Workshop 001 / Property Transformation

From the Ground Up

Independent design, irrigation, and landscape construction

Denver, Colorado/2022–2026

What started as an idea to improve our outdoor space evolved into a property-wide renovation, from the front landscaping to the backyard and its underlying irrigation system.

Finished backyard with a curved lawn, a mature tree, and a pair of chairs — Finished backyard.

I developed the design myself, working from rough concepts and paper layouts to component selection, material sourcing, and hands-on construction.

The backyard required a complete reset. I tilled the existing soil, hauled approximately six cubic yards of additional material, excavated the irrigation trenches, assembled and installed the valve system, established the final grades, and seeded the lawn.

The design had to work around existing trees, structures, planting beds, and a central gathering space. Rather than treating the lawn as an isolated feature, I worked to tie the landscape into the property’s existing geometry and how we actually use the yard.

The front yard became another substantial phase of the same transformation. I designed and built raised planter beds, tilled and reworked the perimeter planting areas, excavated trenches, installed irrigation within the beds, and placed decomposed granite to establish clean, functional surfaces around them.

The finished landscape is the visible result. Most of the interesting work happened before the grass ever grew.

Location: Denver, Colorado
Timeline: 2022–2026
Status: Completed / Ongoing refinement
Role: Concept, design, planning, sourcing, and hands-on execution.

The Transformation

Front yard before the renovation, with a dormant lawn and no raised beds — Front yard before the work began.

Finished front yard with raised beds, gravel, and irrigation running — Finished front yard, with the irrigation running.

Front yard after the raised beds and gravel were in place, with the lawn still filling in — Front yard after the beds and decomposed granite, before the lawn filled in.

Finished backyard looking across the established lawn — Finished backyard, looking across the lawn.

Below the Surface

The lawn sits on the layout, the trenches, and the valve work. That part of the job is buried once the grade is back in place.

Open irrigation trenches laid out across the backyard before piping and backfill — Trench network prior to piping and backfill.

A narrow irrigation trench cut beside a trencher — Narrow trench along the existing grade.

An excavated valve box with a wheelbarrow of soil beside it — Valve-box excavation.

A three-zone irrigation manifold assembled inside the valve box — Three-zone valve manifold installation.

Irrigation supply valves and piping assembled at an exterior wall — Irrigation supply assembly at the wall.

From Concept to Construction

This project wasn’t built from a supplied set of plans. I developed the layout, researched the components, figured out the construction sequence, and carried the work through myself.

The process brought together several disciplines I enjoy working across: physical design, construction, underground utilities, material selection, problem-solving, and finish work.

Some challenges were technical. Others were simply the realities of moving soil, trenching around existing conditions, managing elevations, and getting the details to come together.

A rental tiller on bare backyard soil — Soil preparation before irrigation layout.

Raked soil after final grading and before seeding — Final grading before seeding.

Front-yard trenches laid out along the walk during construction — Front-yard trench layout.

Front-yard excavation with a raised planter frame in progress — Front-yard planter and irrigation build-out.

Early lawn germination under straw after seeding — Early turf, just after seeding.

A Landscape Built for Living

The objective wasn’t just a greener property. It was to create connected, usable outdoor spaces that felt intentional, while retaining the mature trees and established features that gave the property its character.

Over time, the work expanded beyond lawn establishment to include family gathering areas, planting zones, raised beds, and outdoor-use spaces that better fit how we actually live in and use the property.

The construction photographs hold the rest of the record: the planning, infrastructure, and physical work required to get there.

Finished backyard with a play structure at the edge of the lawn — Play space set into the finished yard.

A perspective down the finished lawn — Finished lawn.

Finished lawn with planted borders — Finished lawn and planted borders.

Project Scope

Independent concept development and layout
Material research, selection, and sourcing
Soil preparation and amendment
Approximately six cubic yards of imported soil
Irrigation layout, trenching, piping, and valve assembly
Water supply connection / irrigation feed setup
Grading and lawn establishment
Front-yard landscape improvements
Raised planter bed construction
Decomposed granite installation around planter zones
Irrigated planting areas
Planting beds, borders, and outdoor-use areas
Ongoing landscape refinement and maintenance

Role

Concept, design, planning, sourcing, and hands-on execution.

What this project represents

Taking an idea from initial concept through technical problem-solving and physical construction to a finished, functioning result.

The project reflects a process I enjoy repeating in different forms: define the idea, work through the technical details, and build the result.

Workshop