Welcome To The Family

We just moved to a new house and I feel like I could sleep for a week, straight through. I can't though, because there is still so much to do. There is so much random stuff to search for in the unpacked boxes in the garage. Where is the pedal for my sewing machine? and where the hell is the remote for the tv in the bedroom? And frankly, how did we acquire so much crap?

I'm not a hoarder, by any means, I throw stuff out all the time. I feel like I could be perfectly happy as a buddhist monk, living in the mountains with no possessions. I must have been that in a past life. As we slowly, but surely, get all settled into the house, I find that I am being presented with so many projects. For example, we need a coat rack by the front door and I acquired two pallets during the move, which I have a bedframe idea for. The biggest challenge so far, is the back yard.

I don't think you can even call this a yard, especially if you are from the midwest. This is your typical, Arizona- "cookie cutter" house backyard... er, courtyard? patio? Comes complete with "beautiful" concrete brick fence at no extra charge. 

Also, I got a great patio where we can enjoy the hot summer sun!

What am I supposed to do with this thing?

This whole court patio yard thing is a complete blank canvas. The problem is, I've never been great at gardening or decorating outside. It's going to be a lot of work to make this nice, so I want to get started right away. Plus, I have a feeling it's going to be a slow process. 

I wonder if I can turn it into something like this...

...from here

or this

from here

I've got more ideas too, which, you can find here

Hopefully, I can pull it off and eventually put up some "after" pictures that I will be proud of.