We’re on TV!

In the midst of perhaps the worse month or so of my life, complete with dead cats, total family meltdown, incarcerated friends and the promise of more cancer related fun in the near future, something extraordinary happened. A friend sent me a tip about an outdoor renovation show looking for backyards in the NYC to transform and I decided "what the hell" and sent our info over. We were contacted a few weeks ago and vetted but then communications stopped so I figured it either wasn't going to happen at all or at the very least anytime soon. Well, we found out this week that we were selected to be on the show and will have our entire yard professionally renovated and transformed in the next week and documented on television! It's utterly baffling to try to be happy and excited about it while the rest of my world crumbles around me, but yet it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for us and an extreme hookup so we've got no choice but to press ahead and take advantage of it, no matter how crazy it might be around these parts. So I'm currently putting on a happy face for the TV audience.

So very shortly you should be able to view us and our backyard on new renovation show on the DIY Network that has yet to be named. This is a new type of renovation show where the host is actually a contractor and not a professional actor and the show's formula is half about showing a renovation transformation and the DIY aspect of it and half about the relationship between the two brothers who run this contracting business and the main contractor's wife who also works for them. The personalities are a big part of the show and while I don't want to spoil them for you, think what it would be like to watch Tony Soprano and his extended family renovate your yard. If you picture that you are half way there. Should be entertaining, no?

So Tuesday afternoon we got a call from the show saying we were selected and they wanted to start first thing on Wednesday. Short notice! So Eric and I were interviewed Wednesday morning inside our house where we talked about all the work that has been done here over the last 4 years and our bad luck with various contractors. We also discussed our DIY spirit and our feelings of being overwhelmed by the work involved to renovate the yard. The gist of the show will be that we worked so hard on our interior that the yard was an afterthought so they are coming to help us out, finish our yard and bring some of our indoor design sensibilities outside. The show will also focus on the particular challenge of renovating a small urban backyard along with the problems presented by townhouse layout and design.

After our interview they staged the first meeting between us and the contractor Gino, whose work and portfolio can be seen here. We showed Gino our current and ugly backyard and told him our wishes for it and he spoke with us about some options. In reality we knew what the options were already since he brought the veneer stone to us a few weeks ago, but for the purposes of the show we need to be surprised. Then first thing yesterday his crew was over to level out the yard, bring in all the material and start working on grading the upper area where the pavers and plantings will be installed.

Here's a reminder of what our yard looked like before:

First off, all the trash and construction debris was moved aside and all the weeds were pulled to clear the yard for the stone delivery.

Here's Gino with all the stone:

The 12x12 pavers on the left are the multi-colored slate pieces that will be the flooring over the concrete area. The pavers in the middle will be used for the flooring of the upper seating area and the boxes contain all the ledgewall materials for the side walls. They also brought in the tumbled slate later which will serve as the decorative cap pieces for the ledge walls. That's a lot of stone! And best of all, it was all FREE! Donated by the distributor in exchange for a plug on television! We still have to pay some of the installation costs but the free materials are certainly a huge money saver.

Then Gino's guys took all the trash and junk left in our yard from previous work done. It was amazing to get the last of this stuff out

Towards the end of the day they dug out the area that will be laid with pavers and started the path to the back seating section, all captured on film.

Then the site was leveled out

Finally the aerial view of the outline of the soon-to-be seating area in the back from the sunroom balcony

After the back area was dug out and leveled off, we covered the whole yard with tarps to keep it dry during the next 3 days straight of rain. At some point next week they will pick up again with the stone installation and plantings. All very exciting stuff—this time next week we could have a finished and spectacular backyard. I'm loathe to believe it as it seems the world is intent on beating me down nowadays but maybe this is some good karma coming our way and looking to pay us back for all we've been through? We can only hope…