company Photos: Pavestone Company

Approximately 2,250 square feet of pavers went into this backyard redesign. Following the retaining wall came the patio, sitting walls, fireplace and grill island.

This “before” photos shows a backyard that was largely unusable. The deck provided outdoor space, but the potential of the property was completely unutilized.

JoAnn and Ross Pinkepank built their home in Lenexa, Kansas nearly 30 years ago. They created a home from the ground up that served their every need, less one: a fully functional backyard. What began as a project to remove and replace an aged retaining wall became a full outdoor living overhaul – and the Pinkepanks couldn’t be happier with the results.

A longtime employee of Stone Solutions, a hardscape material supply company serving the Kansas City metro, JoAnn decided it was time to put the “cobbler’s son” saying to bed: her backyard needed new life, and it needed to come through hardscape. The first priority? Removing the old railroad tie retaining wall that had been part of the house’s original build. In considering solutions for her replacement wall, a complete backyard makeover was born, but not without the help of Lonnie Roberts, the owner of Stone Solutions, and Tracy Yunger, their Kansas City area Pavestone rep. Enlisting Aaron Caprye and his team at Kansas City’s Outdoor Transformation, Lonnie and Aaron designed a backyard for the Pinkepanks that would allow them to use their property in a way they never imagined was possible, while Tracy coordinated the retaining wall block and pavers.

The outdoor kitchen includes a FireMagic grill, burner, sink, ice maker and trash doors. The 15-foot island provides ample space for food preparation.

Sloping down into a wooded area, the Pinkepank backyard wasn’t without its challenges; more than 150 tons of crushed rock had to be used to backfill for both drainage and to provide a paver base. The retaining wall design required the base block to be on firm-bearing soil as well as the burying of 3 feet of block, as the 9-foot retaining wall supported both the fireplace area and the twenty feet of sitting walls. Adding a layer of complication to the project was 2010’s unusually snowy Kansas City winter. Fortunately for the Pinkepanks, Caprye’s Outdoor Transformations not only provided landscape design and installation, but snow and ice removal as well.

In October of 2010, the real work began. The Pinkepank’s railroad tie wall was replaced with a 9-foot retaining wall of Pavestone’s Anchor™ Highland Stone. The Pinkepanks were so pleased with the results that they elected to replace their concrete patio with a 1,000 sq. ft. paver patio, and draw plans to add an outdoor fireplace, 18-inch sitting walls and an outdoor kitchen with a FireMagic grill. The Venetian Stone™ patio complemented the retaining wall and completely refreshed a previously unremarkable outdoor living area, while the Anchor™ Highland Stone sitting walls created even more usable space.

So much excavation was done that new paver steps using Anchor™ Highland Stone® (Tumbled) Ozark had to be built into the design to meet the stairway that had lead from the home’s upper deck to the ground. The patio consists of Venetian Stone™ (Tumbled) pavers.

A 15-foot grill island was designed and incorporated with the steps coming down from the home’s upper deck and included a grill, burner, sink, ice maker and trash door. In front of the island and steps, rug inlays were installed in a diamond run with the pavers turned over for a smooth surface. It was everything the Pinkepanks needed in an outdoor kitchen and it was built to their exact specifcations. “We wanted to have a peaceful, beautiful backyard space to entertain family and friends,” JoAnn explained, “We never imagined enjoying outdoor living the way we do now.”

JoAnn and her husband were so dedicated to the completion of the project, in fact, that JoAnn found herself suffering an injury in the midst of the installation. Stone Solutions wanted to document the whole project from beginning to end to provide local contractors with visuals of how to create new outdoor spaces. Walking down the hill towards the woods one afternoon to photograph the progress, JoAnn slipped and fell, breaking her left ankle and fracturing her right. Not to be deterred, JoAnn explained that she still snapped a few photos (the light was just perfect, she insisted), and then crawled up the hill for help. JoAnn cheered on her contractors from the seat of a wheelchair for the weeks that followed, positive as could be and anticipating the finished product.

Completed in March of 2011, the redesign of the Pinkepank backyard has given the homeowners and their guests a dream-come-true, year-round entertainment area. The space is accessible and uncrowded, a goal that seemed lofty before the project had begun, and has provided a space for them that they never imagined possible on their property.